Showmen of the Year

Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton

By STEVE CHAGOLLAN

Pascal and Lynton huddle up in the conference room that divides their offices in Sony's Thalberg Building.

Productivity is one quality that no studio, or any major business operation, can get enough of. So it shouldn't be surprising that Sony Pictures Entertainment has room for two hyper-productive chairmen, Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal.

Lynton and Pascal have set the tone at Sony: Their stamp is evident throughout the various entertainment divisions, and yet there appears to be no indication of the meddlesome, micromanaging boss hovering over anyone's shoulders.

Their collaboration atop the Culver City lot food chain is a micro example of the big picture: a team concept that also allows the experts the freedom to do what they do best.

Pascal is already a bit of a legend. Mentored by pioneering studio chief Dawn Steel, she is the most powerful woman executive in Hollywood and has continued to thrive as many other women in similar posts have either retired or fallen by the wayside. The UCLA grad is strictly West Coast, if not Westside.

Lynton, on the other hand, provides a study in contrasts. A Harvard man with a prep school pedigree, Lynton cut his teeth on Wall Street in mergers and acquisitions before climbing his way up the media ladder by way of publishing and the Internet.

Together, Lynton and Pascal have led SPE to record revenues in the movie realm, having guided the studio to No. 1 in market share last year, and much of this one. Now it stands poised to cross the $1 billion threshold for the sixth consecutive year more than any other studio.

"Showmen of the Year" connotes some kind of grandiosity of gesture and boast. These two achieved the distinction unobtrusively, with hard work and team spirit.

-- Steve Chagollan, co-managing editor, Features