SECRETS OF THE BIZ REVEALED with PETER J. DEKOM

The Movie Business Podcast

Host Jason E. Squire interviews entertainment lawyer Peter J. Dekom about the modern film and television industry, where Dekom argues that fear and ignorance, rather than hidden

Key takeaways

• Peter J. Dekom asserts that fear and ignorance, not industry secrets, are the primary motivators in entertainment negotiations.
• Corporate debt and leveraged acquisitions like Paramount's purchase of WBD are creating unsustainable financial pressure across studios.

Main topics

• entertainment industry secrets and creative fear
• corporate debt and studio acquisitions

Notable quotes

Arguing precedent is a symptom of a weak mind.

Conclusion

The episode provides a grounded critique of Hollywood's corporate shif

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:07) Welcome to the Movie Business Podcast, picking up where Movie Business Book left off. I'm Jason Squire, hosting a wide range of industry talent and executives to answer fundamental questions about the business today. Here we go. Speaker 1 (0:26) And today we're happy to welcome back, to reveal more business secrets, Peter J. Deckham, a lawyer, management marketing consultant, an entrepreneur in entertainment, and the internet. Clients have included George Lucas, Ron Howard, and JVC. As advisor to New Mexico, he helped create their film incentives. Honors include Forbes' Top 100 U.S. Lawyers, Premier's 50 Most Powerful People in Hollywood, Named Entertainment Lawyer of the Year by Beverly Hills and Century City Bar Associations. Peter lectures widely, is the author of Next, Reinventing Media, writes the daily blog Unshred America, and hosts the podcast Deckham Law & Order. Welcome back to the podcast. Let's ask, first and foremost, what are the new secrets of the business? Speaker 2 (1:19) The big no secret is there are no secrets and everybody is looking for the Holy Grail when it doesn't exist. Speaker 1 (1:25) Very good. Would you expand on that? Speaker 2 (1:28) Well, you know, it's sort of like one day I woke up and I walked into the entertainment industry and there was this really stiff breeze blowing in my face. It was a breeze of ignorance and fear. I used to just say that fear was the primary motivator in film and television. But today... I think ignorance is just rattling around out there. We're living in a universe where creative content is no longer just dictated by, oh, creativity. We have political vectors. We have budget vectors. We have generational disagreements. And we have people who believe that when a movie comes out or a TV show is telecast and it blows away records, whatever that content was, it's the new rule. And the first rule you have to learn when you're in the business after you accept the fact that fear and ignorance are the primary motivators in the industry is that there are no rules. One of the things when I negotiate contracts and the negotiator on the other side representing a network or a studio said, well, we don't do that. That's our precedent. And I kind of laughed to myself. I don't remember the maxim that I myself created, which is. Arguing precedent is a symptom of a weak mind. And whenever the studio executive tells me something that common sense dictates is not true, I know that's what I'm going to get. And I have to say there are a number of studios and networks in this industry that I refer to simply as side letter companies. We never put that in a contract. No, of course not. You're doing it in side letters. And it's also interesting when a new company is formed and within a week they have precedence. I find all of this very amusing, but for people who are trying to get into this business, I think that's something they should reconsider. You have two choices. Bang your head against the wall or ignore the system and do it anyway. Speaker 1 (3:25) Well, you know, the whole issue of fear is often referred to in entertainment management. And it's very tough because it's so difficult to chart potential success, especially in theatrical. So it is a complex industry in transition. There's so much going on. So here's the question. How can the industry become healthier with current job loss, huge corporate debt, one less studio, continual boom or bust results, and tech company rivals? I Speaker 2 (3:57) think, first of all, this... If you look at who's controlling the industry today and who's making the bids and how stuff is being acquired, you'll see a disproportionate force called the tech bros. Whether it's a Silicon Valley or other places, we are technologically driven and there are many people. who believe that currently AI is quite capable of replacing actors, writers, directors, and just about everything else. Maybe someday that will be possible. Speaker 1 (4:26) Right Speaker 2 (4:27) now, I have to say the one thing that AI does not have is soul. And soul is the heart of good creativity. How do you make this industry more responsive and real? Well, first of all, you have to go back to the history of the business. When the motion picture business and later the television business were created, they were basically people with passionate beliefs in creativity. And they went out and filmed stuff and did stuff cheaply. And there were no one telling them what the union breaks were. No one was telling them what they could or couldn't do. They just did it. And the companies that formed were soon companies based on filmmaker and television creator entrepreneurs. It wasn't run by corporate structures. It wasn't run by investment banks, although commercial banks and investment banks have always been a part of the entertainment space. But the CEOs of the companies were not four levels up in a holding