July
19
Corporate Power Struggles at DreamWorks, Viacom and Paramount
There's action in Viacom City. With Steven Spielberg positioned with Businessweek's Ron Grover as a possible DreamWorks/Paramount flight risk, and respected Sumner Redstone sprig Shari Redstone possibly leaving the board of her father's company, something's going on.
UPDATE: Well, Shari Redstone ably runs Viacom's exhibition chain National Amusements. One scenario has Redstone pere, 84, letting her walk away with the theater chain he built. It's the business she loves. But the NYT paints a starker, more divisive story.
Over at DreamWorks and Paramount, you'd think everyone would be deliriously happy about their $1 billion hot streak at the boxoffice, which will spawn a litter of Transformers sequels and more. But the truth is, David Geffen hates nothing more than leaving money on the table. While less than two years ago Paramount was accused of paying too much to buy DreamWorks ($1.53 billion) it now looks like they paid too little. Spielberg, especially, hated giving up his dream of ownership of a movie studio. Now that they've scored so big, it looks like they gave up too soon. 
But DreamWorks isn't going anywhere. They're enmeshed too deep at Paramount. I understand that Spielberg had the option of getting out of his contract early, but didn't. Instead, DreamWorks had lawyer Skip Brittenham renegotiate, as Grover reports, for Spielberg and Stacey Snider's greenlight authority over higher budgets and more movies. Who wouldn't pick Spielberg and Snider's slate over Brad Weston's?
Which does make it all the more important for the Paramount side of the equation to deliver some hits and prove their worth.
The question that still hovers in the air: what does David Geffen want? There's one big-billion sale that could put smiles on the faces of the DreamWorks troica and make Spielberg renew his contract: DreamWorks Animation. If Paramount, which owns distribution rights to the company's films (two more Shrek sequels are promised), were to buy Animation, what would Jeffrey Katzenberg do then? Current scuttlebut has him filling that open Tom Freston slot. Which would leave Grey working for Sparky.
While that scenario is bound to delight Katzenberg, Spielberg and Geffen, that doesn't mean it's anything more than a delightful fantasy.
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I recently saw an add for tropic thunder. I was offended by the obvious disrespect for the dead. so I decided to tell dream works so that they might consider the honor quality of there works. well the web sites I found don't seam to want my opinion so I have decided that it would dishonorable to patronize this business. the fact that a female supremacist like Stacey Snider is at the top of things when my son has to suffer under the oppression of Parental Alienation Syndrome just makes me sick at hart.
Posted by: bob | November 16, 2008 at 09:05 AM