Prim Time Live interview summary!
ABC Online, 5/28/97
On PrimeTime Live, Chief Correspondent Chris Wallace interviews Mary Kate
and Ashley Olsen, and finds that the ten-year-old twins have earned perhaps hundreds of
millions of dollars in the entertainment industry.
The twins, who got their acting start on the sit-com "Full House," have created an
entertainment empire, generating millions of dollars from direct- to-video and
made-for-television movies.
One year, they had higher recognition than anyone on television, with the
exception of Bill Cosby, and, according to their lawyer, Robert Thorne, Mary Kate and
Ashley are the most highly paid child celebrities in America.
They have produced and stared in 14 videos which have resulted in $50 million in
sales. "It Takes Two," a movie in which both girls stared, was a moderate success at the
box office, but sold more than three-and-a-half million copies in video stores resulting in
an estimated 80 million dollars.
Wallace reports that one of the reasons they have generated such success is that
they are the executive producers of their own production company, "Dualstar."
Frank Assuma, chairman of the advertising agency Wells, Rich and Green, says of
the two, "They're a small conglomerate in and of themselves. I think their business
themselves is about $100 million, I believe." However, Wallace reports that Thorne does
protect the Olsen's likeness.
On why he turns down merchandising offers, Thorne says, "They're no longer
special. It's exploitation for the sake of exploitation. Those lunch boxes do not entertain."
Email: jennyfl@usa.net
