A Career Beginning in Hollywood

After earning a Masters degree from USC’s Department of Cinema & Television, I honed my skills as a film and sound editor on Hollywood television and feature film projects, including:

  • In Search Of… with Leonard Nimoy
  • Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part 1
  • MGM cult classic,  Beastmaster
  • National Emmy Award winning PBS documentary series, Planet Earth
A Move to Boston

As fate would have it, I was recruited to come to Boston to work on the PBS series Ring of Truth  with host, MIT Professor Phillip Morrison, and Executive Producer Michael Ambrosino (the creator of PBS’s NOVA science series). Later, I held dual roles on a variety of television and exhibition projects as Creator – Executive Producer, Producer – Director, and Writer – Editor. Working with small and large teams, I  helped develop science & technology programming for:

  • Discovery Channel’s Discover the World of Science
  • Discover Magazine’s – Discover (science series)
  • National Air & Space Museum
  • National Gallery of Art
  • PBS’s American Experience (history) and NOVA (science) series
  • PBS’s Mexico, Race To Save The Planet, and Space Age (series)
The Birth of a New Cable Channel

Out of the clear blue, I got a call from  two entrepreneurial estate tax attorneys with an idea — to start their own cable TV channel — one devoted to science fiction and science fact. I liked the idea, but didn’t know anything about how to launch a cable channel. After all, I was, at this point, a documentary film maker. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me…this was going to be too much fun!

First things first. We needed a channel concept video — a “Vision Video” to show at a big cable convention  coming up. It would have to Wow the viewer and demonstrate, beyond the shadow of a doubt, how cool this channel would be… when it actually was a real channel. But we had a little problem. We didn’t actually own the rights to any Sci-Fi programming — zero…naught… nothing! Another words, we didn’t have anything that we could show… well, except for some footage of a space man looking at a blank screen futuristic  TV monitor.

So…”What if” this space man — a bored guy from the future living in a space ship — was looking back into the past at some great moments in Earth history. And,  ”What if” some of those great moments were the explosion of the first atomic bomb (no… X that, too negative), some old V-2 rockets at take off (yep, that’s public domain footage – we can get that for free), and JFK giving his famous “We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it’s hard.” speech (yep, like that). And, “What if” the space man was watching an alien in the TV monitor also watching the birth of a new phenomena – the Sci-Fi Channel – a “Great Moment in Earth History”. I can do that!

The video was well received and I was invited to join the startup as Vice President of Production and founding member #1. Later, the role would expand into creative director, executive producer, proposal writer, and all around  guerrilla marketer.

Even with the Vision Video, many industry “experts” proclaimed, “There no room for another channel — especially one that ‘s designed for nerds!”, “Who wants a channel devoted to science fiction?”, and “There’s already 35 channels and no room for another.” But Sci-Fi’s two-year fledgling gestation continued amid predictions of doom  – and so did the development of  channel branding, look-and-feel, show concepts, and programming line up.  Building awareness and enlisting tens of thousands of people to petition their cable providers to sign up for the new channel was the focus, along with the creation of press releases, newspapers feature stories,  and video wall extravaganzas presented at fan conventions, exhibit halls,  and theme parks, including:

  • Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park Tour
  • Western and National Cable Shows
  • VNR for 262 Independent TV stations
  • Feature stories in over 250 newspapers and magazines

The Founder’s Goal: raise $78 million in launch funding from institutional and major media investors, but  hold onto a major portion of the shares.

The Reality: Ad revenue during this period was suffering from a 26% slide, there was significant consolidation in the cable industry, and the Founders were bleeding six -figures per month (ouch!). USA Networks — the #1 cable network — recognized the opportunity and wanted “All of it or none of it.” The deal was done, but full ownership was lost.

Final Outcome: We predicted that the Sci-Fi Channel would be successful, with projections of carriage in over 50 million cable homes (the “experts” laughed at us). We were off… by 42 million. The channel became the most successful launch in cable history with current carriage in over 92 million homes! Today, after changing hands several times, the Sci-Fi Channel (renamed SyFy) is valued at $2.5 billion dollars. And, as predicted…the nerds started their take over of the world.

 

The Making of  Inside Space  

Larry was recruited by Sci-Fi’s new owners (USA Networks) to create, write, and produce the channel’s flagship series — “Inside Space”. The prime-time, 42 half-hour, TV magazine series was hosted by Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from Star Trek) and explored the fact and fantasy of space travel.  It aired weekly on the Sci-Fi Channel and in Cable in the Classroom.  Guests and segments included:

Segments: A Cosmic Joke, Kids with Rockets, You Don’t Have to Be Einstein!
Astronaut, Mike Mullane (a host)
The Contact Society – The science of exterestrial life
Environmental Advocate, the President of Greenpeace, USA
Live from Space – Interviews with the Space Shuttle Astronauts
Political Leaders – The Deputy Director of the CIA
Scientists – Dr. Carl Sagan
Space Artist – Robert McCall

The Internet, Comic Book Heroes, and Empire Building

The founders of the Sci-Fi Channel recruited Larry (for the second time) to join their new startup, Big Entertainment, a character creation company as Vice President, Interactive /Executive Producer.

You might ask, “What’s a character creation company?” (I did when they made me the offer.). It’s an enterprise based on original characters a stories that could be developed as a comic book and transformed to a graphic novel, book, TV series, feature film, toys, games, etc. Basically, the

of a website and Ecommerce platform for the fans of a new comic book universe of characters. The success of the digital venture flipped backward into 26 brick and mortar retail stores in malls across North America, featuring entertainment and hi-tech merchandise.

Ecommerce: Commerce One

With the birth of the Internet, Larry joined Commerce One Global Services as Creative Director/Content Strategist and developed websites, Ecommerce platforms, and interactive marketing vehicles for Fortune 2000s, including: Cendant, Harvard, and Novartis.

Back to Hollywood & Broadway by way of Boca Raton

As the Internet evolved, the company transformed itself into a network of data, eCommerce, entertainment, information, and news divisions. Larry then held positions as:

  • VP/Editorial Director of Hollywood.com (with sister websites BaselineStudioSystems.com, Broadway.com, CinemaSource.com, EventSource.com, and MovieTickets.com) with an audience of over 10 million uniques
  • Executive Producer of Totally Hollywood and Totally Broadway Interactive Television with partners Cablevision, Comcast, and Cox

Today: Weaving Art, Commerce, and Technology for Business & Non-Profits

Today, Larry draws on his background in Art, Commerce, and Technology to develop effective digital marketing strategies, engaging content, social media, and digital vehicles for businesses, professionals, and media publishers.