Thursday, October 14, 1999

The Cyber Scene in Los Angeles ~ by Heather Mason

It was a beautiful LA night as usual at the VIC at the Victorian on October
14th and I actually had to wait in line to register at the desk. The ivy-crowned building that once had comfortable elbow-room is now brimming with people in every nook and cranny. Many of these new folks are from eager start-ups looking for employees. And there was more than one nametag that said “Now Hiring!” below the handwritten company name.
I ran into Eddie Hartman, Vice President of XCEED,inc. a web-design and consulting firm, and then went upstairs to say hello to Don DeGeorge of Intellicent, formerly known as HTL, which specializes in IT services. I also happen to know that Don plays a mean game of Softball, having worked together with him at Fox and played on the company team.
Upstairs I also ran into Paula Gill, director of development at Richard Greenberg Productions, and Audrey George, of Hearst Entertainment, and Jill Higson, E!Online. Seems everyone’s looking to the internet for content. But, Paula said she’ s looking not only for content ideas, but new ways of production and systems from the internet.
From my conversations about Hollywood and the internet, I turned to meet some folks from Tickets.com, the competitors to Ticketmaster, I correctly guessed. The representative (I never did get his card) was very enthusiastic about their services, even if he didn’t offer to get me a ticket to this weekend’s Sting concert. Maybe I’ll aim for hockey next time.
On my way out, I met up with Peter Scranton, of Peter Scranton and Associates and James C. Roberts of the Atlantic Advisory Group, who were both talking about a fantastic jazz pianist coming to town. And, right at the door, Brian Terr, of Creative Planet, was talking to Carl Bressler, one of the founders of VIC, arriving about 10 pm to a still happening spot.

Heather Mason /\ mason@showbizdata.com