scott mitchell rosenberg
scott mitchell rosenberg is chairman of platinum studios, an entertainment company that hold the ...
scott mitchell rosenberg became marvel entertainment' s 2nd highest executive after selling malibu comics to marvel in 1994. scott then left and formed platinum studios in 1997 .
christopher mitchell is the director of the community broadband networks initiative with the institute for local self - reliance (ilsr) in minneapolis. mitchell is a leading national expert ...
scott mitchell rosenberg is chairman of platinum studios, an entertainment company that hold the rights to over 3, 800 characters and stories, some of which have appeared in millions of comics distributed in over 49 countries and 23 languages. scott, along with platinum studios has adapted content for film, television and all other media. as ...
@ bob: i don’t believe there’s an official claim, but a blurry claim to bolster platinum’s credibility. when scott rosenberg was at malibu comics, he helped broker the deal for the men in black movie and while never a producer on the film or credited in any way, he’s used that association to his pr advantage. men in black was published by mailbu comics, scott rosenberg owned malibu comics, the movie became a big franchise, now scott rosenberg owns platinum. could lightning strike twice? it’s fuzzy business puffery .
and what of scott mitchell rosenberg, the legendary mastermind behind platinum, cowboys and aliens and a plethora of shell companies to keep everything tucked away? he seems to have dropped out of sight as far as platinum goes, although he’s been backing some stuff on kickstarter according to his facebook page .
scott mitchell rosenberg is chairman / ceo of platinum studios. platinum controls one of the world’s largest independent libraries of comic book characters. scott has played an integral role in creating one of the largest bibles in comic book history: the platinum studios macroverse, which includes anchor titles such as cowboys & aliens. a constant innovator, scott established platinum in 1997, following a successful career as the founder of malibu comics, which sold to marvel in 1994. at malibu, scott led many successful comic spin offs into toys, television, and feature films, including the billion - dollar film and television phenomenon, men in black .
the investor call was described as a chance for investors who disagreed with rosenberg’s removal to rebut the decision. but neither beall nor rosenberg showed up on the call .
the song “cowboys and aliens” was inspired by the same - named 2006 graphic novel by scott mitchell rosenberg, which provided the genesis for the 2011 film starring harrison ford and daniel craig, directed by jon favreau, and produced by ron howard and steven spielberg. the upcoming animated version will reportedly stake different territory from the live action adaptation .
mitchell and his partner, walter, have fulfilled a lifelong dream of having a family by adopting two children, sebrina and sebastian .
malibu comics was launched in 1986 by dave olbrich and tom mason (joined by chris ulm in 1987) thanks to the financing of scott mitchell rosenberg, who was operating a comic book distribution company (sunrise distributors) at the time. olbrich had previously been an employee of fantagraphics, as well as the administrator of the jack kirby awards .
rosenberg is a hateful, unethical business partner for sure. but, what i don’t understand is that most ignore that rosenberg apparently is not fully to blame in the deals he made .
beall sent a letter to rosenberg on monday in which he claimed to speak on behalf of platinum’s board of directors. it informed rosenberg he had been removed as ceo. beall sent a separate email to investors alleging numerous misuses of company funds by rosenberg. among those accusations were that rosenberg transferred a controlling interest in the company to another entity, rip media, without approval of shareholders; that rosenberg paid himself out of funds intended for other purposes; and that rosenberg diverted company funds to pay for his family’s health care. beall also claimed the company has lost rights to
ceo scott rosenberg today denied that he has been pushed out of the company despite what president chris beall is saying in letters and emails to his investors and shareholders — that rosenberg this week is being removed from his post amid allegations of misallocating funds. neither execs appeared on a hastily scheduled investor call yesterday to sort it all out .
excellent article. one other lawsuit not mentioned is the lawsuit asher has against rosenberg. asher who does toxic financing to these pink sheet stocks is suing rosenberg for 30k loan he recieeved and used for his own personal benefit .
it’s rare that we, as a near - journalist, get a chance to feast with such gusto on the misdeeds of a total flimflam conman like scott mitchell rosenberg. while we have to enjoy a bit of schadenfreude at the spectacular dissolution of platinum studios, it comes after decades of people being lied to and ripped off—going all the way back to rosenberg’s days at sunrise distribution, a comics distributor that ripped off the indie comics world in the dark days of the black and white bust. in other words, there is no good from all this .
today, scott mitchell rosenberg produces and develops comic book properties for all media, including slates of live - action and animated feature films, television series for major networks, direct to dvd features, animated features and direct to web content. his vision has allowed platinum to develop the business model of the future where properties are developed simultaneously for multiple distribution models to maximize profitability, visibility and availability for everyone involved, from the creator to the consumer .
