Life On The Bubble

Congratulations to Daria Cercek!

Here's another Stuber-related promotion:  Daria Cercek, a Stuber CE, is headed to Fox as CE.

Congratulations to Jay Polidoro!

Congratulations are in order for Jay Polidoro, Universal's newly minted Creative Executive.  He comes off Pam Abdy's desk at Stuber and starts after Labor Day.

 

P.S.  Sorry for the light posting over the past couple of weeks.  I'll be getting back to normal now that summer's basically over.

Claudia Eller & Ben Fritz (LA Times): Chris Albrecht's e-mail misfire led to McGurk and Rosett's exit from Overture

Here's a cautionary tale about writing e-mail on a BlackBerry courtesy of Starz President Chris Albrecht.

On July 1, Albrecht touched down in Majorca, Spain, for a vacation. Like any good executive, he checked his BlackBerry. He read an e-mail from two senior Starz executives concerning the future of Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett, the chief executive and chief operating officer, respectively, of Overture Films, a unit of Starz. The fate of Overture has been in question for months as Starz and parent Liberty Media are assessing its viability.

Albrecht tapped out his response to the two executives, suggesting that upon his return July 12 they should discuss removing McGurk and Rosett. However, instead of responding to the e-mail that he'd received from the two executives, he mistakenly replied to a different e-mail about letting Starz employees work half a day on Friday, July 2.

As a result, his note went to approximately 400 Starz employees and senior executives -- including McGurk and Rosett.

via latimesblogs.latimes.com

Brutal.

Congratulations to Holly Brown!

A big round of applause is in order for one of my favorite people, Overbrook's Holly Brown, who got the official promotion to Creative Executive recently.  Congrats, Holly!  It's well deserved.

Cynthia Littleton (Variety): Showtime poised to undergo changing of the guard

Showtime is poised to undergo a leadership change with Robert Greenblatt expected to step down as entertainment prexy after seven successful years. It's expected that he'll be succeeded by former Imagine TV prexy David Nevins.

Nevins announced his resignation from Imagine TV today. Speculation about Greenblatt making the decision to move on has been rampant for weeks.

Greenblatt's exit is coming entirely of his decision as his most recent contract is set to expire next month. Exec has had a stellar run of developing signature skeins that have transformed the pay cabler, including "Dexter," 'Weeds," "Nurse Jackie," "The L Word," "Californication" and "The Tudors."

A Rep for Showtime declined comment.

via www.variety.com

Nellie Andreeva (deadline.com): David Nevins Out At Imagine TV

Imagine Television is staying put at 20^th Century Fox TV but its president David Nevins is exiting after eight years.

via www.deadline.com

Claudia Eller (LA Times): Bob Berney in talks with producer Graham King to head new distribution unit

Producer Graham King plans to launch a theatrical distribution division and is in negotiations to bring Bob Berney aboard to head the operation, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Berney, a veteran independent film distributor known for innovative campaigns for such movies as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Memento" and "The Passion of the Christ," surprised many in May when he abruptly resigned from Apparition, the distribution company he founded after his previous employer, Warner Independent Pictures, was shut down by Warner Bros.

King has told associates for some time that he wanted to start his own distribution company to fill a void in the market after most studios abandoned releasing independently made movies.

via latimesblogs.latimes.com

Ben Fritz (LA Times): Signaling new direction, US Weekly veteran Janice Min takes over Hollywood Reporter

Her surprising appointment indicates a likely editorial repositioning for the Hollywood Reporter, which since its founding in 1930 has been a purely business publication focused on the ins-and-outs of movie studios and television networks. Like its rival, Daily Variety, the Reporter has struggled in the last few years as the studios have curtailed congratulatory and "for your consideration" awards ads that have been the trades' largest revenue source. In addition, they have lost circulation due to the shift of readers to the Web, where they face online competitors such as Deadline and The Wrap. In addition, The Times has increased its coverage of the entertainment industry.

Min was brought on by E5 Global Media, a private equity group that purchased the Reporter and six other publications including music industry trade Billboard from Nielsen Media late last year.

Though E5 executives have yet to detail their plans for the Reporter, the hiring of Min indicates that they plan to shift the brand's focus away from a pure business publication and more toward reporting on celebrities and drawing a broader base of consumer readers.

via latimesblogs.latimes.com

What a shame. (Not that Min's being brought in, but that it augers the shift described in the last line of the last paragraph, above.)

UPDATED - Nikki Finke (deadline.com - exclusive): Veteran Universal EVP Michael Joe departing for Relativity

5/13/10 Update:  Hearing Variety reported today that Michael Joe's title is President and that he'll be running day-to-day operations.  Tucker Tooley has gotten a bump, too, to President of Worldwide Production.

5/12/10: 

Joe helped set up Relativity's $1 billion movie co-financing deal with Universal back in 2008. That's when Relativity Capital, the partnership between Ryan Kavanaugh's West Hollywood-based Relativity Media and the New York hedge fund Elliott Associates, was supposed to back at least 75% of Universal's movies through 2011 -- or about 45 films. 

via www.deadline.com

Other TV-related news...

As I was going through Nellie Andreeva's posts over on deadline.com from the past few days, there were a few that didn't fit into the "Primetime Pilot Panic" ouevre.  Here's a roundup:

NBC Executive Shuffle:  Lourdes Diaz joins the network, plus three promotions (posted yesterday, quoting Friday, 5/7/10's press release) 

Spike TV Executive Shuffle:  Sharon Levy promoted to Executive VP, Original Series and Animation (posted yesterday) 

ABC yanks "Happy Town" (posted yesterday) 

"The Big Bang Theory" set for record syndication sale to cable (posted yesterday).  Article notes that bids are expected to top $1m/episode, which would best "Seinfeld," the current record holder.

