Venerable Paramount Brings In Novice Chief
Viacom Inc.'s co-president, Tom Freston, swears he picked the brains of 100 Hollywood insiders about whom to tap to reinvigorate the company's Paramount Pictures.
In the end, though, Freston chose somebody he already knew quite well -- a friend who has joined him on travels to Cuba and Brazil.
On Thursday, as expected, Freston named top talent manager and producer Brad Grey as Paramount's new chairman and chief executive. He becomes the 10th leader of the 93-year-old studio whose rich history includes "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "The Godfather" and "Braveheart."
Grey is set to take over by March 1 for industry veteran Sherry Lansing, who is retiring after 12 years as chief of the studio. The appointment vaults the 47-year-old into an elite club of executives who can get a movie made with the stroke of a pen.
The announcement about Grey had been anticipated for days before loose ends were finally tied up Wednesday. At 9 a.m. Thursday, Grey showed up at the Melrose Avenue studio to meet his new team of senior executives.
Grey is being given broad responsibilities over creative and business issues. He will be charged with restoring Paramount's luster, tarnished by a box-office slump and management upheaval.
Last year, Paramount had a paltry 7% domestic market share and ranked last internationally at 3%. Grey is expected to make the studio more aggressive by more fully exploiting its films overseas and on DVD.
"We do have a low market share, and Paramount has suffered from a poor reputation as talent-unfriendly, tough to deal with, for bad marketing and being slow on DVD," Freston said.
Paramount also has been reluctant to gamble on expensive film franchises such as "Harry Potter" that can potentially generate huge profits.
"Paramount needed a big change," said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Fulcrum Global Partners. "If Brad Grey embraces new technology and creates better content, there could be a significant upside."
Critics have chided Paramount for too many remakes and old-fashioned themes, including "The Stepford Wives" and "Alfie." Freston promised change.
"I'm not saying we're going to be the MTV or Nickelodeon studio," Freston said. "But we might have more movies skewing toward younger audiences."
Freston added that things had been improving over the last year under Lansing. Upcoming major releases launched by her include Steven Spielberg's big-budget "War of the Worlds," starring Tom Cruise.
