endick/swertlow/10″/dt1st/mark2nd
John Nendick
Managing partner, global entertainment practice
Arthur Andersen
Specialty: Entertainment accounting
When entertainment giants like Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. or a cost-conscious producer like Dick Clark need someone to cut through the smoke and mirrors of a pending Hollywood deal, they turn to Arthur Andersen’s John Nendick.
As managing partner of the accounting giant’s global entertainment practice, Nendick has become a major player in helping companies deal with the expanding world of international entertainment, whether as a consultant or as someone who leads a team of accountants scrutinizing a deal.
“The overseas markets are expanding in terms of the demands for theatrical films and video,” Nendick said. “Each year, more and more revenues are derived from international markets. It’s a 24-hour business.”
Simon Bax, chief financial officer of Fox Film Entertainment, said Nendick works for his clients more as a partner than a numbers cruncher. “He is very much into problem solving and not saying, ‘This is what you must do,'” Bax said. “He’s quite thoughtful.”
Earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from Durham University in England, Nendick has become an expert in the Byzantine arena of film and TV production and distribution. He joined Andersen in London 1978 and moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and has significant experience in the music industry and the convergence of entertainment with software and telecommunications.
“He’s a great sounding board on personnel issues, structuring the finance department, systems matters as well as audits and accounting problems,” Bax said. “He is not someone I see once or twice a year. He has a good sense of the key drivers of our business.”
Nendick, a CPA and a chartered accountant in the United Kingdom, figures that experience and depth are the key selling points.
“We are part of the only global accounting and consulting organization,” Nendick said. “We are involved in anything from accounting and audits to an analysis of business opportunities like a video-on-demand business in the Middle East.”
Among his team’s clients are Landmark Entertainment, Hilton Hotels, Largo Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting and Twentieth Television, the House of Blues, Dick Clark Productions, and Norman Lear’s Act III.
Frank Swertlow
