Neal Sanders's Blog - Posts Tagged "fiction-with-business-settings"
Why Do Writers Have A Block When It Comes to Business?
A few months ago, I tuned into the premiere of ‘Deception’, a series airing on NBC about a detective who infiltrates the home of a multi-billion-dollar family pharmaceutical dynasty. In the course of investigating the death of her childhood friend, the detective learns that the company is about to launch Lyritrol, a ‘wonder drug’ that has been tested only in remote areas of Asia (and with disastrous results) but that the goal is to get a few billion in sales before anyone notices. There are also charges of continuing ‘stock manipulation’ going back nine years. This is a company that truly believes in keeping things in the family. In addition to the Chairman, one family member had developed a cancer drug; another is the CFO.
I watched the program and wondered if the people who wrote or approved this script did any research at all. Just how does someone manipulate the stock of a privately held company? Has anyone ever heard of the Food and Drug Administration or rigorous, years-long drug trials?
I single out ‘Deception’ only because its debut is so recent. In point of fact, I’m hard pressed to think of any film or TV series that portrays business realistically. Is it that corporations are inherently dull, or that writers have never seen the inside of one, and so have no starting point to deal with them intelligently?
I spent 35 years in the corporate world. Seven years ago, I retired and decided to try my hand at writing mysteries, most of them with at least tangential business themes. My sixth and most recent book is set squarely inside a company.
‘Deal Killer’ is set amid the chaos of a failing company being acquired by its prosperous competitor. It’s a small deal, just $200 million. Terms have been reached and a closing date proposed. All that is left is final due diligence and compiling of schedules for the contract; a process that should take about ten days.
My story has two protagonists. One of them is someone among the about-to-be acquired company’s senior management. He understands that the chaos surrounding the acquisition can be used to his financial advantage; that the normal checks and balances are not in place and he intends to use that moment in time to divert a portion of the sale proceeds to himself.
The other protagonist is an investment banker. Lynn Kowalchuk is a self-described ‘deal grunt’ for the large New York firm representing the buyer. She’s three years out of Amos Tuck, very smart, and she takes her assignments seriously. In fact, she may be the only person on either team devoting her full energies to this modest M&A project.
The corporate executive identifies Lynn as the one person who stands between him and his payday. She has to be sidelined. When the first effort fails, Lynn’s instinct that ‘something isn’t right’ turns into a search to find the ‘deal killer’ and the person behind it.
I’ve populated the story with characters I encountered through my business career. There’s the newly minted investment banking VP who is far more interested in his new Boxter than he is the deal in front of him. There are corporate managers who comprehend with understandable dread that they have no place in the new organization and a CEO for whom the adage, ‘It’s just business, it’s not personal’ most certainly does not apply.
Mostly, though, I’ve taken pains to create a plot that stands the ‘sniff test’ of real life. I’ve been part of that final due diligence push with the attendant deadlines. I’ve observed the fear among the acquired company’s staff and the complacency of many of those involved. I’ve often wondered how someone might ‘game the system’ to their advantage under such circumstances and I think the resulting scheme is credible.
I watched the program and wondered if the people who wrote or approved this script did any research at all. Just how does someone manipulate the stock of a privately held company? Has anyone ever heard of the Food and Drug Administration or rigorous, years-long drug trials?
I single out ‘Deception’ only because its debut is so recent. In point of fact, I’m hard pressed to think of any film or TV series that portrays business realistically. Is it that corporations are inherently dull, or that writers have never seen the inside of one, and so have no starting point to deal with them intelligently?
I spent 35 years in the corporate world. Seven years ago, I retired and decided to try my hand at writing mysteries, most of them with at least tangential business themes. My sixth and most recent book is set squarely inside a company.
‘Deal Killer’ is set amid the chaos of a failing company being acquired by its prosperous competitor. It’s a small deal, just $200 million. Terms have been reached and a closing date proposed. All that is left is final due diligence and compiling of schedules for the contract; a process that should take about ten days.
My story has two protagonists. One of them is someone among the about-to-be acquired company’s senior management. He understands that the chaos surrounding the acquisition can be used to his financial advantage; that the normal checks and balances are not in place and he intends to use that moment in time to divert a portion of the sale proceeds to himself.
The other protagonist is an investment banker. Lynn Kowalchuk is a self-described ‘deal grunt’ for the large New York firm representing the buyer. She’s three years out of Amos Tuck, very smart, and she takes her assignments seriously. In fact, she may be the only person on either team devoting her full energies to this modest M&A project.
The corporate executive identifies Lynn as the one person who stands between him and his payday. She has to be sidelined. When the first effort fails, Lynn’s instinct that ‘something isn’t right’ turns into a search to find the ‘deal killer’ and the person behind it.
I’ve populated the story with characters I encountered through my business career. There’s the newly minted investment banking VP who is far more interested in his new Boxter than he is the deal in front of him. There are corporate managers who comprehend with understandable dread that they have no place in the new organization and a CEO for whom the adage, ‘It’s just business, it’s not personal’ most certainly does not apply.
Mostly, though, I’ve taken pains to create a plot that stands the ‘sniff test’ of real life. I’ve been part of that final due diligence push with the attendant deadlines. I’ve observed the fear among the acquired company’s staff and the complacency of many of those involved. I’ve often wondered how someone might ‘game the system’ to their advantage under such circumstances and I think the resulting scheme is credible.
