aSmallWorld

[Elysian]

Will the next generation of SOL be a light version of aSmallWorld

 

 

Harvey Weinstein aims big in aSmallWorld

 

By Bob Tourtellotte

 

CANNES, France (Reuters) - If anyone is big in the small world of independent film it is Harvey Weinstein, and the Oscar winner behind movies like "Chicago" is aiming high online by acquiring a stake in exclusive Web community, aSmallWorld.

 

His Weinstein Co. is the lead investor in a group that bought a large share of the Web site catering to upscale clients, and late on Monday aboard a private yacht at the Cannes film festival, Weinstein told Reuters the deal is a part of his plan to build a multi-media empire.

 

He likened aSmallWorld, which boasts a relatively few 130,000 members, to a sort of MySpace.com for the Internet jet set, and a community that adults can join to bypass youthful chatter on the Web.

 

"Our goal is to be a major content producer, and content comes in all forms whether that is movies, TV or online," Weinstein said. "Adults are underserved on the Internet, and that is our bet, that they go from MySpace to aSmallWorld."

Weinstein appears to be taking the same tack he did with his former company Miramax Films, which he ran with his brother Bob Weinstein and sold to The Walt Disney Co. in the early 1990s. He and his brother left Disney last September after a falling-out with former Disney chief Michael Eisner.

 

Over its history, Miramax built a business by acquiring U.S. distribution rights to foreign language films and art house films that aspired to win awards.

Movies like "The English Patient" and "Shakespeare in Love" won Oscars for Miramax and earned Weinstein a spot on the top rungs of Hollywood’s business ladder.

 

SMALL WORLD, BIG TIME

aSmallWorld was founded two years ago by Erik Wachtmeister as a way for upscale men and women to match minds and as a place where marketers of luxury goods and services could advertise to their target customers.

Weinstein also hopes to use aSmallWorld to help build buzz for movies, DVDs, and other content his company will produce.

 

While it is hard to imagine a film like their recent "Scary Movie 4," finding an audience on aSmallWorld, Oscar hopefuls, foreign-language and art-house films will likely find fans. The wily executive refused to disclose the size of his investment or the percentage of aSmallWorld his investor group now owns.

 

Wachtmeister told Reuters the new cash will allow aSmallWorld to hire more staff, speed up development and better cater to its clients.

He was short on specifics. However, he did say the site does not plan to use the funds to market itself widely, preferring instead to remain exclusive.

Around the yacht on Monday, it was easy to spot the target clientele. There were European and U.S. business executives, as well as fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, Asian actress Bai Ling and movie director Kevin Smith.

 

Weinstein said the goal was to boost membership to a broad range between one and two million members. That compares to some 70 million users now on MySpace.com.

Wachtmeister later said that number could grow to as high as three million members, but added that figures were far less important now than the types of people who join.

One member of the Weinstein investment group is former AOL chief Bob Pittman. Billionaire Paul Allen also is said to be a member of aSmallWorld, but to truly find out one must join.

 

The cost? Don’t ask.

 

To join, one must be invited, and if no invitation comes, "you simply need to be patient," according to the Web site (www.asmallworld.net). It sounds like Hollywood.