Overview

Our firm was founded on the principle that a successful creative/technology organization is one that develops the right balance of creativity and technology on a solid business base.  In setting up our business over 17 years ago, we recognized that there were a number of companies in the entertainment industry that could benefit from our range of experience. 

That experience, preceded by strong academic credentials, has been gained by management roles in companies as 20th Century Fox, MGM, Lucasfilm/Industrial Light & Magic, Kodak/Cinesite, Bank of America and several independent banks.  Professional service work includes the past 17 years in our own consulting firm as well as prior employment in the entertainment practice of Coopers & Lybrand (PriceWaterhouseCoopers). 

Furthermore, since we have worked all along the entertainment and entertainment technology food chain, we have deep insight into the inner workings of these various industry segments.  It has also provided us with a first hand sense of the direction in which the industry segments are heading and the challenges and rewards that lie ahead.

Management

• Marty Shindler — Providing a business perspective to creative, technology and emerging companies has been Marty Shindler's hallmark for more than thirty years, including over eighteen years…  Read More »
• Roberta Shindler — After earning her Master’s Degree in Management from the Sloan School of Management at MIT, Roberta was recruited by Bank of America,.…  Read More »

How We Work

Our policy is to not work with clients as though there was a taxi meter running.  We want our clients to know that they can feel comfortable in contacting us and they do not have to keep an eye on their watch thinking that every minute is costing them.  That tends to be counterproductive and sometimes causes important matters to fall through the cracks.

That said, we also like to be paid fairly for our services, just as you do. 

As such, we have developed several business models that have proven successful in our years of independent consulting.  These are:

Fixed fee - where we can clearly and accurately define the scope of a specific project, including timing of the work, agreed upon assistance/information to be provided by the client, deliverables and payment terms, we offer a fixed fee arrangement.  This provides the client with a comfort level as to what the maximum final fee of a project will be and what it will constitute.

Retainer - some clients like to have access to our services on a regular basis, but for many reasons may not have a clearly definable scope or body of work.  This typically includes a range of services from attending meetings, being available for consultations on various daily business matters, review of documents and other similar matters.  For them, we work to determine an approximate amount of our time they may require per month, on average, over a 3, 6 or 12 month period.  With that information, we propose a monthly fixed retainer that takes into account the average amount of time to be incurred.

Hourly - there are occasions where it is not possible to define the scope of work clearly enough for a fixed fee or a monthly retainer.  In these circumstances, the preferred billing method is on an hourly basis.  Specific rates are discussed in advance and where applicable an estimate for the range of hours may be provided. 

Fees can sometimes be a sensitive subject.  We urge clients and prospective clients to feel free to discuss their needs with us in a confidential manner.