Sandy Climan, Hollywood's 3D Man

(page 2 of 2)

Thanks to computerized digital timing, new 3D films can be broken down to the millisecond, eliminating jumps or pauses that caused previous generations of 3D movies, which were shown on two projectors at once, to fall out of sync and produce laughable or sometimes even nauseating effects. (3ality's gear uses Intel (INTC) microprocessors, which explains why the chipmaker has joined with Pepsi in sponsoring the giveaway glasses for the 3D ad.)

Since leaving Ovitz and his Creative Artists Agency behind in 1999, Climan has become a full-fledged entertainment entrepreneur. A Harvard MBA—Climan also has a master's degree in health policy and management from Harvard—he started Entertainment Media Ventures, which owns a significant piece of Legacy Sports, a sports talent agency. The Los Angeles venture is also an entertainment consultant for Harrah's Entertainment (HET) and has arranged long-term gigs for Elton John and Jerry Seinfeld at Harrah's Las Vegas casinos.

But it's 3ality where Climan sees the brightest prospects. The company, he says, intends to offer its services to any studio that wants to show its own products. Although he's generally mum on potential deals, he says he's talking with Fox and Sony, which have already partnered with 3ality on the football game broadcast. At the same time, 3ality will produce content itself, as it did in its test with U2, which turned into a theatrical concert movie that grossed $20 million last year. The mantra for now, he says, is for Hollywood to create enough content for viewers in movie theaters and, when the price comes down, on TV.

And how soon might 3D come to people's homes? LG, Sony, Philips (PHG), and Samsung all showed off 3D sets at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Though none is yet on the market, the sets will be able to show 3D movies that studios are currently putting on high-definition Blu-ray discs, he says. For now folks will still have to wear those glasses, although sunglass designers are making them less clunky and maybe even a little cool. And down the road—how far even Climan isn't willing to venture—consumer-electronics companies will offer sets that won't require 3D glasses at all. That's when the picture will, well, pop.

Grover is Los Angeles bureau chief for BusinessWeek.

Business Exchange

Track and share business topics across the Web.