Home of 'The Rock’
“Time was, if you didn’t want to leave the house to go to the movies, all you needed to do was be patient — within a year, just about all theatrical releases showed up on either HBO or Showtime. But that era has come to an end, as movie hounds in many parts of the country scour the TV listings and exclaim as one, 'Hey! Where the hell’s The Rock?’ The Rock, as it turns out, is on a cable network with the ungainly name of Starz.”
Tim Carvell, Fortune, Nov. 24, 1997
Risky Business
“It makes sense. One of the things [Starz] was facing was making sure they got enough output to their pipeline. But it’s a higher-risk business. You have to invest in a slate fashion. You don’t bet on a single film. Of any 10 films, six lose money, three more or less break even, and one will be a hit, but you don’t know which.”
David Bloom, former MGM executive, discussing Starz movie production business through Overture Films, The Denver Post
Formula Flip
“While rivals HBO and Showtime in recent years bolstered their lineups of original series such as The Sopranos and The L Word, Douglas County-based Starz is shopping its newfound TV production talents beyond its own network. And it’s doing it in an unusual way. Instead of taking the traditional TV producer tact of spending thousands of dollars on a pilot and then shopping it around to TV executives in hopes of a taker, Starz flips the formula.”
Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News
Premium Audience
“We’re all after the same audience that wants a premium kind of television show. It’s not a huge audience at the end of the day.”
Bob Greenblatt, Showtime programming chief, to The Associated Press, Dec. 16, 2006
