What is the story with the Firm?

[sugarhound]

I wasn't buying videos when the Firm went from "Tortoise and Hare" to a new company called "Goodtimes". What is the story on this? What happened to the company where the first choreograhphers left and new came in with new workouts (bad workouts compared to the old workouts) kept the same name? What happened to the original instructors? Any information on what "went down" would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Joni O]

Hi. You might want to do a VF search for a couple of recent VF threads that talk about Giaim taking over the Firm, some of the instructors leaving, etc. There's a lot of information there.

Wait, here's one ...

http://69.93.245.62/forum/showthread...hlight=cauthen

[eeyore]

Sugarhound, let me try to get you current on the FIRM. Around late 2000, early 2001, the Bensons sold the FIRM to Goodtimes, but Cynthia did maintain some sort of business relationship with GT. Prior to that, they had closed their Charleston studio and several instructors who lived there no longer worked for the Firm probably because the commute to teach in Columbia was not practical. Goodtimes proceeded to begin producing new workouts. (it had been around a year since anything new was produced) They added their own style and a new set, and IMHO watered down the workouts so they would appeal more to beginners and a wider market in general. In the meantime, Anna Benson, started her own company with Tracie Long and produced the original FitPrime workouts. Several of the Charleston instructors from the old Firm appeared in these tapes, including Susan Harris, Tamela Hastie- and Heidi Tanner. Eventually Tracie left to start her own company taking Jen Carmen and Susan Harris with her, plus some other FitPrime talent. Heidi and Tamela stayed with Anna and the FitPrimes were reproduced with a new set very much like the old Firm Mansion set. These new tapes got a lot of good reviews from users. You can go to www.whfn.com to check them out.
Now Gaiam supposedly has bought Goodtimes and for the first time in 4 years, we are not looking forward to a new infomercial and series of videos around the first of the year.
Pam Cauthen came back to the Firm after living in Atlanta for a while but just left to start her own Yoga studio. Lisa Kay also recently left. I haven't "heard" much from Libby but Steph Corley (now Huckabee) is still with the GT Firm as well as Allie, Janet Brooks (now Holmes), Sue Mi, Dale Bratham and Nancy Tucker. Hope this helps!

[Anne V]

But I think in a nutshell it's something like this:

Firm makes a few videos and develops their own language

Firm gains strong following.

Firm makes equipment to go with videos

Firm fights.

Firm makes videos

Firm fights

Firm gets sold

Firm makes videos

Firm makes defective equipment.

Firm fights

Firm gets sold.

Repeat as necessary.


Ok, that's not quite accurate but it's a mess. But still, they keep making interesting workouts so I just ignore it. It might be an interesting case study for a business school class though.

[sugarhound]

Wow, thank you sooo much for the information. I just recall getting ready to buy more Firms and they were horrible and I didn't have a computer and was absolutely confused. Thank you for giving me the information. That was wonderful>

[Jane P.]

Is the Firm studio in Columbia still open? Are they still teaching live classes? I have a feeling that Gaiam will make more Firm workouts. They are probably assessing the situation and trying to figure out how they want to proceed. I hope they let the instructors have some real input.


If you liked previous Firm instructors; Susan Harris, Tracie Long and Jen Carman they have filmed four new workouts for Tracie's new company, Tracie Long Training. The workouts have just started shipping so no one has seen them yet, but it shouldn't be long.