Self-Aggrandizement: June 2008 Archives

Sunday Afternoon
Filed June 30, 2008 7:10 PM.

Dear People of the Internet
Filed June 29, 2008 12:28 PM.

Several days ago, I wrote a short blog post entitled 'Dear People of Williamsburg'.

At the time, I was exceedingly drunk.

Nonetheless, it has since come to my attention, via email notification by roughly forty readers, that I incorrectly used 'to' instead of 'too' in that post.

And, relatedly, it has come to my attention, also by roughly forty readers' emails, that I am an idiot.

Judges Ruling?
Filed June 28, 2008 10:56 PM.

Do I need to post on the weekends for this crazy daily blogging habit project, or do I get a reprieve?

Down to Business
Filed June 27, 2008 2:30 PM.

When I first met Jess, she was serving as the head of marketing and de facto COO of Liz Lange Maternity, a high end fashion brand. She had been there for nearly seven years, from when the company was still pretty much brand new, by the time it was acquired last November by a large private equity fund.

So, she took that company transition as a chance to step out herself, and start looking for other opportunities.

Pretty quickly, it became clear she was talking to basically two categories of companies: large ones, where they were eager to hire her, but where she was less eager to actually work; and small ones (with annual sales under, say, $5m), who were also eager to hire her, and with whom Jess was excited to work, except for their inability to actually pay a salary.

From the beginning, I suggested that she consider launching a consulting firm, the idea being that there were a lot of those little, sub-$5m companies that had bootstrapped their way to success, but had started topping out, and desperately needed strategic, marketing, financial and operational assistance.

Jess, however, was against the idea, mainly on the grounds that she was convinced she'd never find any companies willing to actually hire her as a consultant.

But, it turns out, she didn't need to, because companies started finding her.

By now, JG & Co. (at the moment, the '& Co.' being me) has signed on a slew of clients, including great brands like Lucy Sykes (WASPy-cute kids clothing), Lauren Moffatt (a quirky contemporary clothing line), and Hayden-Harnett (bags, etc.).

More companies keep popping out of the woodwork, too, and so Jess is now trying to figure out how many she can handle, and if she needs a real '& Co.' that ideally includes people who (unlike me) have at least some vague idea about the business of fashion.

Still, I couldn't be prouder of her. I know, first-hand, how hard and stressful and nerve-wracking it is to get a company off the ground, and have been constantly impressed by seeing her handle it all with grace and aplomb.

I always wanted a sugar-mamma.

Dear People of Williamsburg:
Filed June 26, 2008 11:29 AM.

You're trying way too hard.

Sincerely,

joshua

Of a Feather
Filed June 25, 2008 9:37 PM.

A month or so back, I was having drinks with one of the founders of Napster, discussing the future of the movie business.

In the parallel world of music, things look fairly gloomy - CD sales are down, digital revenues don't make up the gap, and piracy runs as rampant as ever. Yet thus far in the movie world, the problems have been far less severe.

Most analysts, like my Napster friend, credit the difference to technology - from bandwidth issues (stealing a movie takes way longer than a song or album) through to how media is actually consumed (computers and iPods have quickly become where most people choose to consume music anyway, whereas the average viewer would still prefer to see a film on their television, and doesn't have an easy way to get the digital download across those last twenty feet).

I, on the other hand, contended that movies' relative success stems from a deeper cause: people think movies are worth the money, and think albums are hugely overpriced.

Yesterday, I ran across a recent study that backs my claim. Consumers, asked about perceived value for their money, placed movies in the next to highest position - second only to chicken. Albums, on the other hand, essentially fell off the bottom of the list.

In the world of music, some percentage of people already pay for downloads (hence iTunes' success), and others never will. The dividing line, I suspect, is whether each believes a $9.99 price is too high for an album.

In the world of film, then, where a vastly higher percentage fall on the 'worth the money' side of that line, I'm increasingly convinced digital download revenue models can make sense.

Sure, the same technology problems that hold back film piracy equally hold back legitimate sales. And figuring out what those digital download revenue models actually look like is probably three or so years of ugly trial and error away. But there's light at the end of the tunnel.

At which point, all we'll need to do is to find a way to download chicken.

Advice
Filed June 24, 2008 11:07 PM.

"If you want to survive this brutal climate, you're going to have to work a lot harder, be a lot smarter, know a lot more, move a lot faster, sell a lot better, pay attention to the data, be a little nice (ok, a lot nice), trust your gut, read everything and never, ever give up."

- Mark Gill, former president of Warner Independent and Miramax, on the film industry today

Experiment
Filed June 23, 2008 6:02 PM.

So if blogging is a habit, and I haven't blogged regularly for god knows how long mainly because I've lost the habit, then perhaps the way to start again is to just post something every day no matter what even if it sucks for thirty days. (Which is, I believe, is how long it's commonly thought to take habits to crystalize.)

Let's find out.

Zen
Filed June 10, 2008 7:04 PM.

My legacy -
What will it be?
Flowers in spring,
The cuckoo in summer,
And the crimson maples
Of autumn ...

- Ryokan

I'm Meeeeeelting
Filed June 9, 2008 6:18 PM.

