Prospect Park is a Hollywood entertainment production company, founded in 2008 by
Richard H. Frank, a former executive at the
Walt Disney Television
Disney General Entertainment Content, doing business as Walt Disney Television, is an American entertainment company that oversees television content and assets owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. Forming the company's General Enter ...
, and
Jeff Kwatinetz
Jeff Kwatinetz (born April 6, 1965) is an American entertainment industry executive. He is the former CEO of the Firm, Inc., a media production and talent management company in Santa Monica, California, and current COO of Cube Vision, the film ...
, former CEO of the talent agency
The Firm, Inc., and music manager
Peter Katsis
Peter Katsis is an American music manager. He co-founded the management and production company Prospect Park, and was a founding partner of The Firm.
Biography
At the age of 23, Katsis discovered and managed his first group, the Chicago indust ...
. Based in Century City, California, and embodies three distinct business units: music management, television production, and a record label. On May 3, 2011, former
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
executive Josh Barry joined the company to lead the production company.
The production company produced
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
television series ''
Royal Pains
''Royal Pains'' (stylized ℞oyalPains) is an American comedy-drama television series that ran on the USA Network from 2009 to 2016. The series was based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies. The ca ...
'', as well as the
FX Network
FX is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content unit of The Walt Disney Company. It is based at the Fox Studios lot in Century City, California. FX originally launch ...
series ''
Wilfred'' and the
WGN America
WGN America was an American subscription television network that was owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and was the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel in its final form under the WGN branding ra ...
series, ''
Salem''. The music division is divided into the management department, which guides the careers of music artists, and Prospect Park Records, an independent record label which has served as the label home to artists such as
Five Finger Death Punch
Five Finger Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2005. The band originally consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Ivan Moody, rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory, lead g ...
,
Korn
Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream.
Originally formed in 1993 ...
, and
Mindset Evolution. In 2014, it added British chart toppers
You Me at Six
You Me at Six are an English rock band from Weybridge, Surrey. The band consists of lead singer Josh Franceschi, guitarists Max Helyer and Chris Miller, bassist Matt Barnes and drummer Daniel Flint. Formed in 2004, the name for the group origi ...
and New York rapper
Azealia Banks
Azealia Amanda Banks ( ; born May 31, 1991) is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, she began releasing music through Myspace in 2008 before being signed to XL Recordings at age 18. In 2 ...
to its roster.
In 2013, Prospect Park launched its own web channel, The Online Network, with revivals of the long-running daytime
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
s ''
One Life to Live
''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...
'' and ''
All My Children
''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...
''. Later that year it filed a lawsuit against ABC, the licensee of those series, and the Prospect Park Networks division filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2014. The production and music divisions remained unaffected, and in 2015 were positioned as subordinate entities to a reactivated The Firm, Inc.
The Online Network
On July 7, 2011, ABC announced the licensing of its soaps to Prospect Park, who intended to continue production of the shows in a new paid
online TV and interactive media network.
On September 27, 2011, Prospect Park announced that it would produce new episodes of the two daytime soap operas, which would air on its new Internet channel starting in January 2012.
On November 10, 2011, it was announced that the relaunch of ''All My Children'' had been indefinitely delayed and that Prospect Park would focus solely on the relaunch of ''One Life to Live''.
On November 23, 2011, Prospect Park suspended its plans altogether to launch an online channel with ''All My Children'' and ''One Life to Live''. A year later, it was announced the plans were revived.
On January 7, 2013, it was confirmed via press release that Prospect Park's The Online Network would launch and that ''All My Children'' and ''One Life to Live'' would serve as anchor programming. Production of the shows resumed on February 25, 2013.
The soap operas premiered with new 30 minute episodes on
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
,
Hulu Plus
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series l ...
and
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
on April 29, 2013.
TOLN also produced a series of behind the scenes promotional "episodes" called ''MORE All My Children'' and ''MORE One Life to Live'',
as well as a radio talk show centered on the programs, called ''TOLN SOAPS Live with
Michael Fairman
Michael Fairman (born February 25, 1934) is an American actor and writer.
Career
He is best known for his various roles during his long career, which started when he was 31 years old. This includes the role of Nick Szabo on the daytime drama, ...
''.
Litigation and bankruptcy
On April 18, 2013, Prospect Park filed a $25 million lawsuit against ABC over ''One Life to Live'', alleging ABC failed to honor its part of the licensing agreement. Among the issues named in the lawsuit are allegations of ABC's attempts to sabotage Prospect Park's revival of the soaps by killing off ''One Life to Live'' characters loaned to ''
General Hospital
''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...
'', failure on ABC's part to consult Prospect Park on storylines involving ''One Life to Live'' characters, and claiming that one ''One Life to Live'' character was actually a ''General Hospital'' character.
On June 6, 2013, production of both shows was halted due to a labor dispute with the
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, known as simply the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE or ...
labor union, which was resolved two months later. On September 3, 2013, Prospect Park announced production of ''All My Children'' and ''One Life to Live'' would be suspended until the lawsuit with ABC was resolved.
On November 11, 2013, several ''All My Children'' cast members announced that Prospect Park had closed production and canceled the series again.
On March 10, 2014, Prospect Park Networks announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it continued its lawsuit against ABC.
ABC subsequently filed a countersuit seeking unpaid licensing fees. TOLN was dissolved later that year.
The Firm, Inc. was reactivated in August 2015, with Prospect Park Productions as a subordinate entity continuing to produce its series, including ''Royal Pains'' and ''Salem'', and the music divisions similarly unaffected.
ABC's countersuit was dismissed in October 2016, and Prospect Park's lawsuit was dismissed in December 2016, with the rights to ''All My Children'' and ''One Life to Live'' reverting to ABC.
References
{{Authority control
All My Children
One Life to Live
2008 establishments in California
Companies based in Los Angeles
Mass media companies established in 2008
Television production companies of the United States