The last pixel show
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Back in the fall of 1998, ownership of the mansion in Encino was transferred to a pair of trusts -- one controlled by Collins-Rector; the other, by Shackley -- a move that Brian Brandt suspects was designed to shelter the property from any potential tort judgments. But on May 31, the trusts sold the house back to the two men as individuals, though encumbered by a $4.2 million mortgage. The timing of this seemingly nonsensical deal, which roughly coincides with the three founders' disappearance, suggests that they milked the property for every penny they could make liquid before leaving town. The upshot is that if any of the plaintiffs or creditors prevail in civil litigation, they're unlikely to get so much as a dime.
Look on the Web, and except for the news articles recounting DEN's pyrotechnic rise and fall, you won't see many traces of the company there, either. Nevertheless, its alumni have spread out to other firms, and many of them are determined to keep the dream alive. "The Web is the place where people want to go to see what they can't see on TV," says Craig Caryl, the former DEN production head, summing up what was once the company's central tenet. "The day is coming."
Indeed, with broadband transmission and improved technology, the new world of Web entertainment may kill the boob tube zombie after all. If it does, the many talented people who tried to make DEN work will still be leading the revolution. "DEN wasn't a place; DEN was the people who made it up," says Terrazas. "Those people are all over the place now. And we love Web entertainment....We love it, love it, love it."
Michael Ryan is a two-time Emmy-nominated director who has written for Life, GQ, and People.