as mayor jim gray’s chief innovation officer, scott shapiro generates transformative projects that do not fall neatly within the standard method of city - service delivery... .
does this mean anything? is there even anything left of platinum to take over? once it claimed to own 5000 properties, but few of them had much of a fanbase, to put it mildly. since the board drama of a year ago—platinum’s new president tried to oust owner scott mitchell rosenberg only to have rosenberg fire him and an investor’s meeting turn into a disaster—the only news of the company was a sale of its storage units last summer. the penny stock was last worth a penny in 2011, it hasn’t tweeted since september 2012, or made any sec filings since about the same time .
it was concepts like these that brought malibu comics’ ultraverse to the front lines with its launch of a new genre of comic books in june 1993. the company itself had been in existence since 1986, when scott rosenberg founded it with its inaugural title the ex - mutants. rosenberg negotiated a distribution deal with the newly formed image comics. image was a success, and infused malibu with loads of capital to try new things .
according to beall, rosenberg has been feeding fake information about the “atlantis rising” and c & a2 projects, among others, to the media and friends. beall pointed to this article from october as an example. it claims musician scott west had written a song to be used in the “animated graphic novel. ”
mitchell klein is the executive director of the z - wave alliance, a rapidly growing technology alliance focused on the smart home / iot. the z - wave alliance is a consortium of global ...
scott behn is the ceo of chibardun telephone cooperative, inc. dba mosaic telecom and has served in this capacity since june 2013. in addition, he has also held various leadership ...
scott joined edr in 2006, advancing to his current position in july 2013. he oversees external technology related to housing, development and construction initiatives including internet services, cable television, ...
. the letter, dated yesterday at 10: 45 am, confirms that a majority share of the company’s shareholders had voted beall out. (beall alleges that 790 million of the voting shares owned by rip media were illegitimately transferred by rosenberg before the shake - up .) the board reconstitution left rosenberg and glenn eggert as the only remaining directors, with rosenberg named as the company’s chairman, ceo, president, secretary, cfo, and treasurer. the vote came after beall issued a letter of suspension to rosenberg on monday (read that one
scott russell is the vice president of ancillary services and business development for cottonwood residential. he has lead the development of multiple wholly owned subsidiaries including resident indemnity management, ... complete bio > >
in 1986 mr. rosenberg launched his own comic book company, malibu comics entertainment. mr. rosenberg founded malibu comics with one title, the ex - mutants, and subsequently developed a library of hundreds of cutting - edge properties in a whole new
ultraverse
- a comic book universe that contained quality characters including prime, rune, and night man. under mr. rosenberg' s leadership, malibu ...
scott rosenberg began his career in the comic book industry at age 13 when he started a mail order company. he became known for picking early hits from often - unknown talent by focusing not on sales but on the stories they were telling. based on his retail success, rosenberg began publishing his own independent comic book titles, which led to the creation of malibu comics in 1986. his first launch, ex - mutants, was an instant hit. it was at malibu comics that rosenberg also acquired men in black for comics from it’s creator who was passed by 70 publishers before being given a publishing green light from rosenberg. this, of course, went on to become the massive men in black franchise, currently consisting of three films, an animated tv series, a universal studios ride attraction and in numerous forms of merchandise .
i have mixed feelings. sure, there’s no defending rosenberg. but, it was malibu which gave us ron lim and forever redefined silver surfer and thanos .
anyone who willingly invested money with rosenberg after the overt scam that was cowboys and aliens had to have known they were taking their financial life in their own hands .
) to investors and board members outlining the reasons for his actions. he set up a call for yesterday at 7 pm but neither beall or rosenberg were on it .
malibu' s 1987 financing arrangement with rosenberg also led to it effectively acquiring eternity comics and canadian publisher aircel comics as imprints. in 1989, malibu acquired the publisher adventure publications .
