Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Feb 11, 2015 9:38:48 GMT -6
variety.com/2015/news/amy-pascal-sony-steps-down-producing-revenge-1201429247/
Producing Huge Hits and Living Well Would Be Amy Pascal’s Best Revenge
After many years as a top studio executive, Amy Pascal has suddenly found herself unceremoniously kicked out of Hollywood’s elite club of decisionmakers into a world that will be alien to her.
For any deposed studio chief accustomed to calling the creative shots — deciding which scripts get bought, which films get made and which ones don’t — losing that power is a crushing ego blow.
The phones will ring less, emails will decline (which in Pascal’s case would be a blessing), and those $300-plus flower arrangements from Mark’s Garden sent by those looking to curry favor will fall off precipitously.
Pascal, 56, will now find herself having to compete with the throngs of Hollywood producers, those with deals on and off the Sony lot, peddling projects and begging for a greenlight.
She will be competing with several heavyweight producers she recently recruited to Sony — including former Warner Bros. executive Jeff Robinov and ex-Fox co-chairman Tom Rothman. And Rothman might well end up as Pascal’s boss, in which case their roles would be reversed. Rothman is one of the leading contenders to succeed her. Two other likely candidates for that role are Doug Belgrad and Michael De Luca, also Pascal recruits, both of whom have served as Pascal’s top lieutenants.
It appears that Pascal is already in a pole position on the Sony lot, which could stir up serious resentment among other powerful producers at the studio. Pascal not only was given a lucrative production deal that covers overhead costs and includes a discretionary fund to buy projects and a chance to earn a percentage of profits from films she makes, she was handed Sony’s biggest franchise, “Spider-Man,” to produce with Marvel Entertainment honcho Kevin Feige. With Pascal coming aboard “Spider-Man,” Matt Tolmach (who use to run production under Pascal) will no longer be a lead producer on the project but rather an executive producer along with Avi Arad.
Pascal will reportedly also produce another one of Sony’s potential blockbusters, a re-imagined “Ghostbusters,” with a female-driven cast starring Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy.
With a little luck, Pascal’s ouster could become a blessing in disguise, freeing her from corporate shackles. She has long enjoyed a reputation as a super-smart executive with bold taste and a quirky personality. Her closest Hollywood pals include the movie business’s most powerful agent, Bryan Lourd. And she has strong ties to topnotch talent — with the exception of those she irreparably offended in her hacked emails.
And there are precedents for life after studio chiefdom: Nina Jacobson (“The Hunger Games,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”) and Karen Rosenfelt (“Twilight” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks”) have both become highly successful producers after being fired from high-profile studio jobs at Disney and Paramount, respectively.
In a 2002 interview with Variety, Pascal was quoted as saying that the key to her success has always been her relentless work ethic: “I love working with filmmakers, reading scripts, seeing the movies. There are days when I want to jump off a cliff, but never so I don’t have to go to work. My end game isn’t the corporate ladder, it’s the movies.”
Now Pascal has fallen off that ladder, she has to prove she get right back up and stand on her own two feet.
Producing Huge Hits and Living Well Would Be Amy Pascal’s Best Revenge
After many years as a top studio executive, Amy Pascal has suddenly found herself unceremoniously kicked out of Hollywood’s elite club of decisionmakers into a world that will be alien to her.
For any deposed studio chief accustomed to calling the creative shots — deciding which scripts get bought, which films get made and which ones don’t — losing that power is a crushing ego blow.
The phones will ring less, emails will decline (which in Pascal’s case would be a blessing), and those $300-plus flower arrangements from Mark’s Garden sent by those looking to curry favor will fall off precipitously.
Pascal, 56, will now find herself having to compete with the throngs of Hollywood producers, those with deals on and off the Sony lot, peddling projects and begging for a greenlight.
She will be competing with several heavyweight producers she recently recruited to Sony — including former Warner Bros. executive Jeff Robinov and ex-Fox co-chairman Tom Rothman. And Rothman might well end up as Pascal’s boss, in which case their roles would be reversed. Rothman is one of the leading contenders to succeed her. Two other likely candidates for that role are Doug Belgrad and Michael De Luca, also Pascal recruits, both of whom have served as Pascal’s top lieutenants.
It appears that Pascal is already in a pole position on the Sony lot, which could stir up serious resentment among other powerful producers at the studio. Pascal not only was given a lucrative production deal that covers overhead costs and includes a discretionary fund to buy projects and a chance to earn a percentage of profits from films she makes, she was handed Sony’s biggest franchise, “Spider-Man,” to produce with Marvel Entertainment honcho Kevin Feige. With Pascal coming aboard “Spider-Man,” Matt Tolmach (who use to run production under Pascal) will no longer be a lead producer on the project but rather an executive producer along with Avi Arad.
Pascal will reportedly also produce another one of Sony’s potential blockbusters, a re-imagined “Ghostbusters,” with a female-driven cast starring Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy.
With a little luck, Pascal’s ouster could become a blessing in disguise, freeing her from corporate shackles. She has long enjoyed a reputation as a super-smart executive with bold taste and a quirky personality. Her closest Hollywood pals include the movie business’s most powerful agent, Bryan Lourd. And she has strong ties to topnotch talent — with the exception of those she irreparably offended in her hacked emails.
And there are precedents for life after studio chiefdom: Nina Jacobson (“The Hunger Games,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”) and Karen Rosenfelt (“Twilight” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks”) have both become highly successful producers after being fired from high-profile studio jobs at Disney and Paramount, respectively.
In a 2002 interview with Variety, Pascal was quoted as saying that the key to her success has always been her relentless work ethic: “I love working with filmmakers, reading scripts, seeing the movies. There are days when I want to jump off a cliff, but never so I don’t have to go to work. My end game isn’t the corporate ladder, it’s the movies.”
Now Pascal has fallen off that ladder, she has to prove she get right back up and stand on her own two feet.