Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [122]
Before their acrimonious split in 2002, Jeff Jacobs helped Oprah build her media empire, which included:
Harpo Productions, Inc.
SUBSIDIARIES: Harpo Interactive, Harpo Music Publishing, Harpo Sounds Music Publishing, Oprah Music Publishing, Harpo Sounds
CREDITS INCLUDE: No One Dies Alone (1988); The Oprah Winfrey Show (1988–present); Just Between Friends (1989); The Women of Brewster Place (1989); Brewster Place (1990); In the Name of Self-Esteem (1990); ABC Afterschool Specials (1992–1993): Girlfriend, I Hate the Way I Look, Shades of a Single Protein, and Surviving a Break Up; Nine (1992); Oprah Behind the Scenes (1992); Overexposed (1992); Michael Jackson Talks … to Oprah (1993); There Are No Children Here (1993); David and Lisa (1998); Tuesdays with Morrie (1999); Oprah Goes Online (2000); Use Your Life (2001); Oprah After the Show (2002); Dr. Phil (2002–2005); Oprah Winfrey Legends Ball (2006); Rachael Ray (2006–present); Building a Dream (2007); Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special (2007); Oprah’s Big Give (2008); Dr. Oz (2009–present)
Harpo, Inc.
Does administrative and some publicity chores and owns the trademarks OPRAH, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Make the Connection, Oprah’s Book Club, Use Your Life, Oprah’s Favorite Things, Wildest Dreams with Oprah, Oprah Boutique, The Oprah Store, oprah.com, Oprah’s Big Give, The Big Give, Give Big or Go Home, Expert Minutes, Oprah & Friends, Oprah Radio, and Live Your Best Life, as well as the Oprah signature and “O” design.
In January 2008, Harpo, Inc., entered into a partnership with Discovery to create the Oprah Winfrey Network, a cable channel that is expected to go on the air in 2011.
Harpo Entertainment Group
Administrative umbrella encompassing Harpo Productions, Inc., Harpo Studios, Inc., and Harpo Films, Inc.
Harpo Studios, Inc.
Production studios for The Oprah Winfrey Show at 1058 West Washington Street; other production facilities, and businesses offices, at 110 N. Carpenter Street
Harpo Films, Inc.
CREDITS INCLUDE: Before Women Had Wings (1997); Beloved (1998); The Wedding (1998); Amy and Isabelle (2001); Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005); For One More Day (2007); The Great Debaters (2007)
In 2008, Harpo Films made a three-year deal to provide programming for HBO.
In January 2009 Harpo Films announced a deal to film The Story of Edgar Sawtelle in partnership with Tom Hanks’s Playtone.
In February 2009, Oprah announced that she would support the distribution of Sundance Film Festival award winner Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, later called Precious, by releasing it through Harpo Films.
Harpo Print LLC
CREDITS: O, The Oprah Magazine, and the now defunct O at Home, in partnership with Hearst
Owns the trademark O, The Oprah Magazine.
Harpo Radio Inc.
CREDITS: Programming for the Oprah Radio Network for Sirius XM
Harpo Video Inc.
CREDIT: Make the Connection
OW Licensing Co.
Holder of the rights of publicity of Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah’s Studio Merchandise Inc.
Runs the Oprah Store and the Harpo gym and owns a $780,000 condo in Acorn Loftominiums, purchased in 2006.
In addition to purchasing the property for Harpo Studios, Oprah and her partners invested another $16 million in renovating, extending, and equipping the production studio. They worked with architects, engineers, and designers for eighteen months. “Never in a lifetime, never did I imagine it would be this much work,” she said later. “I still would have gone along with it. The reality is that it’s work and money. I’m really not as overwhelmed by the financial responsibility as some people might be.… I went in knowing it would cost a lot of money.”
Oprah invested fully—emotionally and financially—in creating a studio that would reflect the image she