Tom McGrath (media executive)

For other uses, see Thomas B. McGrath (disambiguation).

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Tom McGrath

Tom McGrath is an American media executive.

Early life and education

McGrath (born 1956) grew up in Washington, DC, graduated from St. John's College High School ('72), received his A.B. at 19 from Harvard and earned his M.B.A. there as well. At Harvard he was music director of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and conductor of both the Harvard Marching Band and the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players.

Career

McGrath began his career as a musician, performing in the orchestra at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts outside Washington, DC, while in college. After college he was a Broadway press agent at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, work that included the original Broadway production of Annie and the first national tour of A Chorus Line. He also handled the U.S. Bicentennial visits of the La Scala Opera, Berlin Opera, Royal Ballet, Cuba National Ballet, Bolshoi Opera and Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet. These visits included the US debut of José Carreras and the American debut of the recently defected, Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Columbia Pictures (The Coca-Cola Company)

While in business school, McGrath wrote a thesis on future potential of the home videocassette for film distribution which brought him to the attention of Columbia Picture's then CEO, Fay Vincent (later the commissioner of Major League Baseball). McGrath was then hired by Columbia Pictures in 1980 to start a home video distribution company as well as set up a licensing regime for the emerging pay TV channels such as HBO and Showtime, at a time when few had even heard of a videocassette. While at Columbia, McGrath wrote an econometric paper on movie theaters and video competition that contributed to the US Justice Department lifting the 30-year old "Paramount Consent Decree" which had prohibited film companies from owning movie theaters—after which Columbia became the first motion picture studio since 1954 to acquire a chain of movie theaters. McGrath also lead the formation of TriStar Pictures, a partnership of Columbia, HBO and CBS—the first new movie studio in fifty years—which survives to this day as part of Sony Entertainment. With Warner Brothers, Fox, Goldcrest Films and Thorn/EMI, McGrath formed Premiere International, Europe's first Pay TV service. McGrath also led the acquisition of Belwin-Mills Music by Columbia, as well as Embassy Television (All in the Family, among many other shows) and Merv Griffin productions (Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy).

President and CEO, Act III Communications

After Columbia, McGrath started up Act III Communications in partnership with famed TV writer Norman Lear, Bert Ellis, Scott Wallace and Paul Schaeffer. Act III was the first non-industry player to acquire movie theaters in a move that subsequently led to virtually all the major movie theater chains being acquired by financial players. Act III also owned TV stations (eventually becoming the largest Fox Network affiliate when that network was starting up), trade magazines such as Channels and produced a handful of movies.

President of Time Warner International Broadcasting

McGrath moved on in 1990 to become President of Time Warner International Broadcasting, where he worked with the legendary Steve Ross and HBO's Jeff Bewkes, now CEO of Time Warner; to take advantage of the deregulation of media internationally by launching radio and TV channels such as Classic FM in the UK, Channel Five (UK), VIVA-TV (Germany), the first major competitor to MTV and the only one to beat them in local ratings, NTV, a German language 24-hour news network in partnership with CNN, VOX (TV) a national German TV network with Bertelsmann, and others.

Chief Operating Officer, Viacom Entertainment Group

After Time Warner International, McGrath became chief operating officer of the Viacom Entertainment Group following Viacom's acquisition of Paramount Pictures in 1994. At Viacom McGrath headed up Famous Players Theaters which eventually obtained a 50% share of the Canadian market, and United Cinemas International which led the effort to modernize international movie theaters by building almost 1,300 movie theater screens in 13 countries including Brazil, China, Italy, Japan, Germany and others. McGrath acted as chairman of Famous Music, Paramount's music publishing subsidiary, doubling net publisher's share; also heading up licensing and merchandising (launching the Cheers and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant chains) and corporate finance. McGrath also led up the build-up of the Paramount TV station group from 14 local independents to 27 stations for the launch of the UPN network, formerly America's fifth major broadcast network. In new technology, he led the formation of Digital Cinema Initiatives, a movie studio effort to define standards for digital cinema projection, served on the committee for advanced DVD standards, formed the studio joint venture "Movielink" to offer internet downloading of major feature films, and led industry efforts to both combat internet film piracy and create viable online alternatives.

