Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Futures of Hollywood

They want to BET on the MOVIES like the MORTGAGE SECURITIES?

I suppose it is all the same; both are made of s***.

What will they think of to bet on next?


Related:
You Bet Your Life!

"
Hollywood a little queasy over film futures market; Fear that it may expose studios to speculative harm" by Todd Shields, Bloomberg News | April 18, 2010

WASHINGTON — Regulators approved the first futures market based on movie box-office returns yesterday over the concern of lawmakers and Hollywood executives that the exchange may expose studios to speculative harm.

Congress concerned about another Jewish interest and not you, 'eh, Americans?

Related:
Now we are finding out that Congress was betting their own fortunes on the collapse of the US economy

Also see:
Frank balks at derivatives measure

Yeah, I CAN SEE WHY, you lying and hypocritical PoS.

Also see:
What Is Wrong With Hollywood

How AmeriKa's MSM is Like the Movies

MSM Monitor Movie Matinee

The Massachusetts Oscars

They didn't get one from me.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted 5-0 to let Veriana Networks Inc.’s Media Derivatives Inc. unit open a market for professional traders to make financial bets on how well a new movie will do in ticket sales....

I never go to the movies anymore. That's what On Demand is for.


Media Derivatives’ market, to be called Trend Exchange, “will help better manage economic uncertainty and financial volatility,’’ Rob Swagger, chief executive of the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company, said in an e-mailed statement after the vote.

Or it will cause it.

Professionals would use the market to hedge risk to movie investments, from “catastrophic events such as the World Trade Center bombing, to climate events such as severe snowstorms,’’ the company said.

Media Derivatives told the commission its proposed market could transfer financial risk from producers, studios and theaters to “a community of speculators willing to assume these risks’’ in return for being paid a premium....

And if the WHOLE THING COLLAPSES, don't worry -- government will make sure you get a TAXPAYER BAILOUT!

Hollywood studios that participate by hedging their films’ prospects will doom ticket sales, said Peter Guber, chairman and CEO of independent production company Mandalay Pictures LLC.

I'm not going anyway. Nothing I have seen advertised interests me.

“The word will get out in three seconds and the picture will be a complete catastrophe,’’ said Guber, who was chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment in the early 1990s.

Like most of Hollywood's products.

Key members of Congress also expressed doubts.

Senator Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat, added language yesterday banning trade in movie futures to a broader derivatives bill she is writing. Lincoln is chairman of the Agriculture Committee that oversees the commodity commission.

Senate Judiciary Committee members warned CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler in a letter Thursday of the risk of “creating perverse incentives for movie failure that may undermine the integrity of the industry.’’

Oh, like what GOLDMAN SACHS DID to the ENTIRE WORLD ECONOMY?!!

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Of course, government IS looking out for Hollywood's interests, Americans, not yours.


"
Film futures market hits snag; Regulators seek answers on new ‘commodity’" by Marcy Gordon, Associated Press | May 20, 2010

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators voiced concerns yesterday about creation of a futures market for trading on movie box-office receipts as they face deadlines for deciding whether to approve new contracts....

At a public hearing by the agency, CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton said, “I think it is pretty cool. . . . But I’m not sure that cool means a business.’’

Major Hollywood studios oppose the futures market, which would allow movie industry participants and speculators to trade on predicted movie revenues.

But given a struggling economy and strained environment for lending that has made it harder to finance movies, a potential new source of capital would be welcome, executives associated with the movie industry told the federal panel.

Related:

"The box office generated $10.6 billion in 2009"

Yeah, Hollywood is really hurtin'!

A new futures market would reduce uncertainty and give investors “an objective, clear result’’ that would bring them back to the movie-making table, said Schuyler Moore, a lawyer who represents industry financers.

“I guarantee you the studios will be using this,’’ Moore insisted. The Motion Picture Association of America, representing the big studios and leading opposition to the new market, “has lost their mind on paranoia on this issue,’’ Moore said....

Sort of like pushing a "War on Terror," isn't it?

Besides the Motion Picture Association, opposition has come from the National Association of Theatre Owners, the Directors Guild of America, and the Independent Film and Television Alliance.

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So which movie should I go watch this afternoon, readers?