Lantern Lights up Tinsletown
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Jobs, real estate & misc. Business Classified, 10-11D The Dallas Morning News Section D Sunday, June 2, 2019 Texas ponies up for corporate incentives once again n good times, you keep the BUSINESS INSIGHT allows local governments to It’s a near-lock that local for the Texas Enterprise Fund, al for 2020-21, and he got momentum going. offer their own tax breaks to and state incentives would be $50 million to entice filmmak- everything he asked for. I That’s the philosophy attract employers and in- part of those deals, and all ers to Texas and $40 million to “We cannot be complacent,” behind Texas’ approach to vestment. sides can rest assured: The recruit star researchers to state the governor’s budget said luring new business, and in These are timely devel- cookie jar is full again in Texas. universities. The Lege also about supporting economic practical terms, that means opments, in part because two At a time when New York, approved $110 million, courte- development and tourism. ponying up the big bucks for MITCHELL major prospects are kicking Florida and Washington, D.C., sy of hotel occupancy taxes, to Two years ago, Abbott faced corporate incentives. SCHNURMAN the tires in Dallas right now. are pulling back on so-called promote tourism and attract some pushback on incentives. In the legislative session [email protected] Ride-hailing giant Uber and corporate welfare, Texas law- more domestic and global A House budget proposal that just ended, lawmakers in retailer Lowe’s Cos. are mull- makers are staying the course. visitors. would have stripped funding Austin approved half a billion years. They also reauthorized ing expansions that would They replenished the larg- Gov. Greg Abbott had re- for the enterprise fund, and he dollars for economic devel- — and improved — a program bring thousands of high-pay- est, most high-profile pro- quested full funding for each opment over the next two known as Chapter 312, which ing jobs here. grams, approving $150 million program in his budget propos- See LEGISLATURE Page 12D PERSONAL FINANCE LIZ WESTON [email protected] Working after 65 requires prepping any people plan to work past normal M retirement age, by choice or necessity. But most aren’t taking the steps that could increase the odds they’ll be able to do so. When asked what they’re doing to ensure they can contin- ue working past 65, fewer than half of employees polled in the 2019 Transamerica Retirement Survey of Workers say they’re trying to stay healthy. Similar numbers cited performing well in their current positions (43%) or keeping their job skills up to date (40%). More than 1 in 4 workers say they aren’t doing anything to ensure that they remain employed longer. Workers of the world, wake up. Bad health, layoffs and age discrimination sideline many people who expected to work longer. Surveys show that any- where from 37% to 56% of Smiley N. Pool/Staff Photographer Andy Mitchell (front) and Milos Brajovic, seated at Highland Park Village Theatre, are co-presidents of Dallas-based Lantern Entertain- See WANT Page 8D ment LP. After buying Harvey Weinstein’s company, they formed a partnership with the former head of MGM, then brought in Warner Bros. Pictures, an international film distributor and Cineworld Group as strategic investors to fast-track movies to market. ast fall, Sylvester IDEAS AT WORK Stallone called An- L dy Mitchell to offer Lantern the young Dallas private Cord cutter equity guy his Hollywood CHERYL HALL dilemma [email protected] street smarts. Jim Rossman says lots of readers have one question about cord Mitchell and his business lot about the business,’ ” recalls cutting: How can I record my partner, Milos Brajovic, co- Mitchell over coffee recently in favorite shows if I ditch cable and lights up founders and co-presidents of Highland Park Village. “And I’m satellite? He goes over some of Lantern Entertainment LP, had like, ‘Oh yeah, I know your résu- his favorite options. 5D just bought Harvey Weinstein’s mé.’ ” company in a bankruptcy auc- Mitchell, 43, and Brajovic, 47, What young tion for $289 million, and the are grateful for the free advice. workers want 72-year-old mastermind behind Their only previous experi- Tinseltown the iconic Rocky and Rambo ence with movies and TV shows Small businesses’ cultures are becoming a bigger priority as films wanted to see if the 40- was watching them. owners respond to the dramat- something newbies could use his The crown jewel of the de- ically different expectations of a Dallas pair buys, breathes life into expertise in navigating Mov- funct Weinstein Co. is a treasure younger workforce. Meloney ieland. trove library of 277 films that Perry, founder of Perry Law in “He said, ‘I’d like to talk with Dallas, says companies need Weinstein’s entertainment company you and help you out. I know a See DIFFERENT Page 9D more of a “family feel.” 4D LUXURYRedefined There are few tastes more rewarding than classic luxury. And there is simply no place like The Hills of Kingswood. Ron Davis Custom Homes THE HILLS OF ........ ........ Ventura Custom Homes Monaco Homes, Ltd. KINGSWOOD Crest Custom Homes C. Michael Jones Design/Build Sovereign Luxury Custom Homes custom homes from $1M to 5M+ William Morgan Custom Homes 2450 Rock Creek PARKWAY in FRISCO Laguna Homes by Jason Malyk 972-685-6166 Oak Creek Custom Homes thehillsofkingswood.com The Dallas Morning News dallasnews.com BUSINESS Sunday, June 2, 2019 9D CHERYL HALL Different kind of deal but the same process Continued from Page 1D AT A GLANCE Lantern Capital includes Academy Award Partners LP winners The King’s Speech and The Artist and the box-office Founded: 2014 hit Silver Linings Playbook. Headquarters: 300 Crescent “These are movies that Court Assets under management: everybody loves,” Mitchell says Nearly $2 billion as Brajovic [BRA-yo-wik] Annual revenue: An estimated looks on. “You might not like $1.5-plus billion all of them. My kids [4 to 14] love Paddington, but I don’t let Andy Mitchell them watch the Quentin Title: Co-founder, CEO and Tarantino movies — at least co-president, Lantern Capital not yet.” Partners LLC Agents, producers and Age: 43 David Lee/STXfilms Born and raised: Fort Worth studio execs in Tinseltown Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman and Kevin Hart play the main characters in The Upside, which became a box office bonan- Resides: University Park came out of the woodwork to za after Lantern Entertainment’s Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic made the unfinished film more family-friendly. At the share their expertise. Education: BBA in finance and accounting, Texas Christian urging of its distributor, they took out a stream of obscenities and turned the movie into a PG-13 hit. “Milos and I were like, ‘Why University, 1998 do you want to sit down with Personal: Married to Kristin. us and talk?’ ” Mitchell says. They have sons, 14 and 11, and Mitchell left lunch thinking wind that Harvey Weinstein’s Putting out fires where people cry and laugh “And they’d say, ‘Do you realize daughters, 9 and 4 there’d been a misconnect. company was for sale and multiple times. If you can do what you just did? You just Brajovic left thinking he’d thought they should look into The Upside, starring Bryan that, they will come back again bought one of the most valu- Milos Brajovic found a new team member. it. Cranston, Kevin Hart and and again. That’s what Holly- able libraries in this town. You Title: Cofounder and chief Eric Winthrop, who was at “I’ll be honest, when Milos Nicole Kidman, and reality wood needs to remember.” come from Texas. We’re all investment officer, Lantern the lunch and is still at Houli- first called me about it, I said, ‘I TV’s Project Runway needed The Upside captured Holly- eager to know: Why’d you buy Capital Partners han Lokey as managing direc- think that might be the craziest immediate crisis intervention. wood’s attention by pulling in it? What are you going to do Age: 47 tor of its now-large restructur- thing I’ve ever heard,’ ” Mitch- “Before we could do any- $108.2 million during its near- with it? And do you want to Born: Belgrade, Yugoslavia ing legion, says he thought he’d ell recalls. thing else, we had to put out ly four months in U.S. theaters, make more movies? It takes (now Serbia) just seen yin and yang come Preliminary investigation two of the brightest, fastest- according to Box Office Mojo, Grew up: Yugoslavia, Los money to make movies, and together. in early 2018 confirmed that burning fires,” says Mitchell. which tracks movie ticket Angeles, Washington, D.C. apparently you guys have some He was right. the company was a total mess. Shot in 2017, The Upside sales. That’s considered a sur- Resides: New York was an unreleased movie made of that.’ ” Education: Bachelor of science “They get into some pretty “The basics that we value — prise windfall. by Weinstein before his career in finance, 1993, and MBA, 1996, heated debates,” says Win- financial control, legal docu- True to Hollywood form, imploded into #MeToo oblivi- Problem-solvers New York University; master’s throp, who remains close mentation, HR policies — theaters got about half of the in international affairs, London friends with both. were the worst that we’d ever on. ticket gross. STXfilms, which In less than a year, Mitchell School of Economics, 1996 “From an outside perspec- seen,” Mitchell says. “It was a At the urging of the movie’s distributed and co-marketed and Brajovic have turned an Personal: Married to Kathryn for tive, you might think, ‘Oh my case study for MBAs of what distributor, Mitchell and Bra- the movie, took in 10% to 15%.