Steven Webber, — best known for his role on Wings — is the new Leo Bloom in the Broadway company of The Producers. Again, we have no comment other than that the folks running the show haven't made any serious missteps yet, so it's unlikely this is the first. What I find more interesting to discuss is to what extent, if any, the success of this show connects with, or perhaps will be perpetuated by the headlines over, first dot-coms turning out to be ponzi schemes and now companies the size and seeming stability of Enron.
Over on his site, my pal Jay Zilber quotes our discussion here of the new Bialystock and then writes…
A snarky aside: I'm just waiting for it to dawn on Maureen Dowd that there's grist for a whole 750-word column to be had, by drawing comparisons between The Producers and the Enron saga. "Do you realize," the Leo Bloom character would say in an unguarded moment of creative accounting theorizing, "that under the right conditions, you could make more money bankrupting a company than if you produced something of value!" (Or is that just so obvious that even Ms. Dowd can resist the temptation?)
I actually mentioned something like this a year or three ago in one of the many columns I haven't posted here. I suggested that if Mel Brooks were to update his classic film — not that this would have been a good idea — it would be about Bialystock and Bloom selling shares in www.springtime4hitler.com. (Don't bother try to go to that URL, by the way. The name's registered but it doesn't connect to anything.)
It applies to Enron, too. One thing that this mess is bringing to light is the extent to which some companies seem to exist only to make short-term zillions for their top executives and no one else. The comic book, animation and even live-action entertainment industries have all suffered to some extent the last few years from situations where the highest-ranking officers have taken home huge checks. The salaries and bonuses were tolerated because of apparent success…and by the time some or all of that success was found to be illusory, the officers had cashed in their stock options and fled. Not that long ago, the current boss of an animation studio admitted to me that he wasn't interested in the long-range health of his company. He has no plans to stick around. He just wants to make a huge splash this year, get what he can get…and then get out. If the company crumbles in a couple of years, it won't matter to him. He'll be gone.
The machinations of Bialystock and Bloom in The Producers only differ slightly from that strategy. Instead of not caring if there is failure, they actively covet it. Other than that, the modus operandi is the same: The guys who set up the pyramid flee to Rio with the bucks while the investors get bupkis. For the animation business, this is especially deadly since the making of cartoons (features, especially) requires long-term investment.
Therein lies a maddening conflict. Animation is traditionally one of the safest of all show business investments. In the age of home video and cable, a cartoon has to be pretty lousy (or its marketers, uncommonly inept) not to turn a profit. But it isn't a quick profit. Tomorrow, if you and I came up with something that was certain to be the next Lion King, a lot of studios wouldn't touch it. Making it would take a huge output of current cash and even if that money would be recouped twenty times over, it would take 3-4 years. At some studios, the person with the power to greenlight doesn't figure on being there in 3 years. He just wants the books to look good for the next few quarters so he can justify, at least for a while, that platinum-lined contract with a golden parachute attached.
The tale of Enron is nothing new. We've seen it for years in the entertainment industry, especially in content-themed dot-coms. What's new is that someone is finally noticing that when these companies crash and burn, they take peoples' lives with them. Somehow, this time, I don't think the investors will be as forgiving as the Little Old Ladies who got screwed two ways by Max Bialystock.