The Year In Review

[Luke]

Originally posted by beaker
Man, at this rate, JHC will be nothing but an employee breakroom at a Downtown Chuck E Cheese and some broken animatronic parts from Creature Shop^_^

Nah it doesn't have to mean that - it's just common sense not to be too ambitious these days. Back in Jim's day they had so much in production and so needed various offices and workshops, and it was much harder to find and rent space back then. Nowdays they have less in production and people's job descriptions are much wider so you need less people. It just doesn't make sense to be paying out so much in quiet periods ...... just look at Henson UK though, they have one management office and a built in workshop with relatively few staff. When they have shows in production they rent a sound stage at 'Elstree'. They manage great, in fact last year had at least 3 shows in continuous production as well as film work. Thats way more than Henson USA had and look at all the facilities and staff there !

 

[JamieDenny]

Dunno If this Counts but I was pleased

Not only did the Muppets do all these thing but they also featured in a magazine I buy called Attitude, where at the back they have an Icon page, they didn't feature just one muppet they featured them all

Jamie

 

[MikeWatt]

From what I understand, the closing of the NY Workshop was an agonizing decision on the part of the company. It was not something they wanted to do, but the economy and other hard-time finances forced them to do it. Since Bloomberg took over office in NY, rent has gone through the roof, property taxes as well. It wasn't a decision made lightly. The Workshop was moved to the basement (if memory serves) of the Central Park east office building, though, and much of the staff is still on some sort of "return to work" retainer should new projects come up.

Any changes to the NY facilities are weighed pretty heavily. Heck, when Amy and I visited the building last year, Jim's office was kept exactly the way he'd had it before he died, right down to the placement of papers and pens on his desk. (It was also a little eerie. We walked in and it felt like *someone* had just left...)

Rivkin is trying to run it like a corporation *without* running it like a corporation. He's trying to keep the business alive. He was good friends with the family, I'm told, and has a personal love for the characters and heritage. But it's hard, I can imagine, to keep a legacy afloat when the way companies do business has reverted back to pre-Industrial attitudes.

Mike Watt
www.hollywoodisburning.com

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Does or will Rivkin even be at the company if Valentine buys it?

 

[Luke]

Originally posted by BoyRaisin2
Does or will Rivkin even be at the company if Valentine buys it?

It's kinda unlikely but somehow i can see it happening. The new management will be moving in directly at the JHC offices though so he'll be way down the ladder.

It's not 'IF' Valentine buys it anymore, it's 'When' - the deal is pretty much now solid, will be officially confirmed before the end of the month. He is definitely the new co-owner.

 

[beaker]

Man, I would hope Rivkin is still a major higher up...that guy is a visionary, and JHC needs him on board. Anyways, really interested in how this Valentine deal will shape up.