March 23, 2005
TV Chief at Fox Going to Paramount By BILL CARTER and DAVID M. HALBFINGER NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/23/business/media/23fox.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Gail Berman is expected to leave her job as the chief television programmer at Fox Entertainment for the movie business, taking the top creative position at Paramount Pictures under the new chairman, Brad Grey, executives at both companies said yesterday.
Ms. Berman's move appears to follow a trend of successful television executives with no appreciable big-screen experience moving into top jobs in Hollywood studios.
Her job change would shake up both entertainment organizations, with Fox losing its president at a critical point in the network's planning for a new television season, and Paramount reshaping its management structure further under Mr. Grey.
The move caught executives at both Fox and Paramount by surprise yesterday. Neither company would officially acknowledge a deal had been completed. Paramount released a statement saying it was "in discussions with Gail Berman for a senior creative role at the studio" and it hoped to "conclude the discussions shortly." Fox declined to say anything official.
But executives at both organizations, as well as several colleagues close to Ms. Berman, confirmed she had told both Fox and Paramount she intended to take the job at Paramount.
Ms. Berman declined to comment, as did Mr. Grey. Neither Ms. Berman nor Mr. Grey have any real experience in the film industry. Mr. Grey led a talent management company and produced mainly television shows, like "The Sopranos." Ms. Berman started her career as a producer of such Broadway hits as "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," then shifted to television, where she produced shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Malcolm in the Middle."
But Ms. Berman's departure to take charge of the film division at Paramount would be consistent with numerous management moves within just the last month, as former television executives have been chosen to run many of the biggest corporations in the entertainment field.
Sony named Sir Howard Stringer, whose background was mainly at CBS, to lead its entire business. Disney named Robert A. Iger, who primarily worked at ABC during his career, to be its next chairman. And Viacom announced its intention last week to divide its assets into two separate companies, which will both be led by top television executives, Leslie Moonves of CBS and Tom Freston of MTV Networks.
The prospect of Ms. Berman's transfer to Paramount caused some consternation at the studio, which was already concerned about how Mr. Grey might shake up that organization. The studio has struggled in recent years, consistently finishing near the bottom of the domestic box office share for big studios.
Paramount's parent company, Viacom, placed the unit under the control of Mr. Freston, and he brought in Mr. Grey in January.
"Between all of them you have no one with a movie background," said one film industry executive, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They're two very different industrial processes, film and television. If you're running a network you're putting on 21 hours of prime-time television a week. If you're programming for a movie company, you're releasing 30 hours a year."
But others, especially those who have worked with Ms. Berman, praised her for her creative instincts. "She is an enormously capable businesswoman and creative executive," said Warren Littlefield, now a television producer, and a former longtime top programmer at NBC.
One longtime rival network programmer called her decision a coup for Paramount, citing her recent success in bringing both critically praised and highly rated programs to Fox, including "24," "The O.C." and this season's new hit drama, "House."
Indeed, Fox, riding a wave of success since January thanks largely to the broadcast of the Super Bowl and the continuing huge ratings for the multiple-night broadcasts of its reality hit "American Idol," is now positioned to win its first season ever among viewers between the ages of 18 to 49 - the group it most seeks to reach.
That would mean Ms. Berman would be the rare television program executive to leave the job at the top. "She is pulling a Seinfeld," Mr. Littlefield said, referring to Jerry Seinfeld, whose comedy was the top rated in television when he quit in 1998.
Donald De Line, Paramount's co-president and vice chairman of its motion picture group, appeared to be caught unaware of Ms. Berman's apparent deal.
Mr. De Line, the producer of Paramount's 2003 hit "The Italian Job," learned of Mr. Grey's talks with Ms. Berman only after they were reported by online trade publications, according to people who spoke to Mr. De Line Tuesday.
Immediately, executives at other studios and talent agencies began speculating Tuesday that Mr. De Line, who was flying from London to Los Angeles, would leave Paramount rather than accept what appeared to be a demotion.
Others questioned whether Paramount might be gearing up for a housecleaning, and specifically if Tom Jacobson, the co-president of Paramount Pictures, or Karen Rosenfelt, the studio's president of production, would remain in place if Mr. De Line were to leave. With Mr. Grey's appointment having been sprung upon them, it would be the second time the studio has been hit with a major change without any of its top executives knowing about it.
"It's not a team-building move," said a film-industry executive, commenting on the way Paramount executives learned of Ms. Berman's talks with Paramount.
Others described Mr. De Line as an unusually popular and well-liked producer and executive. The hiring of Ms. Berman, they said, suggested that Mr. Grey simply wanted to surround himself with executives of his own choosing.
A veteran producer who joined Disney in 1985 and rose to president of Touchstone Pictures in 1993, Mr. De Line left Disney in 1998 for a production deal at Paramount, where his projects included "The Stepford Wives."
In December 2003, after "The Italian Job" had grossed $106 million domestically - one of Paramount's few successes that year - Mr. De Line was signed to a three-year contract as the studio's production chief.
Ms. Berman's move would leave Fox in the lurch at a critical moment. She has been overseeing the development of new series for the network. Within a month, the pilots for new shows that she has put in place will be up for consideration as additions to the prime-time schedule.
Within two months, her successor will have to first decide on a new schedule and then appear before advertisers in New York to sell the new series.
Speculation on her successor centered on three executives yesterday: Peter Liguori, the president of the Fox-owned FX cable channel; Dana Walden, the president of 20th Century Fox Television, the Fox-owned studio that provides more than half the programming for the network; and Angela Shapiro, the president of Fox Television Studios, a separate production unit owned by the News Corporation, Fox's parent company.
================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu
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