While at Paramount, McGrath formalized and rationalized the use of off-balance-sheet film financing, making it an indispensable tool of modern film making, including over $4bn in German tax partnerships, $2bn in UK sale-leasebacks and the Melrose Film Partners "slate" financing. Other accomplishments included the acquisition and mergers of Viacom Television, Spelling TV and Rysher Entertainment (more than doubling Paramount's TV library) and heading up Paramount's theme park division, then the fifth largest theme park operator in North America.

Chairman, Key Brand Entertainment

On January 25, 2008 it was announced that McGrath, in partnership with UK producer John Gore, had acquired the live theater division of Live Nation known as "Broadway Across America". The company trades under the parent name Key Brand Entertainment, Inc.

BAA is among the largest producer and touring production company for Broadway musicals in the US. The company includes theaters in Boston, Baltimore and Minneapolis and a touring subscription series in 42 cities across the US. It also has interests in NETworks Presentations LLC, a producer of touring musicals, and The Booking Group, a New York-based booking agency specializing in touring theatrical productions.

In December 2010 Key Brand acquired Broadway.com from Hollywood Media Corp. Broadway.com is a secondary ticketing company specializing in tickets for Broadway and off-Broadway shows. The company operates the e-commerce website www.broadway.com.

Film

Films produced by Act III under McGrath include: Fried Green Tomatoes, Stand by Me,Breaking In,and The Princess Bride.

Theater

First-class theatrical productions set up by McGrath include:

Arsenic and Old Lace, Vacanza Romana (Roman Holiday), Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Footloose,Saturday Night Fever, Urban Cowboy, Flashdance, First Wive Club, Johnny Guitar, Ghost, Sunset Boulevard and the stage adaptation of Happy Days with Gary Marshall. McGrath received the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play in 2008 for Boeing-Boeing and the 2008 Drama Desk Award for best New Musical for Passing Strange.. He received a Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Revival of a Musical for Hair at the 2009 awards ceremony. McGrath received the Olivier Award for Best New Musical for the London production of Spring Awakening at the 2010 BAFTA Awards. In 2010 McGrath received Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Musical Revival for La Cage aux Folles and for Best Musical for Memphis. He was also nominated for Best Revival of a Play for A View From The Bridge.

McGrath has produced on Broadway:

• Porgy and Bess [Revival, Musical, Drama] January 12, 2011 - ?
• On a Clear Day You Can See Forever [Original, Musical, Comedy] Dec 11, 2011 - ?
• Godspell [Revival, Musical] Nov 7, 2011 - ?
• The Mountaintop [Original, Play, Drama] Oct 13, 2011 - ?
• Jerusalem [Original, Play, Drama] Apr 21, 2011 - Aug 21, 2011
• War Horse [Original, Play, Drama] Apr 14, 2011 - Present; In assoc. with War Horse LP
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying [Revival, Musical, Comedy] March 27, 2011 – present
• Priscilla, Queen of the Desert [Original, Musical, Comedy] March 20, 2011 – Present
• The Merchant of Venice [Revival, Play, Drama] November 13, 2010 - February 20, 2011
• Harry Connick, Jr. in Concert [Original, Special, Concert, Solo] July 15, 2010 - July 29, 2010
• La Cage Aux Folles [Revival, Musical, Comedy] April 18, 2010 - Current
• Fela! (Assoc. Producer) [Original, Musical, Comedy] Nov 23, 2009 - Jan 2, 2011
• Promises, Promises [Revival, Musical, Comedy] April 25, 2010 - Current
• Million Dollar Quartet [Original, Musical, Comedy] April, 2010 - Current
• Lend Me A Tenor [Revival, Comedy, Play] April 4, 2010 - August 15, 2010
• Dreamgirls in Assoc. with Tokyo Broadcasting; Bunkamura Theater Tokyo, Japan May 22-June 4, 2010
• A View From the Bridge [Revival, Play, Drama] January 24, 2010 - April 4, 2010
• A Little Night Music [Revival, Musical, Comedy] December 13, 2009 - January 9, 2011
• Irving Berlin's White Christmas [Original, Musical, Comedy] November 13, 2009 - January 4, 2010
• Memphis [Original, Musical, Comedy] October 19, 2009 - Current
• Desire Under the Elms [Revival, Play, Drama] April 27, 2009 - May 24, 2009
• Hair [Revival,Musical, Drama] March 26, 2009 - May 30, 2009
• Next to Normal [Original, Musical, Drama] March 31, 2009 - June 27, 2010
• God of Carnage [Original, Play, Comedy] March 22, 2009 - June 6, 2010
• Impressionism [Original, Play, Drama] March 24, 2009 - May 10, 2009
• Blithe Spirit [Revival, Play, Comedy] March 15, 2009 - July 19, 2009
• Xanadu (Tokyo, Japan; in Assoc. with Tokyo Broadcasting) May 9–31, 2009
• A Chorus Line (Tokyo, Japan; In Association with TBS Events)August 12 - September 30, 2009
• Minsky's [Original, Musical, Comedy]Premieres Broadway 2011 Original Production Ahmanson Theater Los Angeles
• West Side Story [Revival, Musical, Drama] Mar 19, 2009 - Present
• Irving Berlin's White Christmas [Original, Musical] November 23 - January 4, 2009
• title of show [Original, Musical,Comedy] July 17, 2008 - October 12, 2008
• 13 [Original, Musical, Comedy] October 5, 2008 - January 4, 2009
• Boeing-Boeing [Revival, Play, Comedy] May 4, 2008 - January 4, 2009
• A Catered Affair [Original, Musical] Apr 17, 2008 - July 27, 2008
• Passing Strange [Original, Musical] February 28, 2008 - July 20, 2008
• Cirque Dreams [Original, Special, Circus] June 26, 2008 - August 24, 2008

