Besson closes Gotham ops

N.Y. office opened in March, optioned one book

By JONATHAN BING

Besson

Luc Besson has abruptly shuttered the Gotham office of his U.S. production company, Seaside.

Besson, who was not immediately available for comment, maintains a small office in Hollywood. In March, he opened a New York office, run by veep of development Jennifer Scanlon, a former director of development at Polygram. The shingle has since optioned one book, "In the Country of the Young," by Lisa Carey, which is set up at FilmFour.

Besson is said to be focusing on ventures in Europe and will leave his Hollywood office intact under the stewardship of creative exec Aimee Peyronnet.

Besson's short-lived experiment with a Gotham development office is the latest indicator of a slowdown in the Hollywood book market since the late 1990s, when many studios retained a strong Gotham presence. The sheer volume of book deals is up, but advances are down from five years ago, with many books now going to TV and cable.