During the last 10 to 20 years, “A-List” actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, who made famous the quote “Hasta La Vista Baby,” were consistently receiving “first dollar gross” (FDG) deals from most major studios. A FDG deal can be defined as all Revenues (with home video at the industry standard 20-percent royalty) less only “Off-The-Top” Expenses, which typically co [...]

Reflecting on our annual firm-wide Community Day last week, I am reminded of a saying we have here at GHJ: “Serving the nonprofit community is not just what we do; it is who we are.” Community service is a central part of the Firm’s identity, and we promote this company culture throughout our organization by contributing to various local charities (and not just once [...]

Return on investment (or ROI) is no doubt a key metric (and usually the only metric that matters) to business investors. As an outsider to a company, an investor hands over his surplus cash to the owners of that company in the hopes that he will get something greater in return. A little money and a lot of faith are involved in such transactions. Stock traders do it al [...]

Living in Southern California, I can’t help but look at the beautiful ocean and think, “No water?” Of course I know seawater is undrinkable, and yet I still ask myself, “why?” Water usage restrictions are mentioned everywhere in media and around water coolers. Most people think of their baths, showers and brown-green lawns when they talk about saving water and the res [...]

For those of us involved in profit participation, either as talent (actors, directors, producers, creators and/or investors) or representatives thereof (lawyers, business managers, agents and/or auditors), the concept of “Breakeven(s)” is becoming ubiquitous at all major motion picture and television studios for profit participation reporting. You may be asking yourse [...]

The California Craft Brewer’s Association Conference (CCBA) is a chance for brewers and industry professionals from all over the state to attend workshops and seminars focused on the craft beer industry. This year’s conference was located at the Weston Hotel in beautiful downtown Long Beach, and I arrived at the show hoping for a better look into the industry and thos [...]

By: Diane Hernandez The record-setting stock market performance and increase in housing prices has enabled the United States economy to grow largely in recent years. This underlying trend, and an increase in a much larger diverse and intellectual population, has given rise to the financial health of philanthropists. Charity Navigator is currently one of the larges [...]

And by: Rick Weis It has been just over a month since the Natural Products Expo West, which has given us time to reflect and, more importantly, to recover. If you have never been to the expo, we highly recommend it. With more than 3,000 exhibitors (including more than 600 first time exhibitors) and 77,000-plus attendees, walking through the endless aisles can be over [...]

Ten years ago, no one would have thought we’d be looking at an industry where streaming video is poised to become the dominant distribution channel for television and video; multi-channel networks drive a huge percentage of content creation, people use their cell phones to consume enormous amounts of content and there are virtually no international borders for distrib [...]

Perhaps in response to the increased discussions that U.S. is becoming a potential tax haven and the continued pursuit of transparency by the government, the Treasury announced on March 30 that it will be issuing proposed regulations to expand on Section 6038A. Certain states allow formation of limited liability companies without disclosure o [...]