Los Angeles, CA (March 7, 2023): IMDb Founder and CEO Col Needham is the latest guest on Hollywood at Home, a podcast hosted by The Creative Coalition’s CEO Robin Bronk, featuring unplugged and uncensored conversations with entertainment industry who’s who. Needham walks listeners through his journey of transformation from a child movie enthusiast to CEO of the world’s most significant film, television, and digital resource, how his love for films began, and how he turned IMDb from a dream to a reality.
Highlights from Hollywood at Home featuring Col Needham:
Reflecting on how Snow White inspired his love of films: “I was five years old and… my grandmother… said to me, ‘would you like to enter a coloring competition?’ … In the local newspaper there was a scene from Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and a couple of weeks later, we got a letter in the post…‘Congratulations! We are awarding you a ticket for yourself and a friend…I went along to see [the film] and there began my lifelong love affair with movies.”
On IMDb gaining traction around the time the World Wide Web started: “[In] ‘93, we launched up at Cardiff University… and we had 60 hits, in an hour!’”
On monetizing IMDb and turning it into reality: “I quit my day job and became our first full-time employee. I’d never sold any advertising online before….I came up with a number which is 3 times what we owe on the credit card. They say yes. So we pay off the credit card…”
On the 1997 call from an Amazon’s then General Counsel to meet with Jeff Bezos: “In December of 1997, I received an e-mail… ‘Jeff Bezos and I were discussing movie websites. Naturally, IMDb came up in the conversation. We’re going be in the UK and would love to meet to discuss some business ideas.”
On being acquired by Amazon: “[At the time]… nobody knew who Jeff Bezos was… Amazon.com only sold books. They’d only been a publicly traded company for seven months, and they never acquired another before. We had heard of Amazon.com because [they were] actually advertising on IMDb, at that time. So we just thought, ‘oh, great….the CEO of one of our advertisers wants to come and meet us.’ So two of us went along to meet Jeff and Alan… We had in mind perhaps a longer running [advertising] contract. Jeff explained how Amazon was going from selling books to music to opening a VHS and DVD store, and was looking for a site to partner with and to help them build it… Jeff had a such clear idea of how IMDb could operate as a separate brand and how Amazon could take IMDb data and build a great video store experience. This was a revolution in e-commerce. I went out to Seattle, I met with the Amazon leadership team and on the 24th of April 1998, IMDb became a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com.”
Tune in now to hear how visionary Col Needham’s hobby became the world’s most popular and authoritative source for information on the entertainment industry.
More about Hollywood at Home:
Hosted by The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk, “Hollywood at Home” brings listeners intimate portraits, key moments of discovery, and “art and soul” conversations with iconic entertainment industry personalities from the big screen to the boardroom, from L.A. to D.C. Listen now at http://thecreativecoalition.org/podcast.
Previous guests include Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”), Marlee Matlin (“CODA”), Jason Alexander (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Alan Cumming (“Schmigadoon!, “The Good Wife”), Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The Middle”), Eric McCormack (“Will and Grace”), Willie Garson (“And Just Like That…”), Colman Domingo (“Euphoria”), Kerry Ehrin (“The Morning Show”), Wendi McLendon-Covey (“The Goldbergs”), Ken Olin (“This is Us,” “Thirtysomething”), Anthony Rapp (“Star Trek: Discovery”), Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”), and Alfre Woodard (Clemency,” “Luke Cage”), among others.
More about The Creative Coalition:
Founded in 1989 by prominent members of the creative community, The Creative Coalition is the premier nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) social and public advocacy organization of the arts and entertainment community. The Creative Coalition harnesses the unique platforms of the arts community and entertainment industry to make positive impacts on social welfare issues. The Creative Coalition also creates award-winning public service campaigns including #RightToBearArts to promote the efficacy of the arts. Actor Tim Daly serves as the organization’s President. For more information, visit https://thecreativecoalition.org.
Media Contact:
Marvin Roca
marvin@therosegrp.com
707-540-1850
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