Henson slashes European arm

[Luke]

I hope its only the UK that has the problems, that is bad enough as it is, let just hope nothing else bad like this happens.

I don't think the UK had any problems, it was doing well, maybe better than the USA at least production wise. It just cost too much to run and i guess when you are talking Henson, they've got to look after the American side of the business and the Muppets first. Don't get me wrong, it's terrible this has been done because so much of Henson's history is based here but i've always said that slimming down the company would be better for them. Better to make money from the projects they get and licensing/distribution than spending it on running costs during the quiet periods. It doesn't neccasarily mean Henson are out of the UK in the long term - they could quite easily do the pre-production in the states or hire freelancers at the UK office and just hire a stage when they need it like they were doing at Elstree anyway. I wouldn't be expecting anything like that for quite a while though.

What next ? It could be the closure of the Chaplin Studios or the New York office, doesn't really make sense to have both at the moment. The Creature Shop is obviously a valuable asset that they could conduct business without but i guess they want to hang onto it.

 

[frogboy4]

I'd expect they'd keep the New York building just as they kept the Creature Shop. There's too much history wrapped in the building. Chaplin Studios could easily be sold, but they rent it out to other artists so it probably turns a profit.

 

[Luke]

I'd expect they'd keep the New York building just as they kept the Creature Shop. There's too much history wrapped in the building. Chaplin Studios could easily be sold, but they rent it out to other artists so it probably turns a profit.

Thats what i thought, but there continues to be these serious rumors they are about to make some big cuts in the USA soon and it's hard to see where. You would assume staff cuts but i thought they had already got it down to the bare minimum, they couldn't completely close TV production because there'd be no way of developing future projects. There are only a few people left amongst licensing, marketing and distribution and they depend on that for their day to day income - unless they are going to hire it out to a third party ?

 

[Secret Squirrel]

"Chaplin Studios could easily be sold, but they rent it out to other artists so it probably turns a profit."

JHC does not own the Chaplin Lot. They rent it.

secret squirrel

 

[frogboy4]

"Chaplin Studios could easily be sold, but they rent it out to other artists so it probably turns a profit."

JHC does not own the Chaplin Lot. They rent it.

secret squirrel

Wow! I guess it was my assumption with the Kermit statue and all that they acquired the studio when they bought Chaplin, or does EMTV own that now? Something I never thought.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

The Henson family owns the Chaplin lot; the Henson Company rents it.

For WHAT, I don't know.

 

[frogboy4]

Now that is strange. Does that have anything to do with the EMTV merger or the EMTV subsequent buy-out by the family? It's smart if the Henson was charging EMTV (through Henson Co) for the space.

 

[Luke]

It was a smart move for the Henson kids. I'm not so sure it ended up a smart move for the Henson Company. Initially i guess the kids planned it so that a well funded Henson under EMTV would have been fine meeting the rent and they'd personally gain from it on the side. The way things actually turned out, if Henson were the ones paying directly and with their pretty much non-existant funding from EMTV, having to meet the rent while exisiting on it's limited income probably didn't help their situation. That's part of the reason why it was good that they rented the space out to various people and kept it making money. It's a 10 year lease i think, so EMTV couldn't just ask them to bail out of there and it was in the Henson kids personal interests to keep Henson (through EMTV) to the agreement.

Now the Henson kids own JHC and Chaplin, it might be in their interests to let the company out of the lease if they can find somebody else to take it on. I'm not sure - i think perhaps even the Henson Company (owned by the kids) renting it from themselves has some financial and tax advantages for them personally though. I'm not too up on the states way of doing things but at least here it would.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

It's privately owned.

secret squirrel

 

[Beauregard]

It's privately owned.

secret squirrel

Is that by the Henson Family? I am still confused on this point.