Mumbai: Nielsen Business Media, a part of The Nielsen Company, today announced that it will launch MovieWeek LA, an annual multifaceted industry and consumer gathering that will explore the art, craft and business of creating the moving image. The confab – which is being created by Nielsen Business Media’s Entertainment Group, whose brands include The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Backstage, and ShoWest – will be led by Managing Director Tom Morrissy, whose newly-formed firm Morrissy + Vine LLC, has been engaged to plan and develop the event. Plans are currently underway to launch MovieWeek in Los Angeles as both a trade show and city-wide complex of events in the spring of 2010.
"Entertainment is America’s most significant export – it’s a business and art that should be heralded, in the city where it resonates, for its contribution to the creative and economic fabric of our nation," said Nielsen Business Media’s Entertainment Group senior vice president Gerry Byrne "Just as Fashion Week celebrates and ignites the power of design and gives consumers the inside track to new styles and trends, MovieWeek will entertain and energize by bringing consumers inside the creative and production process with a spotlight on how movie brands drive an array of businesses including games and mobile applications."
Welcoming the launch of this noteworthy event, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa commented, "Los Angeles is, indeed, the movie capital of the world and we are extremely enthusiastic and supportive of the MovieWeek initiative. To create an annual week that celebrates a core American industry in the city where Hollywood is both a place and a passion, will be a powerful and important statement supporting economic development in LA."
Under the direction of Morrissy, MovieWeek LA will be the preeminent, one-of-a-kind gathering of both influencers in filmmaking and general movie enthusiasts alike. A highly-respected media and advertising sales veteran, Morrissy was formerly publisher of Entertainment Weekly and OK! Magazines, before launching the consultancy firm Morrissy + Vine LLC this year.
"Tom has the perfect combination of marketing and organizational skill sets and relationships to be MovieWeek’s master planner," commented Byrne. "In addition to being an accomplished media executive, Tom is known and respected in both the Hollywood and Madison Avenue communities where identifying branded entertainment opportunities like MovieWeek have become a priority. I’m thrilled to have him on board."
