MARLO ENTERTAINMENT is a broad based entertainment company focused on bringing quality entertainment to an audience that has long been overlooked in terms of a specialized focus from the major and mini Hollywood studios. Marlo Entertainment, through its Film, Television, Animation, New Media, Music and Gaming divisions, is dedicated to financing, acquiring, developing, producing and distributing quality products to three of the largest and fastest growing entertainment consuming audiences in the U.S., the Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American populations. We don’t consider these audiences to be outside of what many in the industry consider “mainstream.” The world is not only changing rapidly, but it has already changed. The audience for entertainment products is far more diverse today, and “minority” audiences a lot more lucrative, than the industry has given them credit. 

A major distinguishing characteristic of MARLO ENTERTAINMENT is its embrace of technology in both the production of its entertainment and for its distribution. The cost of producing motion pictures, what the industry refers to as the negative cost, has been skyrocketing for years with actors’ salaries, the cost of film and equipment and crew costs pushing the expense of making and releasing even a modestly budgeted film to over $25 million. The irony is, and the MARLO ENTERTAINMENT philosophy, is that this does not have to be the case. Much of the cost of producing a film is related to union bloating, excessive salaries paid to actors in the belief that a big name actor is insurance on box office revenue, and more importantly, on old and outdated ways of shooting movies. The cost of shooting on film, including the stock, the equipment, the crew, and the time involved, is one of the largest components of a feature’s budget. But the technology exists, and many forward-thinking filmmakers and production companies, are starting to utilize it more and more, to shoot full-length motion pictures at a fraction of the cost. The technology utilizes the latest breakthroughs in HD and 24p technology, which allows for an economy of scale that is incredible. Already such notable directors as George Lucas (all of the recent “Star Wars” episodes were shot utilizing the technology) and Robert Rodriguez (“Once Upon A Time In Mexico,” and the “Spy Kids” series) who also shoots exclusively with this technology, swear that they will never go back to shooting on film due to the tremendous cost savings and efficiencies possible as a result of the technology. Marlo Productions will shoot no movies the old way and believes audiences today not only expect their movies to be on the cutting edge but also will appreciate that this technology might even lead to the cost of a night at the movies going down rather than continuing to spiral upward in an effort for studios and distributors to cover the costs of these expensive films.

Our embracing of technology not only allows us to operate and produce pictures, television shows and music at a fraction of the typical cost but also benefits the company, and its investors/backers, on the distribution end. Digital movies provide a number of benefits over film, all ultimately helping to keep typical distribution costs down as well. Film degrades over time and use, and is prone to damage. Digital exhibition is cleaner, does not degrade no matter how many times it is played, is cheaper to ship (film is still shipped to theatres in large canisters) and indeed in time will allow for satellite beaming from the source to the contracted theatres, completely eliminating all of the costs and dangers of shipping bulky film canisters. Additionally, with the increasing use of portable media players, home entertainment systems, the Internet and other ways people are getting entertainment, even movies shot on film, are ultimately having to be digitized for distribution outside of theatres. The same is true for the music industry. The recording industry has for years been trying to figure out a new model for distributing music as the advent of digital downloading and MP3’s has completely affected their profit margins. Young consumers spend less time in record stores buying cd’s than they do downloading music as they prefer, piece by piece. MARLO MUSIC bases its business model on this new paradigm, being a record label focused less on the outdated methodology of pressing records or manufacturing cd’s than on building relationships with new distribution outlets, online retailers and music downloading sites like Napster, Kazaa, and others. Again, the economics of producing the music digitally is more efficient and less costly, and is again, more in keeping with how music is really being received by consumers.

In the end, MARLO ENTERTAINMENT is about utilizing the economies of scale that are inherent across the entertainment industry, which also allows us diversified income streams across several industries, and is also about utilizing the latest technologies whenever possible in producing our entertainment product, allowing us to operate in a much more efficient manner, in the end with far less overhead than typical entertainment companies utilizing outdated methodologies and equipment. We bring entertainment production and delivery into the new millennium. 

Management

Earnest Harris, CEO

Prior to his career in film and television, Earnest handled marketing, publicity and special projects for numerous Fortune 500 companies and worked as a public relations executive for two of the most respected firms in the world, working with CEO’s of major corporations as well as White House counsel. He also is an award-winning writer and superior communicator having been a political columnist with a major daily and hosted a political talk-radio show in two major markets.

In the entertainment arena, Earnest has worked as a producer with some of the major players in the business, from the producing team on “The Fight Club” to Quincy Jones on a major music documentary for VH-1. He has also directed a variety of projects from music videos and short films to major features. His first major feature as a director was released on May 27th of 2008 and is currently available everywhere on DVD. Harris is slated to helm three more films over the next two years and has also written several scripts that have garnered industry attention.

Dianna Perales Harris, President

Responsible for overseeing all aspects of production and day to day operations, as well as ensuring the right team is in place to meet the business and financial operational needs of the company day-to-day, Dianna started her professional career in the high-technology world of main-frame computers as a systems analyst.  Making the shift to the entertainment arena was natural as she quickly found her skills and experience analyzing, developing, and delivering projects and conceptual problems easily translated to the tasks necessary for successfully producing movies and other entertainment projects.   Her uncanny ability to find the right individuals and create collaborative teams with equal measures of talent and passion make her producing chops second to none.  As a working producer, Dianna quickly developed these respected and coveted reputations in the film world through her attention to detail, conflict resolution abilities, and problem solving intuition.  She is constantly being tapped to produce projects by award-winning actors and production personnel and has worked on all levels of projects from major budgeted motion pictures to smaller, independent fare. Dianna’s experience in all areas of the entertainment business, having produced music videos, television documentaries, corporate videos and feature films makes her one of the most highly sought producers in the industry today.