August
14
Wagner and Nicita Heading for New York?
If I were Paula Wagner and Rick Nicita--two smart, pleasant people who have been thriving at the top of the Hollywood food chain for decades and deserve to move gracefully into a less stressful lifestyle at this point--I'd buy a fancy New York apartment too. Nicita has left CAA for Morgan Creek, while Wagner has dumped the pressures of running UA to do what she likes best, produce. Who needs the tsuris?
Part of what their story illustrates is something I've been saying for a while. There are a few fortunate folks hanging on to studio jobs and deals (as Variety's recent Facts on Pacts revealed, there are precious few studio deals anymore). Those who had grown up in the relatively luxurious studio system are now having to adapt or flee. It's like any ecosystem that is shifting. Darwinian forces are at work: you must adapt. The old studio gravy train isn't going to continue.
Yes, there will be tentpoles. And comedies and genre pics and so on. But there will be fewer big movies and more little movies and only the strong will survive. Wagner worked under the most deluxe studio conditions, making films for Tom Cruise that were greenlit, paid for and released by the studio, as well as some smaller films. She always worked hard, but she and Cruise were coddled. She knew how to play in that sandbox. Having to jumpstart UA with smart, affordable, marketable pictures, aggressively chase projects and fiercely assemble them under duress? Not what she signed up for.
Subscribe to this blog's feed
And comedies and genre pics and so on. But there will be fewer big movies and more little movies and only the strong will survive. Wagner worked under the most deluxe studio conditions, making films for Tom Cruise that were greenlit, paid for and released by the studio, as well as some smaller films.
Posted by: Cruise Answers | August 23, 2008 at 06:44 AM