Star Wars – The Stories Awaken

It is not just the Force that awakens with the forthcoming release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The world seems to be totally obsessed with the movie, not a bad thing, not for Disney and Lucasfilm, not for the global exhibition community and not for the many businesses that will also earn revenue from the merchandising, and in due time, from the home entertainment release in all of its various incarnations.

And at least for the next several years, the continuing productions, Episodes VIII and IX, and the offshoots, will generate a trail of other stories.

If you live on the planet and are involved in social circles of any kind, online or in person, you have heard stories, too, and perhaps even shared a few of your own.

The stories that people have been telling include where they were when they first saw a Star Wars movie, regardless of the episode, which characters they played in games with friends, which video game was the most or least fun, etc. and for many, how it impacted and influenced their lives.

You get the idea.

For me, it was a theater on Cambridge Street in Boston in May or June 1977.  It was literally a push to get into the theater as crowds shoved their way in, jostling with all those around them, attempting to remain connected with the group with whom they came to the theater.

It was an experience, a very positive one, as the movie was just different from anything most of us had seen.  The phrase “may the force be with you” found its way into everyone’s lexicon and was often a parting phrase among friends and co-workers.

Little did I know at that time how that “little” movie would impact me.

It was a month or two later when we moved to California and two years after that, the force came into my life.

Lucasfilm hired someone from 20^th Century Fox, the movie’s financier and distributor, creating an opening for which I was recruited from Coopers & Lybrand (PriceWaterhouseCoopers).

Little did I know at that time, that 8 ½ years later, I would return to C&L and work in its entertainment practice.  Little did I know that the following year the firm would have an opportunity to bid against other Big 8 firms for the Lucasfilm account, and that we would we awarded the account.

And, little did I know that shortly thereafter I would be recruited by Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic to be a part of its first professional management team, heading up the finance and administrative functions.

I am very much looking forward to The Force Awakens, although I suspect I will not push and shove to get into the theater on opening weekend.

While the movie will likely play in theaters for an extended period of time, I will be there early enough in the release to participate in the stories people will tell around the water cooler, the real one or the virtual water coolers of Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.

It was a long time ago…..you, know the rest of that phrase, but the influence endures.

May the force be with you!

My Star Wars story that is.  What’s yours?

 

As for The Shindler Perspective

iShindler.com – Regular readers of our periodic newsletter will notice something different this time, an updated website with new logo and banner.  Take a moment and visit our website, iShindler.

We are still providing our insights and perspectives on innovation and new technologies in both the consulting newsletter and, of course, in the advisory services that we provide to our clients.  Our corporate entity remains The Shindler Perspective, Inc. for those services.

Digital Hollywood – Marty Shindler moderated two forward thinking, future focused panels at Digital Hollywood on October 20, 2015, both of which were very well attended, especially the Future of TV panel at 7:45 AM.  The other, Future of Film, included a discussion related to Back to the Future Day, the following day.  Both included panelists with deep insight into the topics.  The early morning panel was live streamed with the archived version now available via the above link.

Storage Visions – Details are still being worked out for a panel entitled Pumping Big Data: Putting Data Where It Needs To Be at this annual conference about everything storage related.  Getting data of all kinds to and from the cloud is becoming increasingly important whether for individuals or the many companies with which we all work.  We’ll explore the current state of the internet, wired and wireless, and take a look into the future as well.  The Storage Visions Conference is January 4 & 5, 2016 at the Luxor Hotel just prior to the start of CES.  Click here for Eventbrite and use “onehundredoff_67349921” to receive a $100 discount.  Registered attendees also receive a free exhibit hall pass to CES.

 

Trends in the Marketplace and Other

Statistics important to you – Earnings season is upon us and in the next few weeks, many publicly traded companies will be reporting their quarterly earnings and before too long, their annual results.  Included in the earnings reports will be statistics related to not just earnings, but the number of customers for their various services.  In particular, we pay close attention to the number of TV and broadband subscribers from the cable and telcos as well as the number of subscribers that the many new slim bundles and service offerings have earned in order to consider which represent trends and which are anomalies.  We’ll post pertinent ones and commentary on our social pages.

Early in 2016, we will be paying particular to the sales of VR and AR headsets.  While initial sales are just that, initial, it will provide a glimpse as to the market acceptance of the technology.  There is a lot of buzz and a frenzy in the marketplace, much of it for good reason, but until we know sales figures, it is just that, buzz.  All TBD.

Comics reflect reality – The current generation, younger than Millennials, has yet to be officially named as far as we can tell.  Some names used include Digital Natives, Generation Like, Generation Z and the Selfie Generation, all seemingly appropriate.  Regardless of the name finally used, Bliss already has a sense of what to expect.  No arguments here.

Chasing the new normal was the topic of a prior newsletter and was a component of our recent Future of TV topic at Digital Hollywood.  There are various definitions, depending on the context, of the term “new normal” and Non Sequitur presents one of them.

And in the spirit of Halloween, social media has a place there, too, in the new reality as noted in this recent Pearls Before Swine comic.  Be careful as you plan your treats so as not to be tricked.

 

As always, we welcome your feedback on our newsletters and posts on social sites on topics of relevance to our clients, past clients and prospective clients.

For The Shindler Perspective, Inc.

Marty Shindler

Chief Executive Officer