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Thomas B. McGrath (born 1956, married, 2 children) though little known outside Hollywood, has been an important, behind-the-scenes player in reshaping modern media throughout his entertainment career. Image File history File links Tom McGrath File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Tom McGrath File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
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Early life and education
McGrath 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 Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ...
The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, known informally simply as The Pudding, is a theatrical student society at Harvard University, known for its burlesque musicals. ...
Career McGrath began his career as a musician, performing in the orchestra at the Wolf Trap Center 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 Jose Carreras and the American debut of the recently defected, Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshinikov. Broadway theatre is often considered the highest professional form of theatre in the United States. ...
The Kennedy Center as seen from the Potomac River. ...
A Chorus Line is a musical with a book by James Kirkwood, Jr. ...
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 a 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 sof 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). Francis Thomas Fay Vincent, Jr. ...
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. ...
The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ...
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
HBO (Home Box Office) is an American premium cable television network. ...
CBS is one of the largest radio and television networks in the United States. ...
Warner Bros. ...
Goldcrest Films is a British film production company founded by David Puttnam. ...
The Princess Bride- An Act III Production Image File history File links Download high resolution version (514x755, 77 KB) Summary The North American movie poster for The Princess Bride (film). ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (514x755, 77 KB) Summary The North American movie poster for The Princess Bride (film). ...
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. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Minor characters in 24. ...
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949 in Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada) is a Jewish-Canadian-American musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian and composer currently seen as the bandleader on the Late Show with David Letterman. ...
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 to take advantage of the de-regulation 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, N-TV, a German language 24-hour news network in partnership with CNN,VOX (TV) a national German TV network with Bertelsmann, and others. HBO (Home Box Office) is an American premium cable television network. ...
Classic FM is the United Kingdoms first national commercial radio station, broadcasting classical music in a popular and accessible style. ...
For the bus system in York Region, Ontario, Canada, please see Viva (bus rapid transit). ...
MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network based in New York City. ...
The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ...
VOX is a German television channel of the VOX Film- und Fernseh-GmbH & Co. ...
VIVA German Music Television Channel Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
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 lead the effort to modernize international movie theaters by building almost 1,000 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 and corporate finance. This page is about the post-2005 Viacom. ...
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ...
Famous Players is one of the Canadian movie theatre banners operated by Cineplex Galaxy LP; it includes numerous locations stretching from British Columbia to Quebec. ...
United Cinemas International or UCI is owned by Terra Firma Capital Partners. ...
McGrath also lead up the build-up of the Paramount TV station group from 14 local independents to 27 stations for the launch of the UPN network, America's fifth major broadcast network. In new technology, Tom McGrath proposed the formation of Digital Cinema Initiatives, an all-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 lead industry efforts to both combat internet film piracy and create viable online alternatives. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
UPN (which originally stood for the United Paramount Network) was a television network in over 200 markets in the United States. ...
Movielink is a web-based video on demand (VOD) service offering movies, TV shows and other material for rental or purchase. ...
While at Paramount, McGrath formalized and rationalized the use of off-balance sheet film financing, making it an indispensible 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 accoplishments included tha cquisition 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.
Fried Green Tomatoes-Produced by Act III Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (510x755, 73 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (510x755, 73 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Production Credits Production credits for McGrath (principally as an executive) include the films Fried Green Tomatoes, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride and the first-class theatrical productions of Arsenic and Old Lace, Vacanza Romana (Roman Holiday), Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Footloose,Saturday Night Fever and the stage production of Happy Days with Gary Marshall. Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by Joseph Kesselring, which was made into a film by director Frank Capra. ...
Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy. ...
Saturday Night Fever is a 1977 movie starring John Travolta as Tony Manero, a troubled Brooklyn youth whose weekend activities are dominated by visits to a Brooklyn discotheque. ...
Happy Days is a popular American television sitcom that originally aired between 1974 and 1984 on the ABC television network. ...
Garry Kent Marshall (born November 13, 1934) is an American actor/director/writer/producer. ...
Senior Managing Director, Crossroads Media McGrath is currently Senior Managing Director of Crossroads Media, a private equity backed acquisition vehicle. Most recently Crossroads acquired a controlling interest in Bug Music which manages the catalogs of Johnnie Cash, Willie Dixon, Annie Roboff, Harry Ruby, Stevie Ray Vaughn and others. In June 2007 Bug Music acquired Windswept Music from Fuji (Japan) making Bug the largest independent music publisher in North America. The acquisition of Windsept which added the '60s catalog "Trio/Quartet" to Bug, including songs such as "(You Give Me) Fever,""Do You Believe in Magic," Summer in the City" and others. McGrath also serves on the boards of V-Media, Cineworld Cinemas UK, Universal Studios Orlandoand Classic Media TV (sold to Entertainment Rights, UK in 2007). German 24-Hr News Channel Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
| National UK FM Radio Classical Radio Network Image File history File links Classicfm_logo. ...
| Channel 5 - National UK TV Network Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
| Bug Music Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ...
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References Variety is a daily newspaper for the entertainment industry. ...
American actress Demi Moore, on a typical Vanity Fair cover (August, 1991) Vanity Fair is a glossy American glamour magazine monthly that offers a mixture of articles based on sensational exaggerations, jet-set and entertainment-business personalities, politics, and lies. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
American actress Demi Moore, on a typical Vanity Fair cover (August, 1991) Vanity Fair is a glossy American glamour magazine monthly that offers a mixture of articles based on sensational exaggerations, jet-set and entertainment-business personalities, politics, and lies. ...
Answers. ...
External links - Internet Broadway Database entry
- Internet Movie Database entry
- Famous Players Theaters
- Crossroads Media (McGrath)
- United Cinemas International
- VIVA TV (Deutsch und English)
- N-TV Nachrichten Fernsehen (auf Deutsch)
- Paramount Pictures
- Norman Lear, Act III Communications
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