“it will be an animated version of the graphic novel. scott said that our ‘cowboys and aliens’ theme would be great way to end the movie and to be playing as the credits roll, which is what justin and i had in mind when we wrote it. ”
mitchell katine is a founding partner with the law firm of katine & nechman l. l. p. over the course of his career, mitchell has not only distinguished himself as an outstanding professional with unique talents and expertise in a myriad of legal fields, he has also been a community leader and advocate for many of the most marginalized in our society. he is perhaps best known as having served as local counsel for john lawrence and tyron garner in the landmark united states supreme court case of lawrence v. texas, which created new paradigms in u. s. privacy law jurisprudence .
i worked on the dylan dog movie at one point. i met rosenberg, who was perfectly nice to me, but the platinum business model always seemed completely bizarre to me. “content” without content .
for additional comment. beall for his part remains adamant that rosenberg’s tenure atop platinum has been defined by mismanagement, reiterating in particular his claim that the transfer of a controlling share of platinum studios stocks was unethical because, he alleges, it is “an entity that scott does have an ownership stake in. ” rosenberg disputes those claims without reservation, and speaking exclusively to deadline, he said “i do not control rip at all, and that’s from any legal standpoint, as anyone who would want to look at sec records, accounting records, all legal avenues one can see, i do not control rip. ” deadline has been told that further comment on the matter by rip media will follow .
“alien circus” by dave roman and l. frank weber (3 - album - sized books) “the big amoeba” by art baltazar (one - shot ogn) “blood nation” by rob moran and james devlin (mini - series) “nightfall” by scott o. brown and ferran xalabarder (one - shot ogn) “super larry” by andy mangels and dan thompson (one - shot ogn) “watchdogs” by fred van lente and brian churilla (one - shot ogn) “the weapon” by fred van lente and scott koblish (mini - series) “unique” by dean motter and dennis calero (mini - series )
rosenberg brokered a deal in 1992, in which seven top - selling artists defected en - masse from marvel comics to form image comics at malibu comics instead of the major two publishers, marvel and dc comics. rosenberg signed the artists to a label deal, giving the upstart creator - run publisher access to malibu comics’ distribution channels and well - regarded marketing division. this, and malibu’s other titles, subsequently led to malibu breaking all sales records for independent comics, including temporarily moving ahead of industry giant, dc comics. rosenberg has recently worked on a deal to bring platinum studios digital distribution rights to some of these same titles .
in october 2002, marvel studios held a press conference to announce the launch of two new projects to be produced with universal pictures. marvel studios ceo avi arad was pleased to announce that prime was one of the film projects. the film had been in planning stages while the comic was still being produced, but had been stuck in development hell with rewrite after rewrite being churned out by multiple writers, including a draft by toy story 2 writers doug chamberlin and chris webb. “ prime is a complete departure from the standard super hero story, ” said arad. “with this film we are developing what we think will be marvel’s first super hero action - comedy. ” prime’s new writers, pegged as the hot young creative team of don calame and chris conroy, have only one screen credit to their names. the film will be produced by arad and executive produced by scott mitchell rosenberg .
rosenberg also published malibu comics, which, as we’ve been often told by tom brevoort and axel alonso, will never ever be revived at marvel despite marvel having bought the company back in 1994 (20 years ago! ! !). no one knows exactly why this is, as an nda is involved, although there is some speculation by informed parties if you scroll down in this post. i’m guessing it has something to do with rosenberg .
rosenberg answered the phone at platinum today and said the company is writing a statement addressing the situation. he also was defiant by claiming that he is still with the company. “i have no intention of leaving, and shareholders from a percentage standpoint have no desire for me to leave, ” rosenberg told deadline. he added, “a) i plan to be here for a long time. b) there’s no sign that i won’t be. ”
platinum was founded in 1997 after rosenberg’s success bringing men in black to the screen for columbia / sony. the company owns numerous comic book properties and in addition to film has attempted numerous tv projects. only the showtime series jeremiah has been produced. the company is involved in several lawsuits stemming from its financial setbacks. in may, platinum was delisted by the sec for failure to file financial reports as publicly traded companies are required. rosenberg has attributed the failure to file to what he tells deadline was “a system wide server crash, unfortunately including financial servers”. rosenberg tonight said this information was provided to regulators and that the records will be restored during the first half of 2013 .
for all the metaphorical “hookers and blow”or hokem for land that rosenberg woo’ed possible creators with to give up their creations, the one story i never read about was him actually holding a gun to anyone’s head to sign on the dotted line .
soon allow those smaller companies to look bigger, minimizing their costs and maximizing the quality of their output. in addition, rosenberg worked with adobe and their photoshop software to develop the leading standard system for the computer coloring of comic books .
steve rosenberg has been the chief data officer for the wireline competition bureau at the federal communications commission since the spring of 2010. his focus is on improving the collection, analysis and dissemination of data to inform policy - making in ...
as a creator who had the misfortune of crossing paths with mr. rosenberg in the 1980s…and what a tangled web he did weave…i’m not surprised by any of this. google the sad saga of ex - mutants and you will find nothing has changed .
