Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (HMNY)

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THE BOSTON GLOBE: Farnsworth has hired a Canton-based firm led by Allan Stern, called Silent Disclosure, to build a new mobile platform for MoviePass, using Stern’s get2it technology.


A sequel for MoviePass? Farnsworth is working on it.
September 23, 2019, 9:11 p.m.


Ted Farnsworth is looking to a Canton-based firm as a key to reviving Movie Pass.
Ted Farnsworth is looking to a Canton-based firm as a key to reviving Movie Pass. CHRIS MORRIS FOR
Ted Farnsworth’s road to redemption for MoviePass will take him through Boston.

Farnsworth (below) is based in Miami, and the company he ran until a week ago, MoviePass parent Helios and Matheson, is based in New York.

But Farnsworth has hired a Canton-based firm led by Allan Stern, called Silent Disclosure, to build a new mobile platform for MoviePass, using Stern’s get2it technology. And Farnsworth is working with Rasky Partners, the Boston public affairs firm, to promote his bid to acquire MoviePass from Helios and Matheson.

MoviePass crashed and burned spectacularly after offering unlimited movie viewings for as low as $9.95 a month. The platform was swamped with up to 3 million users at one point, and Helios and Matheson couldn’t pay for all the redemptions at the movie theaters. (One hope was that Helios could make enough money by selling the data it collected.)

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Helios shares took a beating, and they have languished in penny-stock territory. While the subscription pricing was adjusted and the inventory of movies was restricted, the MoviePass site was eventually shut down earlier this month.

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But maybe not for long. Farnsworth announced last week that he had submitted an offer to buy MoviePass, two related film production and acquisition companies, and the Moviefone listing service. He stepped down as CEO at Helios and from its board of directors, to avoid any conflicts. (Another Boston connection: Greenberg Traurig’s Boston office handles legal affairs for Helios.)

Farnsworth believes there’s a sustainable market for a film subscription service like the one promised by MoviePass. One fix: charging more, as much as $20 a month. Farnsworth says he’ll have more control if he owns the business directly, rather than through a holding company.

“A lot of those mistakes we’ve really corrected in the last several months,” Farnsworth says. “I’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the company (through Helios). I could either walk away and say, ‘Oh well, it didn’t work,’ or say, ‘This is the good and this is the bad, and the good outweighs the bad.’” — JON CHESTO

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Once a remote idea
Working from home might seem commonplace today. But it was pretty unusual 15 years ago, at least in the accounting field.

Just ask Jane Steinmetz, who leads the Boston office of accounting and consulting giant Ernst & Young. In a speech at the From Day One conference in Boston last week, Steinmetz recounted a time at a previous employer when her daughter was born 15 years ago. She asked if she could work from home one day a week. Her direct supervisor said he did not want anyone working from home. So she said, “Then fire me.”

She wasn’t fired, and in fact did get permission to work from home. And she’s still friends with her former boss — who eventually ended up enjoying working from home, too.

Steinmetz didn’t name the supervisor or the employer. But she says accounting firms have long since changed their approach, just like other companies trying to attract diverse talent.

Her tips for the audience about improving the diversity of your company’s leadership ranks: start grooming internal candidates for jobs well before they open up, and mingle with as many different people as possible in your workplace.

“What we take for granted nowadays, took some breaking the mold when I was coming up,” Steinmetz said in an interview. “Nowadays, I’m not saying we’re perfect, but there’s much more recognition of the flexibility that’s needed to allow people to be well rounded.” — JON CHESTO

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/09/23/sequel-for-moviepass-farnsworth-working/I4KgxI5Sq7bV0vMzVEBIxJ/story.html