Universal Chief Drawn by Spielberg

In Hollywood, director Steven Spielberg always seems to get his way.

Which explains why someone as driven as Universal Pictures Chairwoman Stacey Snider would relinquish her powerful position as head of one of Hollywood’s six major studios to run a small movie production label for a lot less money.

For Snider, Spielberg’s siren call to join him at the DreamWorks unit of Paramount Pictures proved irresistible, supplying her with the creative antidote to a rigid corporate culture she endured in the two years since General Electric Co. bought Universal and merged it with the NBC network.

On Sunday, the 44-year-old executive ended more than a week of fragile negotiations by officially signing on as co-chair and chief executive of DreamWorks, the live-action movie company Spielberg co-founded that was sold to Paramount for $1.6 billion two months ago.

Throughout her executive career, Snider had developed a close relationship with the industry’s most iconic and successful director.

She first met Spielberg when she was a young production chief at TriStar Pictures, where he was developing “The Mask of Zorro” as an executive producer. Their relationship continued at Universal, where DreamWorks had long-term business ties and where Spielberg began a filmmaking career marked by such films as “Jaws,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Jurassic Park,” “Schlinder’s List” and, most recently, “Munich.”

“I had at times in my career hoped one day I could work with Steven,” said Snider.

Now, she will sit alongside him at his production headquarters, ironically still based on the Universal back lot. Snider will run the day-to-day operations with Spielberg and DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen, with whom she shares the co-chair title. Snider’s start date is unclear, since Universal has not formally released her yet from her current contract, which expires in December.

In a statement to The Times, Spielberg said: “Stacey has a unique combination in a film executive in that she recognizes a need to make commercial movies, but also aspires to make art. She recognized that balance is good.”

Although Snider now is a member of Spielberg’s creative dream team, some aspects of her new job may prove challenging to someone used to a studio chief’s power.

Snider will be running Spielberg’s small production label, one that is no longer independent but a division of Paramount and a subsidiary of giant corporate parent Viacom Inc.

Spielberg will not always be available to Snider. Spielberg immerses himself in his own movie projects and often films on location for months at a time. She will not produce movies with Spielberg, unlike her predecessors at DreamWorks, the husband-wife team of Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald.

And Snider will not be reporting to Spielberg or Geffen but to Paramount Chairman Brad Grey, who was hired a year ago to turn around the hit-starved studio and make it more talent-friendly.

Getting Snider -- a seasoned movie executive known for her creative savvy and strong talent relationships -- is considered a coup for Grey, who will look for her to deliver four to six movies a year that will be marketed and distributed by Paramount.

“Our responsibility is to turn Paramount into a vibrant studio, and Stacey is one of the most talented executives in the business,” Grey said.

During her nine years at Universal, the last six as chairwoman, the Philadelphia native oversaw such hits as the Oscar-winning “A Beautiful Mind,” “The Mummy” films, “Meet the Fockers” and “American Pie.”

Last year, Snider had a mixed record with the hit comedy “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” but such disappointments as “The Producers,” “Jarhead” and “Cinderella Man.” The studio’s much-hyped “King Kong,” which cost more than $200 million to make, was not the runaway hit Universal had expected.

In signing Snider to a four-year contract, Grey also convinced Spielberg and Geffen to sign on for an additional year beyond the three they originally agreed to, according to a Paramount executive familiar with the arrangement.

Under her deal, Snider will share with Spielberg and Geffen the authority to give the green light to the handful of DreamWorks movies, so long as they have budgets of $85 million or less. Anything above that level would have to be approved by Grey.

DreamWorks will have an annual operating budget of about $300 million, which pays for not only the development and production of its movies but its overhead, including Snider’s salary.

Paramount in effect did not have to invest additional money into DreamWorks to hire Snider. Geffen and Spielberg must adjust the company’s spending to pay her salary.

Two people with knowledge of Snider’s deal said Snider would receive a base salary of $2.5 million to $3 million a year -- far less than her Universal paycheck.

She can potentially earn more through a performance-based bonus providing the movie label is successful every year. But she will never make as much money as she did in her previous job, which brought her $6 million to $8 million in a good year.

And, unlike her predecessors, Parkes and MacDonald, Snider will not earn producer fees as part of her annual pay package.

Although Grey declined to discuss any financial details of Snider’s deal, he acknowledged, “She has a chance to do well if the label does well.”

Grey drove a hard bargain. People close to the weeklong negotiations with Snider’s lawyers said Grey was threatening to walk away from the talks Friday over what he thought were the executive’s high pay demands for a much smaller job. At Universal, between the studio’s main operation and its two specialty labels, she oversaw nearly 30 films a year.

Paramount had leverage because Snider was under the gun to make a deal quickly. Snider had asked her boss, Universal Studios President Ron Meyer, to explore other job opportunities. Then, on Friday, Meyer turned up the pressure, giving Snider the weekend to make a decision before he would start interviewing candidates to replace her.

Snider contacted Meyer mid-day Sunday to tell him of her decision -- a phone call she says was difficult to make.

“I told him I’ll do anything to assist anyone at Universal in this transition,” Snider said.

When reached on Sunday, Meyer said, “I have nothing but the best wishes for her and I respect her choice.”

Snider said that over the last year, she expressed to Meyer her ambivalence about the job as she contemplated a multiyear contract extension with Universal.

Snider also began complaining to her friends and associates that she was growing weary of the corporate, regimented style and bottom-line demands placed on Universal by GE.

She frequently had to make presentations to the GE brass. Snider said she learned a lot about large corporations, and for a time even envisioned herself becoming a career executive in the GE family.

“At one point I even thought, ‘Hey, maybe I’ll go all the way up the corporate ladder,’ ” Snider said. “It turned out not to suit my personality.”

She also longed to spend more time with her two young daughters.

Snider hoped to salvage her stay at Universal with an acquisition of DreamWorks last summer, expecting one day to do what she’s doing now in joining Spielberg. But GE balked over the asking price, giving Paramount an opening to buy the company.

Privately, Snider blamed GE and NBC Universal for losing the deal. Geffen publicly went ballistic, saying they reneged on an agreement to acquire his company. For Snider, it helped make her decision to leave that much easier.

“It forced me to think about my future differently,” Snider said Sunday.

Snider began talking to Spielberg about her desire to switch jobs in the course of discussing some continuing projects between DreamWorks and Universal shortly after Paramount announced its deal.

Spielberg, who over the years had more than once invited Snider to join him at DreamWorks and, before that, his production company Amblin Entertainment, immediately placed a call to Grey.

The two met at Grey’s office. The Paramount chief told the filmmaker he was very interested but stipulated that he would begin negotiations with Snider only if she were 100% committed to leaving Universal. She assured Grey she was.

“I didn’t expect this to happen so quickly,” Snider said. “It’s been an intense weekend, but I’m really excited about this new opportunity.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Stacey Snider

Age: 44

New job: Co-chairwoman and chief executive, DreamWorks unit of Paramount Pictures Corp.

Former job: Chairwoman, Universal Pictures

Education: University of Pennsylvania, UCLA Law School

Notable accomplishments: Snider worked at Universal nine years, the last six as chairwoman. She oversaw such films as “The Mummy” franchise, the “American Pie” movies, “Meet the Fockers,” “King Kong” and the Oscar-winning “A Beautiful Mind.”

Personal: Married to music producer Gary Jones; two daughters, Katie, 9, and Natalie, 7

Source: Times research

Los Angeles Times