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Trader Tip-off: TT Glossary
Check out this guide to commonly used words on the Talk Boards.
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RazorHawk, March 12, 2008
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The Hollywood Stock Exchange® is a game that combines a stock market and the movie industry. Most players who join the game usually come from one of those two worlds and need to learn the terminology and have an understanding of the other world in order to be successful in the game. In some instances, the HSX community has even invented its own terms that only apply to the game. Below is just a partial list of the most commonly used terms in the HSX forums. The purpose of this glossary is to help out beginning to intermediate players understand the language that takes place in the HSX forums which may not be in the Official HSX Help Glossary. I will be using movie stock "JB23" for my examples.
GLOSSARY
Ticker Talk (TT) - (This is what HSX actually calls its forums. There are several different "boards" (forums). The movie board is the most used for relevant industry news. The announcement board is only used by the admins to give players a heads up to game-effecting news and events. Adjusts are posted here so they are easy to find. There is a starbond board to talk about how movie roles affect their prices.
TT Poll - From time to time when there is no news to talk about people post random polls asking anybody to chime in on the topic. They put "TT Poll" in front to let the board now that is a kickback non-serious post. (Ex. TT Poll: What is your favorite superhero movie?)
Once a movie "opens" (released), its price can bounce around a lot while players try to decide what its eventual delist price could be. Here are a few terms to describe the way the stocks move.
ARB - This term is short for Arbitrage and is used when a stock has a price lower than its current box office gross. If JB23 stock is only $95 and the movie has already made $100mill in theaters, then somebody might post "JB23 is ARB". This means if you buy now you are guaranteed a profit. You would buy at $95 and if that movie didn't make another dollar you would still gain a profit.
BRA - This is a trader invented term, which refers to the direct opposite of ARB. ARB…BRA…get it? If a H$100 price stock cashing out tomorrow has only done $95mill in theaters, and it's impossible to make the difference up, then the stock is considered BRA. "JB23 is BRA" = if you short now you are guaranteed a profit.
Front Loaded - Some movies make a majority of their box office in the first weekend of release and then their sales drop drastically every week after that. This usually happens with movies that open on a holiday weekend. People are out of school or off work so they go see the movie. But in the following weeks, the box office becomes proportionally lower. This also happens with highly anticipated movies like sequels as well as movies targeted at teens, who must-see during the first weekend.
Legs - This is the opposite of front loading. Having "legs" describes a movie that keeps its pace or improves its pace as weeks go by. These are usually movies that get good reviews and movies targeted at an older audience, who don't rush out to see a movie opening weekend.
Word Of Mouth (WOM) - This is when you like a movie and tell your family and friends and coworkers to spread the good word. People are more likely to trust the experience and opinion of people they know. This is a way of gauging how popular a movie is or how effective the advertising has been.
Horn Of Gondor - This is a tradition that a player invented to remind players that commission-free has begun on Saturday at 1pm EST. It's also used on Sunday at 1pm EST to remind players that commission free period has ended.
Gut Check - 12 hours before a stock is halted from wide release, you can issue a Call to Action without violating the Code of Conduct. This is a time for players to post how they are holding the stocks for movies opening that weekend. This allows a little friendly rivalry as players put their positions on the line.
STV - "Straight To Video" These are projects listed on HSX that will not have a theatrical release, but instead release through DVD, TV or cable. These projects will delist at $0 the week they make their premiere since they will earn no box office. "JB23 is STV 3-13-08" This means JB23 will cash out at $0 on 3-13-08 because it will be on DVD, cable or TV and not be shown in a movie theater.
Day Trading - This is a stock market term. People who day trade see which stocks are moving that day and invest in them short-term to turn a quick profit. At the end of the day they cash out and tomorrow start all over again.
Scribble - This is the punishment for being a bad person on the boards. Well the other punishment is being banned. You have to be a really stupid person to get punished like this but unfortunately it happens. At the top of each board is a link to the "Code Of Conduct" which lists the various bad things not to do.
Here is a list of the stages in a movies life and what they mean
Concept - There's either no script, the script has been rejected and/or the option has expired.
Development - They are working on a script as well as crunching the numbers to see if making the movie is possible or profitable.
Pre-Production - They start scouting locations, casting actors, designing costumes and sets, hiring the crew etc…
Production - This is where the actors actually say their lines and get filmed.
Post Production - Editing, adding sound effects and music.
Wrap - Movie is complete just waiting for distribution and release.
Release - It's in theaters now or within a couple of weeks.
Here are some terms that relate to actors and their involvement
Rumored - People toss out a name for a project.
Interested - Actor says publicly that they would be interested in a project.
Attached - The star has lent their name to the development of a project.
In Talks - Producers and actor both state they are interested.
Negotiations - Producers and actors are finalizing dates and salaries.
Signed - Actors is contractually tied to the project.
When posting news on the boards the other players will always want a link to the article and here are a few tips about posting news. Most important is to read the boards before you post. It is irritating when the same news get posted multiple times. These are the abbreviations to use to identify the sources.
Trades are like the newspapers for the movie industry. If news is posted in them then it becomes official.
[THR] - The Hollywood Reporter.
Variety - Variety
[LAT] - Los Angeles Times. You might see a post like "THR: Val Kilmer now the voice of Knight Rider"
The other type of site are general movie sites. These are websites that may have insider movie industry contacts and they get first wiff of news that can't be proven until later. Some are more reliable than others so be careful. Here are some of the more referenced ones on HSX:
Other Sites
[CS] - "Coming Soon" - www.comingsoon.net
[AICN] - "Ain't It Cool News - www.aintitcool.com
[IESB] - www.iesb.net
[BD] - "Bloody Disgusting" - www.bloody-disgusting.com
[PG] - "Project Genome" - www.projectgenome.nets
One More Term
SITWAP - Sorry If This Was Already Posted… use this if you have read the boards but are still not sure if the news has already been posted. Usually this would be used if you have a hot piece of news that everybody in the loop should know but you don't see it posted anywhere.
Hope you enjoyed the glossary list. Now reading the boards should be no problem.
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