By SANDRA GARCIA
Wildvine Music, a subsidiary of New York-based Three Tree Productions, has tapped Frank DiMinno as its president/executive producer, a newly created position at the company. DiMinno was formerly an executive producer at Pink Noise, New York.
Wildvine Music, New York, was launched a year ago by Three Tree partners Jake Holmes, Bernie Drayton, and Nick DiMinno, Frank DiMinno’s father. Since Three Tree was mainly a "song house" as described by Frank DiMinno, the idea behind the new division was to bring in young musicians with a little advertising background to pursue scoring.
Wildvine initially opened with composers Peter Klinger and Tim Cloherty, both of whom composed and managed the business side of the new venture. Meanwhile, Three Tree composers Holmes, Irwin Fisch, George Fontenette, Barry Eastman, Rex Rideout and Hasib McNeally had the opportunity to collaborate on projects with Wildvine composers and vice versa. Now, the Three Tree partners have brought in Frank DiMinno to handle Wildvine’s business aspect.
DiMinno first joined the Three Tree fold in ’90, when the company was known as 4/4 Productions, New York. He worked as a producer and sales representative at 4/4 for two years before leaving to join Gray Noise, New York, with singer/ songwriter/producer Jody Gray. At the time, Gray was looking to get into spots and DiMinno was interested in producing records. DiMinno has since signed Gray to the Wildvine spot roster as a writer. Gray will continue to work on film, TV and record projects through Gray Noise.
In ’96, DiMinno moved to New York-based No Soap Productions as a rep/producer, where he worked mostly on radio spots. He left a year and a half later to join Pink Noise as its executive producer. At Pink Noise, his credits included Canon Copiers, Secret antiperspirant, MCI, Rite Aid Drugstores, the U.S. Air Force and Nizoral medicated shampoo.
DiMinno is already applying his cumulative experience to Wildvine. He recently executive produced a KFC spot entitled "The Press," via Young & Rubicam, New York. "The best thing about this position is that it’s mine … I can dig down, grab the bull by the horns and make something happen," related DiMinno.
The complete Wildvine Music roster includes Klinger, Cloherty, Gray and Jean-Baptiste Bocle. Frank DiMinno handle sales for Wildvine, while Holmes, Drayton and Nick DiMinno all rep Three Tree.
Endeavor Group Sells Professional Bull Riders, On Location and IMG To Parent of WWE and UFC
The parent company of WWE and UFC is buying Professional Bull Riders, On Location, and IMG from Endeavor Group in an all-stock deal valued at $3.25 billion.
The deal is part of Endeavor's efforts to shed some of its assets as it looks to be taken private in a proposed transaction with private equity firm Silver Lake, which was announced in April. Ariel Emanuel, who serves as CEO of Endeavor, is also executive chair and CEO of TKO.
Professional Bull Riders is a bull riding league that has more than 200 annual live events, approximately 1.25 million fans, and reaches more than 285 million households in more than 65 territories. On Location is live event company for more than 1,200 sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, Ryder Cup and NCAA Final Four. IMG is a distributor and producer of sports content, packages and sells media rights and brand partnerships, and provides consulting, digital services and event management to clients such as the National Football League and National Hockey League.
Parent company TKO Group said Thursday that the acquisition from Endeavor Group will complement its existing businesses as well as broaden its reach in the premium sports market.
"PBR, On Location, and IMG are industry-leading assets that meaningfully enhance TKO's portfolio and strengthen our position in premium sports globally," TKO Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro said in a statement. "Within TKO, they will help power the growth of our revenue streams and position us to capture even more upside from some of the most attractive parts of our sports ecosystem: media rights, live events, ticket sales, premium experiences, brand partnerships, and site fees."
As part of the deal, Endeavor will receive about 26.14 million common units of TKO... Read More