Entertainment & Consumer Products
From Sega Retro
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Entertainment & Consumer Products Division of Sega of America | ||||
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Founded: 1993[1][2] | ||||
Headquarters:
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Entertainment & Consumer Products was an internal Sega of America division established in 1993 to give the company the capability to acquire and utilize high-profile licensing deals. Founded by Michealene Cristini Risley and originally headquartered in Beverly Hills, California (in close proximity to Hollywood), the division was responsible for all licensing deals from 1993 onward, including the endorsement of celebrity athletes through Sega Sports, and licensed franchises like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.[1] It was also responsible for much of the company's merchandising deals, such as managing requests from outside companies to license Sonic for use in dedicated merchandise, and is credited as one of the American forces which made Sonic the Hedgehog into the multi-billion dollar franchise that it is today.[3]
History
As a veteran of entertainment industry licensing (having worked in similar roles at Disney, Mattel, and Marvel),[1] Michealene Cristini Risley was headhunted by Sega of America and found herself head of the company's new Entertainment & Consumer Products division in 1993.[4] Upon being brought onboard, she discovered that Sega of America had only a 4% share of the home video game market, with the company as a whole lacking dedicated licensing capabilities. Deals had been created and maintained previously (such as with Joe Montana), but were reportedly not taken fully advantage of. "They had no idea [how to license]. We had no idea. So I had to sort of put the systems in place."[1]
“ | When they hired me, I set up an office in Beverly Hills, California. And then I worked closely at that point with CAA, with a number of people there: Kevin Gasser and just a whole group of people there. And I had to figure out what we were going to do. How do I build this? And what am I building? And so it wasn't just the TV shows, which was a big part of it. But it was, well, wait a minute, if we want to do Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, how does that look? What are we going to do? And then if we want to take Baby Boom, for example, and license it out to TV or film, that's a whole other area. So there was a lot going on. And I built a terrific team. | „ |
Establishing an office in Beverly Hills, California, she recruited a team of licensing specialists from nearby Hollywood, working closely with key Creative Artists Agency players like Kevin Gasser. As a whole, Cristini Risley was left to create Sega's licensing procedures from scratch, recalling, "I had to figure out what we were going to do. How do I build this? And what am I building?"[1] Cristini Risley herself was responsible for much of the direct work on acquiring licensing deals, personally reaching out to the owners of popular American intellectual properties. Reportedly, Sega of America would sometimes establish deals without understanding the gravity of the situation, and later hand off the responsibilities to Cristini Risley, trusting in her ability to healthily maintain them.[1]
Entertainment & Consumer Products was split into two main groups: licensing in (comprised of John Leonhart and Cristini Risley) and licensing out (Cynthia Modders and Cristini Risley). Bob Harris also worked in either or both of these groups, being remembered as performing day to day work on the two Sonic the Hedgehog television series of the time.[1]
At an unknown date, Entertainment & Consumer Products was moved from Beverly Hills, California to Sega of America's corporate headquarters in Redwood City, California. It is unknown when the division ceased operation, but it is possible that its licensing capabilities were rolled into the main company.[1]
List of staff
References
- ↑ Jump up to: 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Interview: Michealene Cristini Risley (2025-01-21) by Alexander Rojas
- ↑ https://archives.museumofplay.org/repositories/3/resources/254 (Wayback Machine: 2023-01-03 12:56)
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwkBApEKTM
- ↑ https://www.polygon.com/features/2019/5/27/18526122/sega-girls-task-force-female-players (Wayback Machine: 2022-11-29 00:26)
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