1996-96 REVIEW AND OUTLOOK : Company Town : A Year to Remember--See If You Do

By JAMES BATES

Dec. 29, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Media merger mania and fired executives dominated entertainment industry news in 1995. But how much do you remember?

Here’s a quiz:

1) Which of the following did Los Angeles officials promise Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen to build their new DreamWorks SKG studio within the city limits?

a) tax breaks of up to $85 million

b) an extension of the Marina Freeway to each of their homes in Malibu

c) international rights to the slogan “Together, we’re the best”

2) What did Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner mean when he said, “One plus one equals four”?

a) that combining Disney and Capital Cities/ABC would create a company even better than the two separate entities

b) that when you have one Disneyland ticket and buy another, it costs the same as four tickets did just a few years ago

c) that he needs to watch “Donald in Mathemagicland” again

3) Which of the following management teams is most likely to unravel first?

a) Warner Bros.’ Robert Daly and Terry Semel

b) Disney’s Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz

c) MCA’s Edgar Bronfman Jr. and Ron Meyer

d) DreamWorks’ Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen

e) Creative Artists Agency’s Rick Nicita, Lee Gabler, Jack Rapke, Richard Lovett, Bryan Lourd, David O’Connor, Kevin Huvane, Jay Moloney and Tom Ross

4) Name the best “piece of manpower” Time Warner will acquire if it succeeds in completing its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System.

a) Ted Turner

b) Robert Shaye

c) Bernard Shaw

d) Gregory Alan Maddux

5) Which of the following was not fired as a top executive of Time Warner’s music group in 1995?

a) Robert Morgado

b) Michael Fuchs

c) Doug Morris

d) Melvyn Lewinter

e) Darius Rucker

6) Name the city where Barry Diller’s Silver King Communications does not have a station.

a) Miramar, Fla.

b) Alvin, Texas

c) Central Islip, N.Y.

d) Ontario, Calif.

e) Parma, Ohio

f) Los Angeles

7) After Rupert Murdoch disclosed plans for an all-news network, Ted Turner vowed to squish him like:

a) an ant

b) a cockroach

c) a beetle

d) a bug

8) Which of the following statements was among those most heard in 1995:

a) “Content is king.”

b) “He’s going to run Sony.”

c) “The film is finding its audience.”

d) “The movie didn’t do well because the market is too crowded.”

e) “I’ve never seen better tracking numbers.”

f) “Jim Carrey is interested.”

g) “I’m close to Edgar.”

9) Who is Junior Miles?

a) the late singer of the 1960s hit song “Shotgun”

b) leading driver on the NASCAR circuit

c) the pseudonym used by Seagram Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. in writing lyrics for the album “Intimacy,” released by his longtime songwriting collaborator, Bruce Roberts

10) Rank the following from highest to lowest:

a) Disney Chairman Michael Eisner’s annual base salary

b) Disney President Michael Ovitz’s annual base salary

c) the cost per minute to make the Universal movie “Waterworld”

11) What was the combined box-office gross of the two 1995 films--”Showgirls” and “Jade”-- for which megabucks scriptwriter Joe Eszterhas was paid a reported $5.7 million total?

a) $200 million

b) $100 million

c) $50 million

d) $29.7 million

12) During 1995, Time Warner made a number of significant moves to boost its stock price, which had been languishing below $40 a share for more than two years. It agreed to buy Turner Broadcasting System, sold 51% of its Six Flags Theme Park unit and put other assets up for sale to cut its debt. After all that, where is its stock now?

a) $60 a share

b) $50 a share

c) $45 a share

d) languishing below $40 a share

Answers:

1) a, but don’t count b and c out

2) a

3) Our bet is on e

4) d; none of the others has won a single Cy Young award, let alone four in a row

5) e; lead “Hootie and the Blowfish” singer escapes blood bath

6) f

7) d