I'd bet TRUMP live-tweets during COMEY's testimony. Bet on it unless his minders are holding him down like my Mommy and the nurse used to when I needed shots at the doctor's office. And it better not end up being like LA LA LAND. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. You know. Stop it. And I would never ask someone to be loyal. If you have to ask, what's the point? Hey you, throw me a surprise birthday party. If I have to tell you, what's the point? And I would never want someone's loyalty to force them to break their moral and professional responsibilities. But hey, I'm human... The media biz needs a better way to talk about intellectual property. The term is extremely broad (essentially every film, character, and "universe" is “IP” if the story has been told before, and if not, it becomes IP the moment it’s told); it’s also overused. This leads to poor results. KING ARTHUR (ye olde IP) bombed despite public plans for five follow-ups. POWER RANGERS (IP that has spawned hundreds of TV episodes) doesn’t seem to have generated the box-office receipts needed to fund its six sequels. The co-creator of GHOSTBUSTERS claims excessive studio expectations have busted the franchise. ALIENS and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN are getting long in the tooth while WONDER WOMAN appears to have rescued DC after three kryptonite-like stalls. Studio execs need to be more responsible, more self-critical and more honest about IP. It helps to look at it in three sets. Tier 1 IP is easy to identify and test. It’s enduring and resilient, able to overcome creative failures and mistakes (think BATMAN BEGINS rebounding from BATMAN & ROBIN or THE FORCE AWAKENS blowing away the prequel trilogy) and boasts a deep emotional connection with audiences young and old. TIER 2 IP has brand recognition and a sizeable audience, but a creative miss can end the franchise/put it on ice, fans aren’t clamoring for ‘more’ (TERMINATOR) and the story itself is more focused on repetition than expansion (DIE HARD). That doesn’t mean TIER 2 IP can’t rule the box office or become TIER 1 through outstanding creative and/or marketing. But it’s different. And most studios think their TIER 2 IP is TIER 1. TIER 3 IP is everything else. I’d argue that’s where KING ARTHUR sat. The broad story of King Arthur is well known, but how many people truly care about it? Will go out of their way to find out more about it? Will choose to watch something about King Arthur over whatever else is at the multiplex? It’s obviously IP, but it’s no creative engine and its not going to bring people to the theater in and of itself. TIER 3. Former REDEF'r MATTHEW BALL and I talk about this a lot. This framework also shows how good DISNEY is at storytelling (as our REDEF ORIGINAL piece discussed). Over the past few years, Disney has successfully launched and upgraded TIER 3 IP (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY), thrived with TIER 2 (THE JUNGLE BOOK) and blown away expectations in TIER 1 (STAR WARS), all the while creating new TIER 1 (ZOOTOPIA). They know what they're doing. Everyone knows IP is a critical component of success in HOLLYWOOD today, but it’s not a band-aid and it typically gets you less than executives assume. Focus on the story, be careful about the budget, and ask yourself what the story means to audiences... I'm in EUROPE and my take is this. If you don't watch TV all day and not looking to blame your lot in life on a race or nationality, you don't think Europe is under siege... Like the WALL ST. scandals of the last decade, UBER offered up 20+ employees for sexual harassment. And yet, are any of those heads people that run the company? I don't think any executive could have built that business the way TRAVIS KALANICK did. The sheer innovation through litigation is something to see. And people love the product. But do C-suiters deserve the ax? Would the board ever get rid of the people that set the culture that they claim isn't systematic? What will help fix the cultural issue? And finally, it was Travis in the lactation room with the meditation (spoken like a CLUE board game scenario)... I love when my friends do well. But when two of my favorites are going to do well together, f*** yeah. Congrats to BRIAN ROBBINS and JIM GIANOPULOS... Happy Birthday to MARK FEUERSTEIN, MARIANA AGATHOKLIS SCHLOCK, LAUREN POLLACK GELLERT, ALAN COHEN, BRIAN PESSIN, and DENISE KAUFMANN.