Cohen leaves Goldwyn for Turner veepee slot

By JAY GREENE

Howard Cohen, Samuel Goldwyn Co.'s second ranking exec for production and acquisitions, is ankling the indie to become veepee of programming development at Turner Network Television, sources said.

At Turner, which is expected to make the announcement later this week, Cohen will be one of three execs in charge of acquiring material for production and supervising pix in production.

He will remain in Los Angeles and report to Allen Sabinson, senior VP for original programming.

TNT has stepping up its efforts to produce star-driven, high-quality pix. The cabler recently announced three features in the works, toplining John Goodman, Diane Keaton and Tommy Lee Jones, each with a tab that could approach $ 6 million.

TNT will likely produce a dozen films this year, and Cohen, like the other programming veeps, will be responsible for four of them.

Cohen started at Goldwyn in 1987 as manager of theatrical acquisitions. Most recently he was VP of acquisition and production.

At Goldwyn, Cohen has been involved in many of the company's pickups and productions, including the company's two biggest successes of 1993, "Much Ado About Nothing" and "The Wedding Banquet."