about beall, rosenberg said: “i can’t comment on anything that hasn’t been released publicly, and i don’t know what beall has released publicly. he was making dates for things and scheduling things and sending things around without others in the company knowing. ”
rosenberg, who launched malibu comics 1986, is now chairman and ceo of platinum studios, which turns comic books into film projects. platinum studios is well known for such projects as the big screen version of malibu’s men in black comic and showtime’s original series jeremiah. his office could double as a comic book store, spinner rocks stacked full of ultraverse comics, prime and mantra 6 - foot standups, a nightman tv poster, and even cards and ultraforce toys lying about. rosenberg is working hard with marvel to bring the prime movie to fruition. when asked if a final draft has been completed for the movie, rosenberg is quick to note, “nothing’s ever final in hollywood until the movie’s complete. that said, there’s a current draft which is attracting some directing interest. ”
and so you have the mogul, rosenberg, on the run but with a large body of shell companies and audacity at his disposal, and the new president, beall, a former marine who, based on the documents received by the beat, seemed to be trying to do the right thing and get matters back on track. however, the day of the call, some shareholders claimed to have gotten an email from beall stating that he had been removed as president by rosenberg. and the call itself was a disaster, one shareholder wrote :
fortunately, only the squids have the monetary reach (and by that i mean all your favorite politicians are bought and paid for) to have sec law not apply to them. rosenberg isn’t anywhere close to their weight class so he might actually go to jail. eventually .
mitchell was born in miami, florida and received his bachelor' s degree in mass communications and public relations at the university of south florida in tampa. in 1982, he moved to houston, where as a student at south texas college of law, he served on the school' s law review, made the dean' s list every semester, and graduated summa cum laude with the 4th highest urltoken his graduating class .
banding together to attempt to oust rosenberg from the company after a series of what they claim are flagrantly fraudulent money shifting and credit card embezzlement maneuvers—all from the coffers of the publicly - traded company. while we don’t know the whole story, we can piece together some of it .
as one of the first comic creators ripped off by this guy in the 1980s (along with dave l. above and our cohorts at wonder / amazing, etc .), i think it’s well past time rosenberg went to jail. we’ve been telling people he’s a crook for more than 2 decades, and yet he keeps pulling the same type of scams again and again and again. if you were lucky, rosenberg only stole your money. if you were unlucky, he got your characters & ip. put him in jail and throw away the key !
the first film based on the new york times bestseller graphic album, “cowboys & aliens” created by rosenberg when he was a kid – is distributed worldwide by paramount pictures, and domestically by universal studios, thus far grossed nearly $ 175 million dollars, not including tv and ancillary sales .
appearing 14 times on the new york times bestseller list, the cowboys & aliens graphic novel — created by rosenberg when he was a kid — has now been produced into its first film grossing nearly 200 million dollars, not including tv and ancillary sales, the film stars harrison ford and daniel craig .
platinum studios, with rosenberg as a producer, has released films and television programming with universal pictures, paramount pictures, dreamworks films, mgm, showtime, and lionsgate, and has developed film or television with others, including disney, time - warner’s new line films, 20th century fox and sony pictures entertainment .
“the script is still subject to some tweaks and changes, and with director choices affecting the tone somewhat, it’s too early to tell, ” rosenberg had to say on where the target audience might lie for the film. “currently it’s a pretty fun movie. i’d hesitate to guess, but most likely adults over the age of 124 might not find it of interest and i would frown upon bringing anyone prior to inception, ” rosenberg kids. “seriously, we are trying hard to make a cool movie that everyone will enjoy. ” the project still has no principal actors or a director attached and is still too early to tell when the prime film will be shot and released. platinum studios continues to partner with marvel comics to try and find other malibu characters that could be produced into feature films. “finding the right character isn’t always the hard part, it’s finding the right story for a film, ” says rosenberg. “and having a studio agree that it is the right story. ”
since that time, rosenberg has been recognized as a pioneer and a leader in the comic book industry. he recognized that comics were on the verge of one of many revolutions that would allow opportunity for new, smaller publishers, and that the advent of the macintosh computer (circa 1986) and other technological advances of that time would
the call took place late yesterday, and in the meantime, platinum president, chris beall, who joined last summer, was trying to make sense of this all and get rosenberg booted as chairman in order to be investigated. we have the documents beall sent out to shareholders, and they aren’t pretty, spelling out all of the malfeasance and more, including a bevy of lawsuits, and the revelation that the “animated movie” was nothing more than a “motion comic” which platinum is unable to publish because of not paying the creators. among rosenberg’s other questionable actions: transferring 51% of platinum’s ip to rip media, another one of his shell companies. in other words, shareholders were owning less and less .
