Company Town : Only 19 More Days to Get Out of Town

Hollywood’s favorite movie title these days isn’t “The Santa Clause� or “Interview With the Vampire,� despite their box office success. Insiders say it’s more like “The Great Escape.�

Industry executives looking to get out from under their oppressive workloads are taking longer and more frequent vacations than at any time in recent memory, sources say.

One studio is holding its Christmas party two weeks earlier this year than last. The reason: Most people planned to get out of town before the traditional party period. The deal-making environment has also cooled with the weather. People say a lot of business is being deferred till after the first of the year.

“The deal making goes slack earlier and earlier,� said one frustrated executive who’s still on the job. “And it’s not just at Christmas. People have discovered Jewish holidays no one ever heard of. Plus there are more long weekends. Any postal holiday suddenly turns into a non-week.�

Hollywood has always taken its leisure time seriously, and people still conduct some business during vacations. But the frequency and duration are evolving upward. Industry sources say executives are finding more and more excuses to get out of the office. They are also committing to longer, more isolated and exotic getaways, such as rafting and rock climbing.

Producer John Davis, who’s on the job preparing for the upcoming release of “Richie Rich� in theaters and the broadcast of “One Christmas� starring Katharine Hepburn on NBC, says “The Great Escape� started on Wall Street and spread west, like a lot of business trends.

“It’s one of those things where everyone assumes everyone else is in a slow mode, and it feeds on itself,� he said. “It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy . . . “

*

The Thanksgiving-to-New Year’s break is the best example. Business used to resume on some level between holidays. Now it’s often one long stretch of inactivity. Late summer has become another Dead Zone. Sometimes distribution and marketing executives are the only ones left minding the store, since new releases continue through the end of the year.

With so many people missing, agents often hold back material until the full complement of executives is in place. “Agents are loath to lay anything they regard as hot material on people who are too low on the chain,� one explained.

Restaurant business also slows down, which is another indicator of diminished activity. On a recent Friday, one of the most popular Hollywood hangouts was only half full for lunch.

Entertainment attorney David Colden is among those who’s noticed the change. He agrees that people are punching out earlier. But he also sees other explanations for the slowdown. Colden says many companies are dealing with depleted budgets and unstable managements.

“A lot of them are waiting for the beginning of the new fiscal year or for the internal musical chairs to end,� Colden said. “The fall wasn’t that busy, either.�

Another explanation, strangely enough, is that Hollywood is just returning to a more rational routine after sustaining the go-go standards of the 1980s for too long.

“It reflects a sort of sanity,� said one executive. “And that’s always surprising.�

*

Two entertainment companies that aren’t on informal hiatus are Harvey Entertainment Co. and Dove Audio, which had stock market-related news Monday.

Beverly Hills-based Dove announced an initial public offering of 950,000 shares of common stock, at $6 per share on the Nasdaq Small Cap Market.

The proceeds will be used to repay approximately $600,000 in outstanding trade indebtedness, “to make certain capital improvements totaling approximately $300,000 in the company’s warehouse fulfillment capabilities, and for general corporate purposes, working capital and potential acquisitions of rights to book and film properties,� according to Dove.

Besides audio books, Dove is involved in made-for-TV movies and miniseries.

Harvey announced that its common stock has begun trading on Nasdaq’s National Market System. Chairman Jeffrey A. Montgomery said the change acknowledges progress made since Harvey’s 1993 initial public offering and increasing visibility of comic book characters such as Richie Rich and Casper, which are both subjects of upcoming live-action feature films.

Santa Monica-based Harvey’s shares closed Monday at $16.25, down 25 cents. The year’s high was $19.50; the low was $8.25.

*

As the entertainment world gets symbolically smaller, do people with international experience have a larger role to play? That’s what Jerry Pam, Mike Baumohl and Joel Coler are banking on. The three veteran executives have formed Encore International Group to promote and market Hollywood movies, stars and events, based on their foreign experience.

Pam was half of the well-known public relations agency Guttman & Pam Ltd. Baumohl was executive director of international marketing for Warner Bros. And Coler was a vice president in advertising and publicity and distribution for 20th Century Fox’s international arm.