AMG unveils TV unit
Col TriStar alumni join Tannenbaum at ATG
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Tannenbaum is bringing three top Col TriStar TV execs with him to launch the company, which will be a stand-alone entity separate from the management unit. Tannenbaum has been made a partner in Artists Television Group (ATG) and will serve as its prexy and CEO.
A number of Col TriStar TV's overall production deals will follow Tannenbaum to ATG, but details of this transfer are being hammered out. In return, Col TriStar TV Group prexy Jon Feltheimer negotiated a long-term distribution deal with ATG.
ATG aims to cast a wide net, developing programming for all areas of the TV biz, as well as content for the nascent Internet and broadband programming arenas.
"We won't be a traditional TV company," Ovitz told Daily Variety. "We are going to create content for all forms of media. ... The company will be very, very artist-oriented -- that's the whole goal."
Ovitz stressed that ATG and AMG will operate as stand-alone entities. ATG's business model is "totally different" from other management-production combines focused on developing projects for clients, he said.
"There'll be a series of announcements of creative people who will be coming over (to ATG) in (the) next few weeks and I'd say 90% of them are not (AMG) clients," Ovitz said, allowing, however, that AMG execs will help ATG scout for new talent, particularly in the comedy arena.
Asked how much seed money would be invested in ATG, Ovitz would only say, "as much as it takes."
Indeed, ATG aims to be "a full-service TV studio and as progressive a company as there is in the business," Tannenbaum said. "We'll be able to use the resources that Michael is building, not just with his management business but with his sports, music and film businesses. We'll be able to connect a lot of those dots in a very exciting way."
Sandra Stern, a Col TriStar alum who most recently was exec VP of business affairs, has signed on with Tannenbaum as exec veepee and chief operating officer of ATG.
Kim Haswell, formerly senior VP of comedy series development, is moving over as exec VP of creative affairs. Jamie Erlicht is shifting from director of programming at Col TriStar to veep of creative affairs at ATG.
The departure of Tannenbaum and crew to mount a new business at ATG is reminiscent of Col TriStar topper Feltheimer's own move in 1991 from the now-defunct New World Television to head what was then TriStar TV. In fact, Tannenbaum was among the handful of New World execs that joined Feltheimer in launching TriStar TV, which yielded such hits as "The Nanny" and "Mad About You."
"It's the nature of the business right now," Feltheimer said of the transition under way at Col TriStar TV.
"Everybody's growing through diverse channels and it's all about getting content into your pipeline. Through this deal, we're building up our ability to have access to great product," Feltheimer said. "So Eric's ambition fit well into my vision of the future."