i had the opportunity to work with rosenberg briefly in 2000. he impressed me as a guy who’d seized some profitable opportunities primarily from being in the right place at the right time. while he had the sense to grab some of the early properties cheap, by the time i worked with him, he was clearly in over his head and surrounded by a couple of sycophants who talked some of the talk and sucked up to him to his liking. the writing was on the wall. scott had peaked and was on his way to a glorious flame out, touting some of the remaining pieces of crap in his inventory, e. g. , dylan dog, as the next three or four mib - sized superstars. based on the history of lawsuits and scandals, i see that has mostly played out. sad, but a useful object lesson about falling for your own hype .
as to rip, i’m simply dumbfounded. if the monies that they have reported going to rip are for cowboys and aliens, that means this company never really owned anything at all and was entirely a scam from the beginning. i was willing to give mr. rosenberg the benefit of the doubt and say he was merely incompetent, but this is far beyond that. i thought i was buying into a company with a large library of intellectual property, to now find that it was always a shell that owned nothing and money was always meant to be funneled into a company solely owned by mr. rosenberg makes me furious. how has the sec ignored my every inquiry? how is this man not on his way to jail ?
as a teenager in the early ’80s, rosenberg stole – literally jammed under his jacket – my copies of amazing fantasy 15 and journey into mystery 83 and ran out of my house with them. it was the early 80’s and the police in the sf valley wouldn’t do shit. still have the police report and the copy of the recycler where he ran ads to troll for victims .
so what does that leave? hundreds of thousands of dollars invested by penny stock gamblers, much of it unwisely. former executives who don’t even list the company on their linkedin pages anymore. creators who lost their properties long ago and don’t even bother to look back. rich, fat lawyers. and rosenberg? reportedly running the company out of his apartment. and still fighting the fight .
after 20 years, including 11 as partner, at the prominent houston firm of williams, birnberg & andersen, l. l. p. , mitchell decided to start his own practice with his new law partner, john nechman. he continues to concentrate on the areas of real estate, with a special emphasis on real estate litigation, homeowner association law, title insurance matters, landlord - tenant disputes, and adjoining landowner issues. he also handles employment and hr matters, estate planning and probate, general and business litigation, as well as insurance, adoption, and disability (including hiv and aids) matters .
since the early days of the hiv / aids crisis, mitchell has been a stalwart leader in the battle to help those with hiv / aids. he has also helped create numerous glbt legal organizations in houston and texas, and he regularly appears on local and national television and radio programs where issues such as same - sex marriage, gay and lesbian adoption, hiv / aids, and civil rights are discussed and debated. he is particularly proud of his role as local counsel in the lawrence case, in which the supreme court overruled the case of bowers v. hardwick and overturned all sodomy statutes in the country .
among his many awards, mitchell has received the humanitarian award from the houston conference on aids in america, the advocacy award from the bar association for human rights of greater houston, the state bar of texas' s frank j. scurlock award and judge norman black award, a community service award for outstanding citizenship from houston' s abc affiliate channel 13, an award as
top attorney
from h magazine, the john walzel political equality award from the human rights campaign, and an award as outstanding civil rights attorney from the equal employment opportunity commission, and he was named a texas monthly magazine
super lawyer
4 years in a row .
as sales declined industry - wide in the mid - 1990s, malibu canceled lower - selling series. nonetheless, the company' s assets were still seen as attractive enough to garner interest from dc comics in the spring of 1994. in addition, rosenberg and malibu signed with the william morris agency. the company was purchased by marvel comics on november 3, 1994. in the middle of the next year, malibu standard - bearers mason and ulm left the company .
flash forward to early 2012, when, with the cowboys & aliens movie come and gone, the stock was delisted, even as a penny stock, following failure to file reports. some stockholders began to take a look at strange sec filings and the way rosenberg was shuffling money between his various companies in order to claim more of the money invested in the company. and a lawsuit was filed in 2012, which you can read here: while anything more than counting the change from a pumpkin latte gives us a headache, the lawsuit makes a strong case that something fishy was going on, with rosenberg personally claiming 25% of platinum’s worth—a $ 37. 5 million dollar value—in return for lending the company $ 3, 750. 000 in credit. if you want to get to the heart of the matter go to the end and read the letter by former platinum cfo brian altounian where he explains to other board members what’s happening and what needs to be done .
from the offices of katine & nechman in houston, texas, we help clients throughout the greater houston area, including pasadena, galveston, sugar land, conroe, richmond, rosenberg, bellaire, humble, harris county, galveston county, brazoria county, fort bend county, wharton county, montgomery county, the inner loop, the galleria, all areas of the texas gulf coast, and the entire state of texas. our immigration practice covers clients throughout the united states and around the world .
