Spotlight: C-Suite
example of having three divisions contributing to the overall success of the entire enterprise. Further, we wrote a part for a third podcast guy who’s got his own Netflix specials and wrote an additional part in “Breadwinner” for an up-and- coming comedian who we also put into the CBS Christmas special—what an amazing way to show new talent coming into the Nateland network what potentially lies ahead when you work with us. Being able to show early dividends from Digital and Touring was a great marker that our plan is working.
HM: I think you called the fourth vertical “Experiential”?
FV: Nate has been talking about a theme park since I’ve known him. In 1997, they closed Opryland and he’s never gotten over it. It was his first job. He has always wanted to create a Nateland Theme Park and do it in Middle Tennessee where he grew up. One of the first things he said when I started, was, ‘We’re building the IP, we can sell tickets, people want to work with us … let’s start down the experiences path sooner rather than later.’ Please know that I’m not trying to simplify something as complex as building a theme park, but I like the challenge of going from concert tickets to movie tickets to theme park tickets. The market studies confirm that Nashville can support a theme park.
HM: Could you speak to how brand sponsorships work?
FV: Many of these companies were clients of mine or KPMG. For “Breadwinner” it was a mix of writing certain brands into the script and hoping we could get them on board. There were brands that had a history with the studio and wanted to continue, and brands who wanted to partner with whatever Nate is doing because Nate is clean and he’s successful, and we sell tickets in Ames, Iowa, New York City and Los Angeles, California. A clean, non-political, non-controversial, family- friendly brand that sells to all of America … that’s a corporate branding dream. We were very pleased with the number of companies that came onto this production, and for a first film at this budget size, it’s something we’re very proud of. Yet another reason to get this division up and running quickly so we can continue to influence this part of the creative process. HM: And I’m guessing that influence allows you to shape the brand as it grows and to make sure that there’s a revenue stream moving into the business from another direction? FV: Correct. It also illustrates how the divisions tie into and play off one another. How do we take pieces out of the Digital Lab and spread them across the entire entertainment company? We wrote parts in “Breadwinner” for two of the podcast guys who also have been tour openers—a great
HM: I would imagine there are a good many moving pieces to that scenario.
FV: A lot of variables. The next part of the process is working with a company to conduct a feasibility study that should tell us where it should be, how big it needs to be, how many employees, how many bathrooms, how many restaurants, how many stores. If you build it this way, it should generate X amount of capital against Y amount of debt, etc. Theme parks are complicated but at the end of the day it’s a transaction. You will buy a ticket, and we will entertain you. This is what we do. Everything we do at Nateland needs to look and feel premium. No shortcuts. This is the value proposition.
HM: And what would your involvement look like, operationally?
FV: We could create an entire division that just runs the theme park. We could outsource the running of the theme park. We could just do an IP deal. We have a lot of options, but it starts with the feasibility study so that we understand exactly what it is we're dealing with.
Harbert Magazine 31
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