Ned Tanen

Ex-Studio Executive Ties Up with Sony: Ned Tanen--involved with such hits as "American Graffiti," "Fatal Attraction," "Top Gun" and "The Untouchables" as a producer and studio executive--signed an exclusive, long-term production agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Tanen's Channel Productions, to be headquartered on the Sony lot, expects to produce movies for both Columbia Pictures and Tri Star Pictures. Tanen was president of Universal Pictures from 1978 to 1982.

Ned Tanen, a highly regarded former president of Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures in the 1970s and '80s who presided over hits such as "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" and "Top Gun," has died. He was 77. Tanen, whose credits as an independent producer in the '80s included "The Breakfast Club" and two other so-called Brat Pack films, died of natural causes Monday at his home in Santa Monica, said Alisa Covington, a friend.

The word around Hollywood lunches this week was that ex-Paramount Chairman and CEO Frank Mancuso, who claims he was fired after Stanley Jaffe was appointed president and chief operating officer of parent Paramount Communications, is rounding up a group of investors to buy beleaguered Orion Pictures. A perfect fit, in the eyes of Hollywood. Orion needs bolstering in marketing and distribution, which is Mancuso's forte.

Ex-Studio Executive Ties Up with Sony: Ned Tanen--involved with such hits as "American Graffiti," "Fatal Attraction," "Top Gun" and "The Untouchables" as a producer and studio executive--signed an exclusive, long-term production agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Tanen's Channel Productions, to be headquartered on the Sony lot, expects to produce movies for both Columbia Pictures and Tri Star Pictures. Tanen was president of Universal Pictures from 1978 to 1982.

Paramount Pictures' top film production executive, Ned Tanen, has stepped aside, making way for two senior officials--Sidney Ganis and Barry London--to run the studio's movie operations jointly. Ganis and London both will hold the title of president of the Motion Picture Group, reporting to Frank G. Mancuso, Paramount's chairman and chief executive.

Dawn Steel, one of Paramount Pictures' top creative executives, has been quietly negotiating to resign as the studio's president of production and to become an independent producer associated with Paramount, according to several sources familiar with the talks.

Ned Tanen, a highly regarded former president of Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures in the 1970s and '80s who presided over hits such as "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" and "Top Gun," has died. He was 77. Tanen, whose credits as an independent producer in the '80s included "The Breakfast Club" and two other so-called Brat Pack films, died of natural causes Monday at his home in Santa Monica, said Alisa Covington, a friend.

Rumors of a falling-out between film maker John Hughes and Paramount Pictures solidified this week with the announcement of a new, non-exclusive deal between Hughes and Universal Pictures. Hughes directed "Sixteen Candles" and "The Breakfast Club" at Universal for then-producer Ned Tanen, who now heads Paramount.

Meanwhile, a handful of other biker pics are being tuned up. * Kent Anderson, an ex-Green Beret who wrote a Vietnam novel called "Sympathy for the Devil," is penning "Bad Iron," about an outlaw bike gang, for producer John Milius at New Line. * Larry Ferguson is writing "Sid," based on a true story of a cop who went undercover to infiltrate an outlaw motorcycle gang; he and Ned Tanen will produce for Paramount. * Over at New Visions, Taylor Hackford is mulling the purchase of a biker script.

In a restructuring of Paramount Pictures' New York office, Barry London has been promoted to the post of president of distribution and marketing for the motion picture group, the studio announced Friday. In addition, Buffy Shutt was elevated to president of marketing for the group. London, a 14-year veteran at the studio, was president of domestic distribution before taking on the additional marketing duties.

The word around Hollywood lunches this week was that ex-Paramount Chairman and CEO Frank Mancuso, who claims he was fired after Stanley Jaffe was appointed president and chief operating officer of parent Paramount Communications, is rounding up a group of investors to buy beleaguered Orion Pictures. A perfect fit, in the eyes of Hollywood. Orion needs bolstering in marketing and distribution, which is Mancuso's forte.

Paramount Pictures' top film production executive, Ned Tanen, has stepped aside, making way for two senior officials--Sidney Ganis and Barry London--to run the studio's movie operations jointly. Ganis and London both will hold the title of president of the Motion Picture Group, reporting to Frank G. Mancuso, Paramount's chairman and chief executive.

Dawn Steel, one of Paramount Pictures' top creative executives, has been quietly negotiating to resign as the studio's president of production and to become an independent producer associated with Paramount, according to several sources familiar with the talks.

Disco music and movies are warmly embraced these days as part of pop culture nostalgia. The era, which began in the mid-'70s, encouraged a whole generation to dance and party — often to excess. And don't even mention the outrageous clothes. It was an era that ended abruptly; a year after the final disco-themed movies were released in 1980, the AIDS epidemic began and the fun was over. Most of the disco movies are considered campy cult faves, but 1977's "Saturday Night Fever" is a bona fide classic.

Interviews don't come easy to Michael Ovitz. Even in his private sanctum, flanked by a pair of colleagues, safe beneath the dual gaze of Buddha and Marilyn Monroe--totemic bits of art on a movie maker's wall--the sandy-haired president of Creative Artists Agency is wary and tense and never stops wishing the limelight would go away. "This is not a comfortable experience for any of us," he says, his hoarse voice so low a reporter's recorder barely registers. "We really function behind the scenes.