while at williams, birnberg, & anderson, l. l. p. , mitchell quickly forged a reputation as an attorney of formidable skills. he also became a certified mediator, a publisher of numerous law - related articles, and nationally - known speaker and continuing legal education presenter on numerous topics. in 1993, texas governor ann richards appointed him to the texas real estate commission, where he served as a commissioner for 6 years. in 1994, he became an adjunct professor at south texas college of law, and in 2001, he took on the same role at the university of houston law center, teaching
hiv & the law .
he has also served on the state bar of texas' s grievance committee panel as well as the disability issues committee .
but just how messed up is platinum? with all this talk of lawsuits, we made a search on the la superior court website to see how many lawsuits the company was involved in. this particular court site charges quite a bit for looking at case documents—after looking at platinum’s docket, as much as we’d like to read some of these gory details, we just didn’t have more than $ 100 to spend on the research: we’re told there are at least four other lawsuits against rosenberg personally, including one by relatives .
rosenberg has teamed up with many other film and television producers for both development and production including steven spielberg, ron howard, brian grazer, kurtzman & orci (transformers), david s. goyer (the dark knight, man of steel), john williams (shrek), robert cort (mr. holland’s opus and bill and ted’s excellent adventures), david heyman (the harry potter movies), gil adler (superman returns), denis l. stewart (teenage mutant ninja turtles) and many more of note .
it’s the classic story of powerful versus the powerless. with malibu, it’s 1982 or 1985 and your’re nineteen or 23 making your own stuff (pick any year with any permutation of rosenberg’s shells). these are your choices: wallow away year after year trying to break into the big two, self - print cheapo amateur versions and shop them around to the three - or four - or five - city region’s comic shops around where you live or sell the farm to that indie publisher to see your stuff actually get professionally published and distributed all across the country. there’s nothing new here in that treatment — the comic industry has deals - with - the - devil, some would say dating the way back to right of ownership of the first super - hero .
i believed in platinum studios after i received a tip from my brother who had noticed pdos gaining momentum. i got in at around 6 cents to 7 cents a chare and thought i had struck a gold mine! i was so convinced i even rolled over my 401 (k), all $ 100, 000 + of it into pdos stock! suffice to say, i was sick to my stomach after day in and day out of loss after loss. i made the stupid mistake of trying to “average down” using my hard - earned day - to - day salary, to the tune of another $ 40k. so after about $ 140k of my money, i just try to live each day knowing that i made a very foolish mistake, believing in platinum and rosenberg. to this day, i still own all my stock in platinum so i guess technically i haven’t lost anything yet — just on paper. lol… i have to laugh or else i would cry. nelson
but first some platinum background. the company was formed in 1997, during a fairly down time for the comics industry. using the men in black formula—obscure comic becomes very profitable movie franchise—platinum began amassing ip by getting lots of hopeful creators to sign away the rights to their creations in hopes of getting movies made. the result of all this is what platinum pr proudly claims is a character library of over 5000 characters—enough to challenge a marvel or a dc even if you can’t name a single one of them .
platinum’s output wasn’t entirely imaginary. they produced the tv series jeremiah based on the french comic; they were also involved in the horrible dylan dog movie, dead of night, which grossed a total of $ 754, 779 its opening weekend and $ 1. 1 million domestically. most famously their comic cowboys & aliens did get produced with major stars and a top director…but it foundered at the box office amid a tangled web of creation, with many claiming to have come up with the idea of cowboys fighting aliens. the graphic novel it was based on, by fred van lente, denis calero and others, was also vaulted to the top of ew’s graphic novel sales chart under suspicious circumstances .
along the way, platinum went public as a penny stock—a small stock that literally varies between a few cents and a few more, allowing clever investors to hit it big from time to time. despite incredibly glowing press in a variety of top outlets about how genius the platinum model was—this ny times story called “comic genius? ” being the low point of the genre—and acquisitions that looked smart like the online content company wowio and the webcomic portal drunk duck, the financials were still pretty crap in 2008, as reported by van jensen in publishers weekly .
while matters roiled a bit for the next few months—if you want the gory details, reading the platinum stockholders message board, if you can stomach it—there was always a constant stream of the usual hollywood blather about deals and projects. these were summed up by a very optimistic shareholder, who remained hopeful that platinum would rise to 2¢ a share :
– stock near its 52 week low - the stock traded from. 01 -. 07 in anticipation of cowboys and aliens movie starring james bond (sky fall) lead actor daniel craig – cowboys and aliens 2 production slated for 2013 - development of “atlantis rising” project with mark canton is moving steadily - solid website with pending movie projects and comics - low o / s of just 439 million - pdos is the owner of urltoken which they recently purchased. - level 2 thin and with any updates could see a breakout - company has stated they will be issuing updated very soon and are working to go current tier on otc markets .