It's 101 degrees here in Union Square, the humidity is off the charts, and, of course, the air conditioner in the Cyan office decided today would be a great time to take the afternoon off.

It's time for a drink.

Decir Que?
Filed June 6, 2008 2:43 PM.

Talking today with my brother's partners in his real estate development company, both of whom are fluent Spanish speakers, I flashed on a friend from college who couldn't speak Spanish at all, but who, after spending a summer in Mexico, returned able to say exactly four phrases:

"There's a little man dancing in my pants"
"Where are the lesbian girls we love?"
"Show me the way to the nearest keg"
"May I kiss the baby?"

Apparently, it was the best summer of his life.

Biding
Filed June 5, 2008 1:49 PM.

A lot of my life seems to revolve around playing money middleman; waiting for investor dollars to come in for a project so I can turn around and send those dollars back out the door.

And the problem is, while Cyan and everything it does is hugely, consumingly important to me, it's absolutely not so to our angel and institutional investors. So, even when they want to move ahead, even once they're fully committed, it inevitably takes weeks and weeks and months to drag through trading documents and sending wire information and refreshing and refreshing and refreshing our bank's web site to see if the funds have hit.

In the meantime, then, I'm forced to tell the people waiting on the other end, 'any day now,' and 'really, any day,' while I wait and they wait and we all wait together and they start to hate my guts for how long this is all taking even though I swear to god I'm just the middleman and none of this is my fault.

Sounds of Silence
Filed June 4, 2008 3:26 PM.

New Yorkers generally maintain that our reputation for standoffishness is unfounded, that we're actually a rather friendly group.

And, by and large, I'd agree.

Except for in my apartment building, where none of the tenants talk to any of the other tenants. Ever.

I'd noticed this when I first moved into the building three or four years back, but hadn't thought of it again since, until Jess observed the same thing a month or so back.

In her prior Murray Hill digs, she pointed out, neighbors would say hello waiting for the elevator, chat idly on their way to and from their front doors. But, in our current building, a veil of silence descends at the lobby, and doesn't let up until people slam their apartment doors behind them.

We've tried to bend that unwritten rule - a simple 'have a good day' on the way out of the elevator, a 'how are you?' on the way in - with zero results. The tenants stare at us blankly, or continue to intently examine the walls.

At this point, I'm considering options for upping the ante - breaking into song and dance in the lobby, doing elevator handstands - but I'm a bit worried even that might not yield a response. Stepford, indeed.

Well Suited
Filed June 3, 2008 7:05 PM.

Last month, Jess and I spent four or five hours one weekend afternoon trekking up and down the avenues of Midtown, trying on suits (or, rather, me trying on suits and she critiquing them) at every department store and boutique we could find.

We were off hunting for a wedding suit for me, something at once sufficiently fun and fashionable for such a big event, yet informal enough for an early-autumn Sunday afternoon.

By the end of the stretch, I still didn't have a new suit. But I did miss my old ones.

On rare occasion over the past five years, I've donned a suit for work purposes. But, when I did, I'd always felt it a step back to my pre-film days, rather than a step forward.

By now, however, Cyan (and by extension me) lives at the wonkiest end of the film world, a place where our pitch to filmmakers includes phrases like 'real-time web dashboard' and 'econometric research-driven screen selection'.

Our latest endeavor, the MovieSTAR Fund, is so dorked out that it's now patent-pending. (Which, as an aside, makes me exceedingly happy - I've always wanted to author a patent.)

So perhaps it's only natural that our clothing should swing business-ward, too.

It started small - an 'anti-casual Friday' policy of donning ties and cufflinks one day a week, with us disclaiming the attire at meetings. But, rather quickly, we discovered that people took us more seriously when it looked like we were taking things seriously ourselves. So we started donning suits on other days we had investor meetings. And, then, even on ones we didn't.

It's a bit of a change, especially in a world where calling someone a 'suit' is rarely meant as a compliment. But it's one that seems to be working for us - investors think we look responsible enough to manage their money, filmmakers that we're competent enough to release their films better than they could themselves.

So, this evening, I'm headed back to Barneys and Saks, fleshing out a wishlist of up-to-date additions to my business wardrobe. I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for. Except for, still, that wedding suit.

Sunday Afternoon Filed June 30, 2008 7:10 PM.

Dear People of the Internet Filed June 29, 2008 12:28 PM.

Judges Ruling? Filed June 28, 2008 10:56 PM.

Down to Business Filed June 27, 2008 2:30 PM.

Dear People of Williamsburg: Filed June 26, 2008 11:29 AM.

Of a Feather Filed June 25, 2008 9:37 PM.

Advice Filed June 24, 2008 11:07 PM.

Experiment Filed June 23, 2008 6:02 PM.

Zen Filed June 10, 2008 7:04 PM.

I'm Meeeeeelting Filed June 9, 2008 6:18 PM.

Decir Que? Filed June 6, 2008 2:43 PM.

Biding Filed June 5, 2008 1:49 PM.

Sounds of Silence Filed June 4, 2008 3:26 PM.

Well Suited Filed June 3, 2008 7:05 PM.