New Line's Brener adding COO to title

Studio reorganizes its exec suite

By DAVE MCNARY

Following a downbeat 2006, New Line has reorganized its exec suite, giving senior exec VP Richard Brener the additional title of chief operating officer.

"We had a disappointing year and I had to ask myself what I should be doing differently in terms of division of labor," said New Line production president Toby Emmerich, in making the announcement Wednesday. "Richard was the obvious candidate because of his tenure here and because of how well respected he is, particularly internally."

Emmerich said Brener's chief task will involve supervision of all production execs below the senior level in order to take advantage of Brener's expertise in script development and in mentoring junior execs.

Emmerich also said the promotion won't affect his own two major duties: developing slates for 2008 and 2009 with New Line toppers Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne; and acting as the mini-major's key liaison between the production, sales, marketing and distribution departments.

Emmerich said he formulated the notion of promoting Brener during his assessment of New Line's 2006 performance. The mini-major's best grosser last year was "Final Destination 3" at $54 million while "Snakes on a Plane" underperformed despite enormous hype.

The 34-year-old Brener, who joined the mini-major in 1995, is well-liked by many agents and other execs; he's best known for having overseen New Line's 2005 hit "Wedding Crashers" and the "Final Destination" trilogy. As chief operating officer, he'll be filling a slot that had been occupied by senior exec VP Mark Ordesky, who was tapped for the post after shepherding "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Ordesky's been unable to act as COO since he's supervising a pair of big-budget New Line projects -- "The Golden Compass" and "Inkheart" -- that are being shot and edited in England.

Emmerich said he's expecting a major rebound for New Line in 2007 with "Compass," "Hairspray" and "Rush Hour 3" highlighting the slate. And he asserted that the re-org will help him and Brener develop the 2008 slate, which currently has four pics set -- "Inkheart," "Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D," Will Ferrell's basketball comedy "Semi-Pro" and Matthew McConaughey comedy "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past."

"We really need to raise the bar for 2008 and 2009 because there's so much more competition for people's leisure time," Emmerich told Daily Variety. "The sky's the limit on what we can do."

Emmerich assumed the president's post in 2001, succeeding Michael De Luca. He'd been a music and development exec, in addition to working extensively with Brener as a screenwriter on such projects as the Greg Hoblit-directed drama "Frequency," starring Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel.