CPFR has an online site just opened
by: brianMO20 396 of 396
opened yesterday... look at a chart of CPFR just getting attention.. volume still low...
www.theshotmaker.com
online auction coming soon...
neat site
only at 15/32 but up from .18 cents
called the company and they that the float is less than 1 million
that means CPFR will move up quickly on any volume
still a bargain
CPFR is a much better value than MATT
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COYRIGHT 1999
Wednesday, September 15, 1999
Shotmaker to unveil new Web site for filmmakers
By Dave McNary, Staff Writer
NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- Shotmaker Co., a struggling supplier of camera cars, dollies and cranes to Hollywood producers, is expected to launch a bold makeover today via the Internet. The 14-year-old company, which recently cut back its core operations to a dozen employees, will unveil its strategy to change course by unveiling www.TheShotmaker.com at the ShowBiz Expo trade show in New York City. The site, which lists 2,000 vendors, is targeted not at fans looking for merchandise but at the decision makers in the fast-changing business of television and movie productions.
"The Internet is the ideal vehicle to match producers and directors with exactly the equipment and services they need anytime, anywhere," said Philip Berardi, a veteran executive who joined Shotmaker in June as president.
The basic idea is to take advantage of Shotmaker's name recognition, contacts and reputation at a time when producers and studios are scrambling for ways to cut costs, move more quickly and find enough programming to meet booming demand.
In short, as Berardi puts it, Shotmaker wants the site to be the first place the industry's professionals go when they start the search for equipment and services. It is being launched only a few months after Burbank-based Matthews Studio Group unveiled a similar site, but Shotmaker officials are enthusiastic theirs will stand out.
"As glamorous as the industry is, it is not up to date in using the Internet," spokesman Neil Berkman said. "We believe that the businesses that work on the Internet are the ones that cut costs of distribution by reducing the distance between the buyer and the seller."
The Shotmaker site, developed by A-Plus Marketing of Los Angeles, features five basic sectors -- a database, interactive guest forums, e-mail, Web site creation and video. The strategy will be for Shotmaker to eventually generate significant revenues by convincing vendors to let Shotmaker build and host their Web sites and place their videos online.
"We think there are a lot of companies that will want to get their product reels displayed through the site," said A-Plus executive Brandon Stone. "We're dealing with very visual businesses."
The idea will be to make it easy for producers and directors to compare options in more than 200 different categories ranging from animation to helicopters to location scouting. And thanks to low-budget breakthroughs like "The Blair Witch Project" and the availability of digital cameras, Shotmaker officials believe the market will continue to grow.
"I think filmmaking has become far more accessible than previously and we're going to be involved with a much broader market," Berardi said.
Shotmaker, a subsidiary of publicly traded Camera Platforms International, was founded in 1985 by director/producer Hal Needham, best known for "Cannonball Run" and "Smokey and the Bandit." The company still manufacturers, sells and rents the platforms, customized trucks, cranes, dollies and track that allow camera operators to film car chases without bumps and shakes, but its parent company is in poor financial shape.
In July, Camera Platforms reported it had lost $812,000 on revenues of $893,000 in the first six months of 1999 and disclosed it was in default of all of its credit lines. The stock is currently worth 18.75 cents a share, giving Camera Platforms a market capitalization of $2.4 million. The company's majority shareholder is Fleischman Investments, which brought Berardi three months ago.
"We've been going through difficult times because the industry has been in a slump," Berardi admitted. "The rental parts of our business are still viable but we had to look to go beyond what we do to something bigger."
Berardi may be able to find encouragement from Burbank-based Matthews Studio Group, another production equipment player that expanded onto the Web. Its long-slumping stock jumped once it announced plans to launch ShowbizMart.com in June as a one-stop site for producers, suppliers, crews and equipment.
Matthews has been signing a wide array of deals, including alliances with amazon.com and reel.com. It also sells 30,000 different memorabilia items on its site, including the red-hot Pokemon merchandise.
Matthews' stock, which moved over $10 prior to the site launch, has been depressed since then as Internet stocks fell out of favor and closed Tuesday at $4.50, down 25 cents.
"Matthews' prospects are better than ever and they keep signing big names, so I don't think a new site like Shotmaker's will be a problem," said Richard Cardillo, chief investment strategist at Westfalia Investments in New York, which is one of Matthews' market makers. "It's a question of who is better."
Matthews should be able to rise to $15 a share, Cardillo believes, once Internet stocks regain their upward momentum. "Matthews has been a victim of circumstances with people having to sell the stock," he added. "Fundamentally, nothing has changed."
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