Yes, it's Tuesday, but no, we aren't quite in the air yet. Several documents are still circulating for needed signatures before we can receive our funding. In the words of Pa Grape… "Oi vey."
In the meantime, we're working away at the beta site, which looks a little better every day. We're having to juggle cash in ways that only fellow entrepreneurs would understand to keep JellyTelly moving forward. But as long as I feel God calling us in this direction, juggle we shall. And, God willing, we should be funded in another day or so and you'll have a great new kids website to sign up for in another week or two.
In related news, it appears the new owners of Big Idea/VeggieTales may in dire straits, if this article that ran in the Hollywood Reporter is to be believed. The British company's stock price has collapsed from 35 pence per share when it purchased Classic Media and Big Idea 18 months ago to a low of 1.7 pence last Friday, creating talk that the owner of Bob and Larry may be nearing bankruptcy. Pray for our friends at Big Idea who are probably feeling a strange sense of deja vu right about now.
These are interesting times we live in, eh? More news to come…
Interesting times for sure! (At least we all know how it ends.)
Thank you for keeping us updated! We’ll keep praying!
Personally, I think you’re just trying to drag out the suspense, Phil…
Just kidding. Praying for you!
Thanks for the update Phil. Our family’s still praying for JellyTelly!
We really appreciate that you’re taking the time to let us know what’s going on. We’ll definitely be praying for you, the team, and the right funding to come through.
It appears that the reigns of Big Idea are to be left without a driver once again. Fear not, God will have a driver for this team again soon. Keep the Faith!
What a time for wealthy Christians to buy up an entire company – including Big Idea – for pennies on the dollar. Now, where did I leave my extra billion dollars? Oh year, I invested in the stock market. Maybe the government will bail me out.
Every day you keep us waiting, the more excited we get about the site. The suspense is building. One thing is for sure, you certainly did the right thing in blogging about the whole process.
Yes, I will be praying for Big Idea, that they will be able to stay afloat. The trouble is, the economy is having a hard time, so it won’t be easy for them. Also, the Veggie Tales business model is very out dated, and I suspect that profits are going downhill at a steep rate for them. They need new ideas.
All the best & God Bless,
Anthony.
(Sydney, Australia)
I’ve been encouraging our Sunday School families to pray for you and JellyTelly. We were just talking last week about alternatives to the stuff that Hollywood puts out and I had mentioned JellyTelly to the class.
We are praying for you at this time and that all goes smoothly once JellyTelly goes live, particularly with managing the volume of bits that are going to be downloaded from your servers!
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog about the process of getting JellyTelly up and running. It would be interesting to hear more about the ‘behind the scenes’ at some point.
Matthew
A week will be fine! I’m learning that sometimes things go slower than we thought, and it’s all for the best in the end…
I’ll keep praying!
Oy vey, indeed!
…Still praying. We will add the people at Big Idea to that prayer, as well.
The suspense is killing me.
So for $15,000,000ish, one could have a controling share of, not only Bob and Larry, but She-Ra as well? That would be tempting.
Too bad I left my checkbook in my other pants.
philvischer.comPhil, a few weeks ago you told us that BigIdea is not interested in licensing to JellyTelly. But that was when their business looked at lot better.
If they are close to bankruptcy, they might be more inclined to license the VeggieTales backlist to JellyTelly:
1. It would provide an infusion of needed cash right away, which might let them hang on to their most prized properties.
2. The long term effects on selling VeggieTales DVDs are probably irrelevant. If the licensing deal makes the VeggieTales backlist less valuable, and therefore BigIdea will sell for less money in the bankruptcy auction, that’s not hurting the company that is going bankrupt anyway, but its creditors.
I’m pretty sure JellyTelly doesn’t have the budget to operate Big Idea, so trying to buy the company is out, which is bad for the Big Idea employees. But the backlist might be available on much better terms than in the past.
worldscreen.comSad news about Big Idea: especially since Mike Nawrocki was just promoted to VP, and was supposed to begin work on Big Idea TV projects.
However, I’m still not convinced that Jelly Telly needs Veggie Tales. When you’re launching something new and fresh, people are expecting… new and fresh!
Well then I’ll keep praying, Phil. Thanks for the update. And Godspeed on that site! God Bless You (and Tim, and your family, and the whole team)! 🙂
Well, I hope that’s not the case. I’m kind of partial to those talking vegetables and the people who are still working with them. I hate to see the company in limbo.