Nelson Branco's SOAP OPERA UNCENSORED: Issue 59 Page 2
cash and rewarding itself to give readers and the business an accurate picture of how cheap the company is being with the WGA :
UNCENSORED can report that, for the 2013 year, Prospect Park will pay itself an Executive Producer salary fee of $1.9 million, reports a highly reliable mole. *Please See Editor’s Note At Bottom of Article
From 2014 to 2016, Prospect Park projects a compound annual growth rate to its own executive producing fee of 12.5%. In addition, production costs are projected to increase over the next couple of years by 3 percent to pay its actors, writers, directors, and crew. Licensing fees to ABC will jump up an annual rate of 5.7%. Of course, this is all dependent on the kind of sponsorship/revenue Prospect Park can generate with these two ventures; but, given their rosy outlook for its own bank account, the studio, as UNCENSORED reported a few weeks back, may have already secured all the financing it needs so these numbers are pretty solid and realistic in terms of PP’s long-term goals.
Analyze this: So while PP is allocating a 3% annual increase in salaries, etc., to workers, PP's fee grows 12.5% a year and ABC's fee 5.7% a year. Nice math, Prospect Park.
Hopefully, Prospect Park will allocate some cashola to a department it desperately needs: a publicity wing!
But the big question on everyone’s mind is how can Prospect Park go into production as soon as next month without scripts? Sources close to the productions hint to UNCENSORED that scripts may already be in existence. Let’s remember that Agnes Nixon more than likely penned the future of AMC revival as did Cartini with ONE LIFE.
In other the-sky-is-blue news, Prospect Park has finally confirmed its renewed efforts to bring back AMC and ONE LIFE in a press release:
We are pleased to confirm that Prospect Park is reviving the beloved soap operas, All My Children and One Life To Live as the anchor programs on The Online Network (TOLN). Today we are also pleased to confirm that Prospect Park has: 1) signed guild agreements with both SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) and the DGA (Directors Guild of America); 2) entered into a consulting agreement with Agnes Nixon the creator of All My Children and One Life to Live guaranteeing her active involvement; 3) hired Foz McDermott (coordinating producer Heroes) as TOLN’s head of production, Jennifer Pepperman (Director, One Life to Live) as Executive Producer on One Life to Live, and Ginger Smith (Producer, All My Children) as Executive Producer on All My Children; and 4) arranged the necessary financing to begin production in February on both All My Children and One Life To Live.
We thank the loyal audience and new generation of fans of both shows who have demonstrated that passion and exciting story lines are not just reserved for traditional television. Their enduring support encouraged us to move forward each and every day. We look forward to sharing more details including our launch airdate and additional specifics in the coming weeks.
Please encourage fans to visit https://www.theonlinenetwork.com/ to subscribe to updates.
Thank you,
Jeff Kwatinetz and Rich Frank
Industry pundits and savvy fans may want to follow the very vocal McDermott on Twitter @TheMightyFoz. The fact that Foz sounds like Brian Frons has not gone unnoticed by many in the business! As for his past experience in soaps, Foz tweeted a fan this response: “i am mostly primetime and features guy. Although i have been learning a lot in the last couple months!” Earlier a fan sent Foz the late, great Douglas Marland’s soap rules in which Foz later retweeted. Let’s hope he read it. Foz also confirmed Nixon will be consulting on both projects even going as far as defending her age: “Age aint no thang.... its all about talent, desire, and passion. We are SO LUCKY to have her on board!”
Nixon gave Prospect Park her blessings by writing:
We of the One Life to Live and All My Children families are thrilled to bring our beloved viewers new, ongoing stories from Llanview and Pine Valley.” It’s believed to be the first time Nixon has said anything publicly about Prospect Park’s second attempt to bring the soaps back online. “I’m especially grateful to Prospect Park for deploying the power of you, our fans, to enable this exciting transition to dramatic production for the Internet. It’s a historic moment, comparable to how life was changed when television took over for radio.”
I pray Prospect Park isn’t playing Nixon for a fool once again. Posture Park me once, shame on you, Posture Park me twice….
EDITOR’S NOTE/UPDATE: In response to my story about Prospect Park, entitled “Ca-Ching: What Prospect Park Is Expected To Make On The AMC And One Life Reboots!” I was contacted by representatives of Prospect Park who issued the following statement: "Prospect Park in fact has no plans to charge any production fees, including any producer or executive producer fees, in connection with the soaps AMC and ONE LIFE."
I sincerely apologize for any error on my part. My information for this story came from the same source document that has proven accurate and reliable in the past. I also contacted Mr. Jeff Kwatinez of Prospect Park prior to publishing the story for comment, but I received no response prior to publication. However, in view of Prospect Park's statement printed above, and to the extent my previous story was wrong, I apologize to my readers and to Prospect Park for any inaccuracies my story may have contained, and I hereby retract it in favor of Prospect Park's statement on the matter.
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