Videoage International January 2019

26 January 2019 V I D E O A G E Int’ l TV Distribut ion Hal l of Fame Pearson began on his own by selling a single series, Here’s Lucy , Ball’s third network sitcom, which ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974. He later added other popular shows such as The Lucy Show , The Doris Day Show , Lassie , The Lone Ranger , and The Andy Williams Show . However, JPI was sold in 1982 and the distribution rights to Here’s Lucy passed to Telepictures, which guaranteed $3 million to Lucille Ball Productions for the exclusive worldwide syndication of the 144 half-hours. After JPI was sold, Pearson founded Harhill Media. The British-born John Elliot Pearson (1916- 1997) served with the British Army during World War II, but wasn’t tied to TIE’s Stirling. The link between TIE and JPI was Peter Orton (1943-2007), who worked in sales at TIE and knew Pearson. Orton also took Sesame Street to TIE before he left the company to join CTW. In 1989, Orton founded HIT Entertainment, which was sold in 2005. Pearson went to New York to work for Lew Grade’s ITC in 1960. Four years later, he traveled to Hollywood to work for Desilu Studios. DuringhisstintatTIE,Milneshadtheopportunity to visit a group of smaller TV stations in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Gibraltar, Malta, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Ethiopia. Milnes explained that “in order to get the majors and other big distributors to make it worth their while to sell us 16 mm prints at reasonable prices, we grouped license fees together. Then, we wouldbicycle the print of each episode around to all our stations. In those days it was a good business,” he said. After that globetrotting experience, Milnes began his first tour of EMI Films in 1972. Four years later he was appointed to its Board of Directors. His board duties were added to his responsibilities of running the Latin American TV Sales division under the feared, admired, and sometimes- despised Nat Cohen (1905-1988). In 1977, under the leadership of Lord Bernard Delfont, Milnes was appointed EMI Films’ director of Television Sales Worldwide, with the added responsibility of liaising with renowned American producer Roger Gimbel (1925-2011), who headed EMI’s television productions. But just a year later, Milnes left Lord Delfont to join his brother, Lord Lew Grade, at ITC. Delfont (1909-1994) was born as Boruch Winogradsky in Tokmak, Ukraine and became EMI’s CEO in 1979. Grade was born as Lovat Winogradsky (1906- 1998) and founded ITC in 1954. Milnes believes that he is “one of the few who worked for both Delfont and Grade.” In 1980, Milnes returned to EMI Film Distribu- tors, and three years later was sent to Los Angeles for a brief stint as VP of Marketing and Acquisi- tions, this time for EMI’s new entity, Thorn EMI Films. Milnes was acclimated to California since he traveled there extensively in the ’70s during his first tour with EMI. But just 11 months into this new role, he was asked to return to London to participate in the restructuring of all Thorn EMI entertainment businesses under the umbrella of Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment (TESE), which included EMI Elstree Studios, ABC Cinema circuit, Thorn EMI Productions, International Theatrical, Television and Video Distribution, as well as U.K. Distribution. Milnes ran all of TESE’s International Distribution out of London. During his two stints at EMI Films, Milnes became part of the evolution and devolution of the group, which started under Bryan Forbes (born John Theobald Clarke, 1926-2013), from 1969 to 1971. From 1970 to 1973, the U.K. distribution company of EMI Films became MGM-EMI (due to a co-venture with the U.S. studio), while the international armwasAnglo-EMI FilmDistributors, which ran autonomously under Nat Cohen. Anglo- Amalgamated (whichwas co-founded in London by Cohen in 1931) was bought by EMI in 1969. Anglo- EMI was integrated into EMI Films under Cohen in 1972 (before his resignation in 1977). In 1979, EMI merged with Thorn Electrical Industries and became Thorn EMI Films. In 1983, it became TESE, and was under the leadership of Gary Dartnall (1937-). TESE was sold to Alan Bond in 1986. Strangely, two companies for which Milnes worked— ITC and TESE—both fell under the ax of Australians. ITC fell to raider Robert Holmes á Court (1937-1990) in 1982, and TESE to Alan Bond (1938-2015) in 1986. One week after purchasing TESE, Bond flipped it over to Israel’s Cannon Group. The following year, Cannon sold TESE’s film-TV library to Weintraub Entertainment Group (WEG). In 1992, Bond declared bankruptcy and was subsequently convicted of fraud against Holmes á Court’s company and imprisoned in Australia. Cannon was folded into Pathé in 1989. WEG’s takeover of TESE’s library in 1987 marks when Milnes went to work for Jerry Weintraub as EVP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing in London. “On behalf of Jerry, Larry Gershman had approached me to run the International Theatrical, Television, and Video Sales [division] forWEG,” recalledMilnes. At that time Gershman was consulting with WEG while firming up plans to start WIN after leaving MGM. But that was two years after Milnes had left TESE in 1985 and had joined J & M Films, a company started in 1978 by Julia Palau and Michael Ryan. In 2000, the U.K.-based company was sold to a German entity. After five years withWEG, Milnes said, “Michael J. Solomon appointed me as VP of Warner Bros. International U.K. [He was] the best boss I ever worked for.” Milnes stayed with WB for eight years, leaving in 2000 to establish the International division of Channel 5, the U.K.’s fifth FTA channel. Milnes served as C5 International’s CEO for three years. Later, he developed his own consultancy company. “I decided to retire at 60,” recalled Milnes. “Big mistake! So after a few months I helped my youngest son David launch 2Create Film & Television Ltd, a corporate video producer, and consulted for several companies. Currently, I am consulting for ArchAngel Productions. I am on the advisory board of the production company Decent Media, and president of Old Albanian, a rugby club in St Albans, Hertfordshire.” To conclude on a lighter note, VideoAge asked those who knew Milnes best to offer up a few nuggets about his life and times. U.K. TV veteran Bob Jenkins suggested asking Milnes about a watch gifted to him by Warner Bros. “In 1993, [WB president] Solomon flewmy wife Beryl and two sons, Alistair and David, to L.A. to celebrate my 50th birthday,” Milnes explained. But he didn’t get a Rolex, like he thought he would. Instead, “it was a beautiful gold Bugs Bunny watch,” he clarified. Meanwhile,GregPhillips, president ofDistribution at Kew Media, said to ask Milnes about something that he called “the Karlovy Vary humiliation.” Milnes explained: “Thatwaswhen I encouraged a young Greg Phillips — I gave him his first job at Anglo-EMI in 1972, after he left school — to join me and play in a film festival’s all-star male team against the local girls’ football [soccer] team,” he recalled. “We were well beaten — five goals to two — and one of the girls broke our goalkeeper’s leg. Like me, Greg was not that fit, and the girls ran rings around both of us. The game took place in their huge Karlovy Vary Football Stadium [in the Czech Republic] with hundreds of local spectators.” (Continued From Page 24) Greg Phillips with his first boss. Phillips went to work for Milnes at Anglo-EMI Films in 1972, and for five years was his number two. Herbert Kloiber (center) handing over his first check for the rights to Jospeth Losey’s Go Between , with EMI’s Richard Milnes (right), EMI’s record producer Peter Andry, (far right) EMI’s VP Michael Bromhead (left) at EMI Films London headquarters in 1971