David Geffen, by nature a garrulous, congenial man, has been telling folks that he has had it with the film business and intends to focus on other interests. His comments have refocused attention on an interesting question: What will finally happen to DreamWorks?
Putting together fragments of information, this seems to be the answer: DreamWorks is busy raising money to facilitate a distribution deal at a major. The exit from Paramount seems firm; the likely destination, Universal. And given Geffen’s exit, Stacey Snider would become a full partner of Steven Spielberg. Jeffrey Katzenberg, of course, has his own home at Paramount running DreamWorks Animation, and is zeroing in on some formidable initiatives in the world of 3-D.
A deal at the newly charred Universal would be welcome to Spielberg, who has a long association with that company. (His offices there were not affected by the fire.) Whether it’s acceptable to Universal would depend on the terms of the distribution deal; a deal below 10% or 11% would not be an inducement.
Anyway, the whole scheme depends on DreamWorks’ ability of to raise many hundreds of millions of dollars. The ubiquitous Skip Brittenham, DreamWorks’ legal guru, has proven his genius for these maneuvers in the past.
In any event, DreamWorks clearly is entering an entirely new phase in its remarkable development. And it will be a busy phase: While Geffen’s interests may lie outside film, Spielberg will surely be at least as productive in the future. Some of that productivity will reside, however, with projects presently owned by Paramount.
How will those projects be divvied up? That’s one negotiation I would not like to be part of. Paramount may own the projects, but Spielberg can effectively annex or block any projects he covets. And both he and Paramount, whatever their differences in the past, realize they have to co-exist amicably in the future.
Divorce is rarely amicable, to be sure. But very wealthy people and very big companies can rewrite those rules, too.
Subscribe to Peter Bart's Blog Feed
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also.
Posted by: invosotoDus | 10/16/2009 10:01:49 PM
You are a very smart person!
Posted by: invosotoDus | 10/11/2009 2:57:08 AM
WaltB is Bruce Willis.
Posted by: wanna bet? | 6/6/2008 3:19:34 AM
Comment above is addressing those already commenting - not the article itself.
Posted by: concerned | 6/5/2008 12:54:11 PM
Although I wouldn''t ordinarily bother: All opinions in the comments column are valid, however that doesn''t give anyone the right to be offensive. Please be a little more conscientious about how you come across and whether its necessary in the first place.
Posted by: concerned | 6/5/2008 12:53:05 PM
Are you kidding me? Peter you have a way of re-organizing all the facts without bringing anything new to the table of a story thats been told 1000 times. It's amazing. Studios like to remake movies, but your the king of remaking the news. Welcome to the internet! Check out Wikipedia... it's way cool you old bag of gas.
Posted by: Finkeoholic | 6/4/2008 3:39:25 PM
Peter,
Your professional experience, industry insider knowledge and no-nonsense writing style make you a must read, whatever and wherever you write. Thank you.
Posted by: WaltB | 6/3/2008 9:49:47 AM
Late to the party, but welcome anyhow.
Posted by: Ron Mwangaguhunga | 6/3/2008 8:10:59 AM
Without an RSS feed, it's not really a blog.
Posted by: Laura | 6/3/2008 7:20:31 AM
Hey Peter. Now that you are aware of the wonders of blogs, perhaps you will do the right thing now and quote the other blogs that you rip new information from.
Then again pigs might fly.
Posted by: Bogger | 6/3/2008 3:53:48 AM