Merge maneuvers
Staff swaps & layoffs hit Par, D'Works
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Now comes the tough part -- integrating the operations of Par and DreamWorks, with pinkslips issued on Wednesday to 50 DreamWorks employees and 25 from Par.
That's just the first wave of job cuts. Integration of the studios is expected to result in some 120 layoffs on each side for a total of 240.
Executive reorganizations were also announced. Kelley Avery was appointed worldwide homevid prexy, having previously held that post at DreamWorks.
Tom Lesinski, who had been Par's homevid chief, will now be in charge of the Paramount Digital Media Group, which will lead the push of filmed entertainment into new-media platforms.
In the less than two months since the DreamWorks deal was announced, Par's Rob Moore and DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg have been combing over each department's staff list, deciding whether the Par or DreamWorks employee would keep his or her job (Daily Variety, Jan. 11).
Wednesday's job cuts came in Par's international distrib, marketing, human resources and IT departments. In the coming weeks, Par's domestic distrib unit also is expected to go through a round of layoffs.
Units taking a hit Wednesday at DreamWorks were not specified.
Paramount also noted that it's "well along" in the process of selling DreamWorks' 59-title live-action library. Par, which has said publicly it plans to raise up to $1 billion from that sale, is believed to have been in exclusive negotiations with financier George Soros.
In another key development, DreamWorks marketing maven Terry Press will work on DreamWorks Animation titles while Par marketing chief Gerry Rich will remain in his post. However, Press will handle the marketing on "Dreamgirls," the upcoming Par/DreamWorks feature version of the Broadway musical.
Paramount also confirmed Wednesday several previously disclosed management hires, including DreamWorks distrib chief Jim Tharp, UIP prexy Andrew Cripps and DreamWorks TV chief Hal Richardson.
Tharp replaces longtime Paramount distribution honcho Wayne Lewellen, who announced in December that he was exiting after a 33-year tenure.
Cripps comes aboard as Par's prexy of international distribution, starting next January -- the date when Paramount begins unwinding its 24-year foreign distribution partnership with Universal.
Richardson becomes Par president of worldwide television. He'll combine his DreamWorks team with Paramount's international and domestic pay TV groups.
