Maker Studios is one of the biggest players in digital Hollywood these days, so maybe it should come as no surprise that they’re also involved in what’s shaping up to be one of the nastier entertainment court battles of recent years.
The Hollywood Reporter goes deep in this week’s print issue on the fight between Maker and it’s founder Danny Zappin, who was ousted from the $100-million-a-year company he founded by the very investors he had brought in to help finance his baby.
And as usual, it’s that money that lies at the root of the fight. Zappin says he was ousted by greedy investors who wanted to cash in on Maker’s content and assets. They counter that Zappin always knew he wasn’t going to serve as CEO of the company he helped found—and that in fact it was a condition of their investment.
But the bigger question underpinning the entire fight: whether Maker can ever improve its returns to such a degree that it can be a business as big as an AMC or a A+E.
Read More: The Hollywood Reporter.
Brief Take: The fight at Maker is as much about who controls content in the digital age and how much it’s worth as it is about the individual personalities involved.
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