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The Theme Is Entertainment
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The
Theme Is Entertainment....But We received
this interesting, deeply-felt, and by Ron Knight Chairman of Communications, There is a very common situation in
the world where everyone and their brothers are jumping into “ location - based
entertainment,” “special venue” and “themed-entertainment retail”
to the point that there are distinct blurs (howd’ya like that one?) between all
areas. Many folks are jumping in on “New Urbanism” and all its prospects,
“repurposing” and refurbishing properties, adequate land and estate holdings for
the new energy and vitality that comes from all of this new “community center”
and “entertainment” usage. Unfortunately, many blueprints
are becoming failures, cross-branded themes have themed the world out, and one can only go
so far before one sees many entertainment concepts falling on the rocks. This is due to
saturation or “regionalisms” taking their toll, along with many other factors.
Unfortunately, these failures are leaving the developments (and whatever remaining
uniqueness that made the real estate concepts or retail so unique in the first place)
standing in empty demise, ripe for the next buyer’s concept. Inevitably, I think we’ll see a
shakeout, like in all boom industries... a few people will scrape their knees along the
way. Sure, I’m here to sell some concepts and some products, but moreover, an ongoing
analysis of what’s working and what’s not, and what won’t and why, would
really be helpful to a lot of folks. We need to know what to do and where to point as a
direction in the not-so-distant future. So I guess I’m here to see
if mutual knowledge and networking can help a few folks steer clear of a few rocks in
shallow water... and maybe do some creative bonding for new developments as time goes by. A lot of people from architects
to financial investment firms want to be involved now in the entertainment specialty
areas, but many of them have no clue as to where to go, what to do, or even have had a
basic course in Theater 101. Many of us see the writing on the wall. For me, the premise
is simple. It’s taking a piece of real estate that can function as a gathering place
to serve the community, and from there it’s just “Community Entertainment
Communications.” People who understand the full implication of the model of how
audiences interact with these gathering centers, with each other, and then how the center
will interact with them, can figure out the steady and successful working ventures that
can stand the test of time. Maybe a few of us will get together
and get Mr. Knight is president of
Knight Mediacom. His opinions were not
solicited by E.S.P., but the editors thought that they might provoke interesting comments
to the magazine. E.S.P. welcomes
correspondence and comments. Express
yourself! Send your mail to E.S.P. Guest
Editorial, P.O. Box 2630, Mercerville, NJ 08630; Fax 609-587-3511; e-mail: keith@dealmakers.net or judi@dealmakers.net
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