E1 is shopping a new spec pilot adaptation of John Grisham's "The Firm" to cable networks (posted yesterday). 

Mike Fleming (deadline.com): Paramount Taps ‘Gossip Girl’ Co-Creators For Feature Production Deal

Gossip Girl co-creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage are expanding their Fake Empire banner into feature films. Paramount has staked them to a two-year first look producing deal, and Schwartz and Savage are hiring WME agent Lis Rowinski aboard to run the film company as vice president of features. Rowinski, who spent the last decade at Endeavor and then WME, was part of the agency team that repped Schwartz and Savage. She will take an office on the Paramount lot.

via www.deadline.com

Click through for additional details. As you may recall, Fake Empire has a monster TV deal at Warner Bros. TV, which is why Rowinski taking an office on the Paramount lot is noteworthy.

Executive Shuffle: Joyce San Pedro now CE at Untitled Alex Siskin Company

Congratulations to Joyce, who had previously been at Robert Simonds Company.

ROAR gets a little bit more Abstract

Alright, so I'm not the best headline writer, but I just heard ROAR bolstered their lit department in a big way by buying lit management firm Abstract Entertainment.  Congrats to Abstract's Mike Goldberg and Josh Adler!

Executive Shuffle: Mark Mikutowicz promoted to CE at Sidney Kimmel Entertainment

Congratulations to Mark Mikutowicz, who's recently been promoted to Creative Executive at Sidney Kimmel Entertainment.  Mark had been Jim Tauber's assistant.

Nellie Andreeva (deadline.com): Ex-WBTV exec Heather Kadin Eyed to Run Kurtzman and Orci’s TV Company

Former Warner Bros. TV and ABC drama executive Heather Kadin is in talks to become president of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci’s recently launched TV production company. Kurtzman and Orci started a TV production outfit under their first TV studio deal, a three-year overall pact with 20^th Century Fox TV that kicked in March 1.

via www.deadline.com

Mike Fleming: Jennifer Todd in at Mark Gordon Co. as MP President

Jennifer Todd, who partnered with sister Suzanne for the past 13 years in Team Todd, has been appointed president of motion pictures at The Mark Gordon Company. Todd becomes a partner in Mark Gordon's company along with his TV president Deb Spera.

Todd and her sibling are coming off Alice In Wonderland, and were also producers on Across the Universe, the Austin Powers films, Memento and Prime. Gordon said that Todd has taste and relationships that will help the company. Gordon, who built a powerhouse TV company that generates Grey's Anatomy, Criminals Minds and others, has been building feature momentum that includes the upcoming Bill Condon-directed biopic of Richard Pryor for Columbia Pictures, the Tobey Maguire-Laura Linney-starrer The Details and the Jake Gyllenhaal-starrer Source Code. Gordon just aligned with Management 360 to form the film company MG/360 and yesterday made a New Line deal for a Private Benjamin remake that will be developed for Anna Faris. Todd will spearhead a feature team that includes senior vice president Bryan Zuriff and she will continue an association on projects she and her sister have percolating.

via www.deadline.com

Cynthia Littleton (Variety): Les Moonves signs new deal with CBS Corp.

CBS Corp. has cut a new five-year employment contract with prexy and CEO Leslie Moonves.

Deal keeps Moonves at the helm of the Eye through February 2015. It replaces the existing pact that was to have expired in 2011.

"Leslie is a superb executive who has led CBS to a position of unparalleled leadership in the industry," CBS Corp. chairman Sumner Redstone said in announcing the deal. "This agreement not only secures the future of the company for many years to come, it also further aligns and strengthens the interests of the chief executive with those of our shareholders."

CBS said Moonves' salary will remain at its current level, though he is entitled to bonuses and other incentives.

via www.variety.com

Nellie Andreeva (The Hollywood Reporter): Two more Sony TV current execs exit

Two more Sony Pictures TV current executives have departed as part of Sony Pictures Entertainment's companywide layoffs.

Debra Curtis, vp current programming, and Rose Lee, manager of current programming, join SPT's longtime head of current programming Jeanie Bradley, who is leaving after 25 years at the studio.

SPE said this month that it will lay off 450 staffers, or nearly 7% of the Culver City studio's worldwide work force of 6,800 employees.

The cuts at SPT are not expected to be particularly deep as most of SPE's pink slips will be in the home video and IT departments. But by being so focused on the current department, SPT could be signaling a management restructuring in the division.

With Bradley, Curtis and Lee gone, there is only one Sony TV current executive left -- vp John Westphal -- raising questions whether the studio might shift some or all current series responsibilities to its comedy and drama development teams.

Such consolidation has been a trend among major TV players. NBC and ABC eliminated their current departments on the network and studio sides the past two years.

via www.hollywoodreporter.com

What a bummer. I'd thought the bulk of the bloodshed was behind us.

Mike Fleming (deadline.com): Producers Dan Jinks & Bruce Cohen Split Up

Jinks and Cohen tell me they have decided to amicably break up their Jinks/Cohen Company. "We've had a great 12 years, but we've both decided that we want to explore on our own," Jinks and Cohen told me. Jinks is forming The Dan Jinks Co and keeping Nick Nantell as VP of development, while Cohen is forming Bruce Cohen Productions.

via www.deadline.com

Tim Adler (deadline.com): David Linde Resurfaces

Linde is starting his own global indie film company called Lava Bear that will adopt the Summit/Overture model of having U.S. distribution in place, and then selling off overseas territories. Universal will put up some of the money for 2 to 4 movies a year from Lava Bear.

via www.deadline.com