Business Musings: Longevity: Licensing Expo 2022

After a tumultuous two weeks, I’m returning to my blogs about the Las Vegas Licensing Expo, held in May of this year. Because I had an unexpectedly rocky start to June (chronic health fun), I wasn’t able to write the planned second blog about the longevity of licensed properties on the day that I planned. Probably a good thing, when looked at with a cold […]

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Business Musings: Licensing Expo 2022

The Las Vegas Licensing Expo happened in person for the first time since 2019.  We attended, along with 12 writers from our classes, and a number of colleagues and friends. WMG Publishing had quite a presence, since Allyson Longuiera came as well. This was her first licensing expo, but it won’t be her last. Nor will it be ours. I’ll write a blog or two […]

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Business Musings: Disney, Omnichannel, and Contracts (Licensing)

Because I got behind on the news in the spring, and because, due to the busiest fall I’m going to have in more than a decade with all of my work and deadlines, I am writing my weekly blogs weeks in advance. Which means that, unless something truly catches my fancy (enough that I will sacrifice sleep and deadline pages over it), I will remain […]

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Business Musings: TV/Film (Fear-Based Decision-Making Part 3)

I thought I had my arms wrapped around this subsection of my very large topic, with an assist from an article I found about fear-based decision-making in directors. I saved it in my Pocket app after scanning the opening, and went on my merry way. Then, when I started reading past the précis of the scholarly article, I just about spit out my tea. The […]

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Business Musings: Time and Licensing (Licensing/Contracts)

I’ve spent much of the past week on licensing for my Diving Universe. Some of this is because of the Kickstarter we’re running right now. Kickstarters can garner a lot of attention for a project, the kind of attention you can’t get anywhere else. (If you want to know more about that, and what else Kickstarters can do for your writing, then sign up for […]

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A Diving Universe Game!

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve partnered with Catalyst Game Labs to develop a Diving Into The Wreck Game. This game is a card & dice game that will allow you to adventure the way that Boss and her team does. Here’s the information on the game: DIVING INTO THE WRECK An Encounters Game from Catalyst Game Lab Boss Needs Your Help! Gear up, check […]

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Business Musings: Lockdown Licensing Partnerships

Somewhere around the middle of March, I got an email from one of the television producers I’ve worked with for three years now. He asked for an extension of our agreement, which expires in June. A little background. As of January 1, we had a script. We had interested parties. He was going to start filming the pilot sometime in the summer. Whether or not […]

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Business Musings: Then And Now

Recently, Dean told me about a conversation he was having on Facebook with a group of writers who, in the 1990s, shared the table of contents in an anthology featuring stories about the X-Men. Apparently, that anthology has just gotten an audio edition, and one of the authors in the anthology was thrilled about that. Then Dean threw some cold water on the excitement. Who’s […]

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Business Musings: Die Hard (Licensing)

In July of 2018, Bruce Willis emphatically stated (at his Comedy Central roast) that the 1988 movie Die Hard, which made him an action star, “is not a Christmas movie.” It is, he said, “a goddamn Bruce Willis movie!” Well, yeah, Die Hard is a Bruce Willis movie because it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role of John McClane. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned the […]

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Business Musings: Paradigm Shift (Rethinking The Writing Business Part 16)

I knew, when we planned this year’s Business Master Class, that bringing in a representative from the Global Licensing Group would be essential for the business-minded writers who were attending. I did not realize how essential. One of the reasons it was so essential was Deidre Manna-Bratten herself. She came in as prepared as a non-writer could be to explain licensing to a bunch of […]

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