the momentum shifting this stock traded. 08 range when the cowboys and aliens movie was released and with cowboys and aliens 2 movie the stock is at basement prices .
with the right volume this stock closes above. 0012 is likely then. 0025 resistance could then see. 04 its 200 moving day average, this could easily be a life changer stock .
unfortunately, most of these actual projects are—to use a hollywood term—in development, which means nothing really. and sometimes not even that, as with the cowboys & aliens animated “sequel” which we’ll get to in a minute .
indicates companies that are not able or willing to provide disclosure to the public markets – either to a regulator, an exchange or otc markets group. companies in this category do not make current information available via the otc disclosure and news service, or if they do, the available information is older than six months .
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all this seemed like the kind of financial limbo that shady companies could puddle along in for a while…but things were about to get much more dramatic .
the latest chapter began on january 8th, when a shareholders call was announced. but the agenda looked far from chipper :
as for that animated graphic novel its been kicking around for a while, and can be downloaded here .
sure…no one from the company showed up or bothered to re schedule. this then was followed by a bunch of investor speculating on what on earth could have happened, alabama (posts here) did supply some info as to the possible reason…new ceo is now been let go apparently over conflict with sr comingling personal funds with that of the company. really that goes on in pinks? heavens to betsy! ! !
and that’s where the story—or what we know of it—is as of this morning .
michael tierney v. platinum. a former employee of the company has filed a suit against the company claiming, among other things, wrongful termination, fraudulent inducement, defamation, violation of california labor code. no specific damages have been pleaded. the complaint has not yet been served on the company. this former employee was terminated for cause as a result of grossly negligent / intentional misrepresentation of contractual relations with third parties in marketing materials. the misrepresentations caused the company to lose a potential deal with a particularly well - known comics website. the company believes this case is without merit and intends to vigorously defend these claims, if and when actually served with the complaint .
transcontinental printing v. platinum. the company has received several demand letters from transcontinental printing, the most recent of which from a law firm, demanding payment for an outstanding invoice in the amount $ 111, 567. 85. the company has tried to enter into some settlement with this vendor but to no avail as of yet. the company will continue to aggressively pursue a settlement with this vendor to try and avoid a lawsuit. the company has not yet turned this over to outside counsel .
harrison kordestani v. platinum. harrison kordestani was a principal of arclight films, with whom the company had entered into a film slate agreement. one of the properties that had been subject to the slate agreement was “dead of night. ” arclight fired mr. kordestani and subsequently released dead of night from the slate agreement. in late january 2009, mr. krodestani had an attorney contact the company as well as its new partners who were on the verge of closing the financing for the “dead of night. ” mr. kordestani, through his counsel, claimed he was entitled to reimbursement for certain monies invested in the film while it had been subject to the arclight slate agreement. mr. krodestani’s cliam was wholly without merit and an attempt to force an unwarranted settlement because he knew we were about to close a deal. we responded immediately through outside counsel and asserted that he was engaging in extortion and the company would pursue him vigorously if he continued to try and interfere with our deal. the company has not heard anything further from mr. kordestani but will vigorously defend any suit that mr. kordestani attempts to bring .
doubleclick, inc. v. platinum. on february 19, 2009, a lawsuit was filed by doubleclick, inc. against the company in the supreme court of the state of new york. the claim is basically a breach of contract claim. the contract at issue was a three - year agreement to provide ad serving services, requiring a minimum $ 3, 500 / month payment with no termination clause. the employee who executed the agreement without having counsel review it is no longer with the company. between february and june 2008, the company attempted to negotiate an “out” without luck. the service was far too expensive and the company could no longer afford it and stopped using it around june / july 2008. doubleclick is seeking approximately $ 118, 000, plus interest and late fees for the balance of the contract. the company has engaged outside counsel, jeffrey reina with the law firm of lipsitz green scime cambria llp in buffalo, ny to handle this matter. the company intends to answer the complaint and then aggressively pursue a settlement with doubleclick
paul franz v. wowio, llc and platinum. wowio and the company have received a demand letter from counsel for paul franz, a former consultant to wowio, asserting that wowio had breached is payment obligations under a consulting agreement counsel for franz has indicated they intend to file suit to recover the full amount under the consulting agreement. the company recognizes there may be some risk on this case and is aggressively going to attempt to resolve this matter. the potential exposure in this matter is close to the amount demanded, however efforts will be made to settle for only a portion of those monies. we are not currently a party to, nor is any of our property currently the subject of, any pending legal proceeding that will have a material adverse effect on our business. none of our directors, officers or affiliates is involved in a proceeding adverse to our business or has a material interest adverse to our business .
