Shine clinches Reveille purchase

Senior executives to remain

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

Bernstein

Murdoch

Shine honcho Elisabeth Murdoch is starting to put her mark on Reveille, bringing in Carolyn Bernstein to oversee the hitmaking shingle's scripted fare.

Murdoch officially acquired Reveille on Thursday, in a deal that valued the company as high as $250 million (plopping down an upfront cash payment of $125 million). The company's senior management team -- Chris Grant, Mark Koops, Howard T. Owens and Lee Rierson -- will continue to head Reveille, which now becomes a part of Murdoch's Shine Group.

But new to the Reveille mix is Bernstein, who most recently oversaw Shine's development activity in the U.S. The vet exec, who joined Shine just five months ago as exec VP, fills a void at the company created last year when Reveille founder Ben Silverman brought programming exec Teri Weinberg with him to NBC.

Since then, Todd Cohen has been handling scripted fare for Reveille, developing shows such as "The Tudors." He'll report to Bernstein in the new structure.

Bernstein will immediately dive into Reveille's scripted development currently in play at the nets, while also overseeing ongoing fare such as "The Office," "Ugly Betty" and "The Tudors."

"She's got such great energy and such a great creative focus," Owens said. "She has an ability to help us bring the best shows from the world into the country and be a magnet for creative writing and directing talent. She'll help make our shows better."

Shine and Reveille are still hammering out which previously existing Shine projects in the U.S. might now fall under Reveille's domain; for now, Bernstein will continue to handle Shine and Reveille projects separate from one another.

But moving forward, Reveille now has at its fingertips the resources of the Shine Group, which Murdoch has grown into the U.K.'s fourth largest producer. Shine's U.K. companies include drama producer Kudos, which is behind shows like "Hustle" and "Life on Mars," alternative programmer Pricness Prods., and docu producers Firefly.

Bernstein will continue to represent those interests across the pond, importing the Shine Group's scripted fare into the U.S.

"Part of her running scripted is we just added to our import business," Owens said. "We just double downed. Every person in London wants to work with Carolyn Bernstein."

Bernstein noted that she developed projects with Reveille during her days at the WB.

"I always admired the kind of enthusiasm, dedication and energy that everyone here brings to the business of TV," she said. "My skill set really complements those of everyone here. There's something fun about coming into a company where everyone here has preserved a youthful enthusiasm for television."

Murdoch called the Reveille acquisition "a cultural and commercial fit with us."

As part of the new setup, Reveille's distribution arm has been renamed Shine Reveille, giving Murdoch's company an international distribution arm (run by Grant).

"It's a merger of like-minded companies," Silverman told Daily Variety. "Liz will secure an American foothold and great programming assets of Reveille. It's an opportunity to create a mega indie on a global basis. On a micro level, it shows how valuable and important the international marketplace is, as you see these well-capitalized European companies acquiring American ones."

As previously noted, the deal also eliminated the controversial ties between Silverman, now co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, and Reveille, which produces several hits for the Peacock. Deal also repped a major payday for Silverman, who founded the shingle in 2002.

As an exec at the WB, and before that Columbia TriStar TV, Bernstein developed skeins such as "Smallville," "Gilmore Girls," "One Tree Hill" and "Dawson's Creek."

(Steve Clarke in London contributed to this report.)