McGrath has produced in the London West End:

• Million Dollar Quartet' (Noel Coward Theatre) February 28, 2011 – present
• Sweet Charity (Theatre Royal Haymarket London) April 23, 2010 - November 8, 2010
• Spring Awakening (Novello Theatre, London) March 21, 2009 - May 31, 2009 (Olivier Award, Best New Musical)
• Hair (Gielgud Theatre) April 14, 2010 - September 4, 2010
• Saturday Night Fever (London Palladium) from the film by Paramount Pictures May 5, 1998 - Feb 26, 2000

McGrath produced with Paramount Pictures:

• Barefoot in the Park [Revival, Play, Comedy] in assoc. with Paramount Pictures February 16, 2006 - May 21, 2006
• Vacanze Romane ("Roman Holiday") Opened February 16, 2004 Teatro Il Sistina; Rome, Italy
• Johnny Guitar, The Musical (Off Broadway - Century Center) from the film by Paramount Pictures 2004 (2004 Outer Critics' Circle Best New Musical)
• Urban Cowboy [Original, Musical] from the film by Paramount Pictures March 27, 2003 - May 18, 2003
• The Wild Party [Original, Musical, Drama] April 13, 2000 - June 11, 2000
• Saturday Night Fever [Original, Musical]Based on the film by Paramount/RSO October 21, 1999 - December 30, 2000
• Footloose [Original, Musical, Comedy]Based on the film by Paramount Pictures October 22, 1998 - July 2, 2000
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum [Revival, Musical, Comedy] April 18, 1996 - January 4, 1998
• Roman Holiday in assoc. with Toho Productions Premiere October, 1998 Tokyo, Japan
• Seven Guitars [Original, Play, Drama] March 28, 1996 - September 8, 1996

McGrath produced at Act III Communications:

• Arsenic and Old Lace [Revival,Play,Comedy] Produced by Act III Communications June 19, 1986 - January 3, 1987

McGrath represented As a press agent; Produced by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

• Annie [Original, Musical, Comedy] Apr 21, 1977 - Jan 2, 1983
• Music Is [Original, Musical, Comedy] Dec 20, 1976 - Dec 26, 1976
• The Merchant [Original, Play] Nov 16, 1977 - Nov 20, 1977
• Caesar and Cleopatra [Revival, Play, Comedy] Feb 24, 1977 - Mar 5, 1977
• Dirty Linen & New-Found-Land [Original, Play, Farce] Jan 11, 1977 - May 28, 1977
• Fiddler on the Roof [Revival, Musical, Comedy, Drama] Dec 28, 1976 - May 21, 1977
• A Texas Trilogy [Original, Play] Sep 21, 1976 - Oct 30, 1976

Theatrical Exhibition

McGrath has a particular association with theatrical exhibition. In 1948 the U.S. Supreme Court decided the major film studios (Paramount, Universal etc.) must divest themselves of their movie theaters (the "Paramount Consent Decree.") In 1985 Columbia Pictures, then a unit of The Coca-Cola Company, acquired a 58% interest in Walter Reade cinemas in New York. Columbia (which had not been a signatory to the original decree as it had owned no Theaters then) submitted an econometric study by McGrath showing that the inter-relationship and growth of the Home Video, cable TV and subscription Pay TV businesses eliminated the need to consider exhibition as a unique product market. The deal went forward and Tri-Star Pictures, Warner Brothers, Universal and Paramount all subsequently acquired theaters.

At Act III McGrath built what was then the 6th largest theater circuit (Scott Wallace, president), notable for its early adoption of digital sound and extensive roll-out of the THX sound system. While at Paramount McGrath led the development of stadium-seated cinemas building 800+ stadium screens in Canada at Famous Players, eventually achieving a 50% market share; while spurring the re-birth of the contemporary international cinema business building some 1,300 screens in stadium "megaplexes" in 13 countries at United Cinemas International (UCI).

McGrath also pioneered the use of screen advertising in cinemas first at UCI in England (Joe Peixoto, president) and then introducing the idea to North America at Famous Players. He is responsible for the 2001, $15mm renovation of the historic Grumann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood which included the replication of the original tapestries, carpets and drapes from the designer's hand-cut templates. With AMC and Sumner Redstone's Showcase, he formed the online movie ticketing company MovieTickets.com.

Finally, McGrath led the formation of Digital Cinema Initiatives, a joint venture of the major studios, which developed the standards and technology for the introduction of digital cinema. In 2006 he worked with Blackstone to acquire Cineworld, the largest (by box office) theater circuit in the UK (Steve Wiener, ceo) which went public in the Spring of 2007. Cineworld's achievements include leading the introduction of "3D" exhibition technology and currently has more than 50% of the "3D" screens in the UK and Ireland.

Senior Managing Director, Crossroads Media

McGrath is currently Senior Managing Director of Crossroads Media, a private equity backed acquisition vehicle. Crossroads acquired a controlling interest in Bug Music, which manages the catalogs of Johnnie Cash, Willie Dixon, Annie Roboff, Harry Ruby, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others. In June 2007 Bug Music acquired Windswept Music from Fuji (Japan), in 2011 they acquired Countdown Music in Germany. Bug is currently the largest independent music publisher in North America. The acquisition of Windswept which added the '60s catalog "Trio/Quartet" to Bug, included songs such as "(You Give Me) Fever,""Do You Believe in Magic," Summer in the City" and others. In September of 2011 Crossroads sold Bug to BMG Music Publishing. McGrath also serves on the boards of V-Media, Cineworld (UK), The Aramid Entertainment Fund (a specialty hedge fund for the entertainment industry) and previously on the boards of Movie Gallery, Universal Studios (Orlando) and Classic Media TV.

References

• "Executives at the Gate", Vanity Fair
• "Springtime of the Moguls", Vanity Fair
• "Serious Money", Vanity Fair
• Thomas B. McGrath Profile from Fathom.com
• Norman Lear, Act III Communications
• Gore and McGrath acquire Live Nation Legit Theater Biz from the NY Times
• Bug Music Records Four Consecutive Quarters as #1 Indie Publisher from Billboard
• "Mining Gold in Tin Pan Alley" from The Deal 9/15/2008
• "The New Song of Broadway" from The Deal July 17, 2009
• "Bug Music Number 99 on INC Magazine 500 Fastest Growing Small Companies" from Inc. Magazine

External links

• Internet Broadway Database entry
• Internet Movie Database entry
• Famous Players Theaters
• Crossroads Media (McGrath)
• United Cinemas International
• VIVA TV (German and English)
• N-TV Nachrichten Fernsehen (in German)
• Paramount Pictures
• Bug Music
• Broadway Across America
• Movie Gallery Board of Directors
• Cineworld Board of Directors
• TBS Events; Tokyo, Japan
• TED Profiles