heidi macdonald is the founder and editor in chief of the beat. in the past, she worked for disney, dc comics, fox and publishers weekly. she can be heard regularly on the more to come podcast. she likes coffee, cats and noble struggle .
great reporting! if platinum were smart they’d sell the movie rights to this story. maybe fred van lente could write it .
i thought for sure the article referred to “the law firm of lipsitz green slime cambria llp, ” but upon multiple readings i realized that the universe live in is not quite as much fun as that .
sigh. to make matters worse, i purchased some of those penny stocks specifically to be identified as a shareholder and informed of such calls / meetings. however, i do not believe i was contacted about or invited to yesterday’s call !
ah, platinum studios. we had some good times together, didn’t we? and then you threatened to sue me because i had the gall to report facts .
i hope we get a chance to meet up at a con and share stories .
nice articale however it infers that brain altounian deffered his inflated salary. not so…from wowio s - 1
on june 29, 2009, wowio texas entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “agreement”) with platinum studios, inc. (“platinum”) pursuant to which platinum agreed to transfer to the company all of the membership interests of wowio, llc (a pennsylvania limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of platinum) (“wowio penn”) in exchange for total consideration of $ 3, 150, 000, comprised of assumed liabilities of approximately $ 1, 636, 000, including $ 794, 518 of amounts owed to brian altounian, the company’s ceo, and an additional $ 1, 514, 000 to be paid via royalty at a rate of 20% of gross revenues generated from acquired assets. subsequent to the $ 1, 514, 000 being satisfied, such royalty rate shall reduce to 10% of net revenues generated in perpetuity .
gosh, i feel like it’s the 1980s b & w comics bust all over again .
holy geez. i was wondering why i was getting an influx of emails from creators lately asking how i got the rights to hbn back. i’m not to proud to say i was bamboozled by platinum. looking back i feel like an idiot for believing a lot of the things that were told to me. it’s kinda hard not to believe when you’re on some lavish rooftop party having your ass kissed by agents from endeavor, hollywood big wigs. the whole scene is one giant game of bullshit. who can out bullshit who? i guess that’s the entire entertainment industry though. some play more honest, but 80% do not .
hi sorry for my poor english but it’s me 3 years ago who l send from france a lot of french 1970 comics. i’m so sorry that this entreprise shut down so diseapoited. i hope that all this french comics are always in a colection dominique
as a creator who worked for platinum, i’m lucky that i got off relatively light in the “ripped off” department. but with gene simmons on one end of the deal, i suppose platinum had to keep its nose clean in my case .
sure was an odd place to work for, that’s for sure. it saddens me to see how badly others got ripped off, especially the shareholders.
scott mitchell rosenberg is an american film , television , and comic book producer . he is the chairman of platinum studios , an entertainment company that controls a library of comic-book characters and adapts them for film , television and other media . he is also the former founder and president of malibu comics , and is a former senior executive vice president for marvel comics . as a producer with platinum studios , rosenberg has released films and television programming with universal studios , paramount pictures , dreamworks , mgm , showtime , and lions gate entertainment . he has also developed film and television with several others including the walt disney company , time-warner ’s new line films , 20th century fox and sony pictures entertainment . 
scott mitchell rosenberg is an american film, television, and comic book producer. he is the chairman of platinum studios, an entertainment company that controls a library of comic-book characters and adapts them for film, television and other media. he is also the former founder and president of malibu comics, and is a former senior executive vice president for marvel comics. as a producer with platinum studios, rosenberg has released films and television programming with universal studios, paramount pictures, dreamworks, mgm, showtime, and lions gate entertainment. he has also developed film and television with several others including the walt disney company, time-warner ’s new line films, 20th century fox and sony pictures entertainment.
scott mitchell rosenberg is an american film, television, and comic book producer. he is the chairman of platinum studios, an entertainment company that controls a library of comic-book characters and adapts them for film, television and other media. he is also the former founder and president of malibu comics, and is a former senior executive vice president for marvel comics. as a producer with platinum studios, rosenberg has released films and television programming with universal studios, paramount pictures, dreamworks, mgm, showtime, and lions gate entertainment. he has also developed film and television with several others including the walt disney company, time-warner ’s new line films, 20th century fox and sony pictures entertainment.