FOR RELEASE: October 13, 1999

Entertainment Industry Head to Discuss
Hollywood¹s Economic Ins and Outs

Cody Cluff to Give Keynote at Cal State Northridge Conference

"Adam Smith Goes to Hollywood: Demystifying the Economics of the Entertainment Industry" will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in CSUN's College of Business Administration and Economics on the west side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge.

"There¹s a mystique about the entertainment industry - that it can't possibly be understood or analyzed in conventional economic terms. We hope to take a close, critical look at that assumption," said Lani Daniels, director of CSUN's Entertainment Industry Institute.

The conference title, which refers to the 18th century Scottish economist, is intended as a tongue-in-cheek tribute to classical economics.

The day will feature panel discussions on a number of topics including predicting profits in the entertainment industry; entertainment and the regional economy; labor markets and the new Hollywood; and the arts and entertainment industry: Can either survive without the other?

Cluff, recently called one of the "20 Who Count" by Shoot magazine, the leading trade publication for commercial production, will give the keynote address. Shoot credits Cluff for the tremendous growth in commercial production in the Los Angeles area during his tenure at the helm of EIDC, an entertainment industry-government partnership working to enhance the regional economy by promoting Los Angeles as the entertainment capital of the wrold.

Other speakers include Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.; James Gikas, senior vice president of Recon Research Corp.; Art DeVany of UC Irvine; Peter Cyffka of 20th Century Fox; Mark Weinstein of USC; Jamal Shamsie of UCLA; Roy A. Salter of Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin; William Luksetich of St. Cloud State University; Tom Bocherding of Claremont Graduate University; Linda Shaffer of Cal State Fresno; Shirley Svorny of CSUN¹s San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center; Kathleen A. Milnes of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp.; CSUN economics professor Dan Blake; Darlene Chisholm of Lehigh University; and S. Abraham Ravid of Rutgers University.

The conference is co-sponsored by the Entertainment Industry Institute and CSUN's College of Business Administration and Economics and College of Extended Learning.

Daniels said one purpose of CSUN's Entertainment Industry Institute was to bring academia and industry together in dialog.

"I don¹t know of another venue where you can listen to a studio executive or entertainment attorney debate box office profits alongside a researcher from a leading university," she said. "We hope that by combining the wisdom of the two worlds, we¹ll create a clearer picture of how the industry works, and do it in a lively and informative way."

The conference fee is $99 and includes lunch. For more information about the conference or to register, call (818) 677-2504 or (818) 677 2644. Registration must be made in advance, space is limited.

Northridge's Entertainment Institute is a collaborative effort involving the colleges of Arts, Media, and Communication; Business Administration and Economics; Engineering and Computer Science; Extended Learning; and the Career Center.

The Institute's goals include helping students realize their educational goals in preparation for careers in the entertainment industry; establishing the university as a center for research and creative activity related to the entertainment industry; and fostering beneficial partnerships between the industry and the university.