Kirkpatrick Seen in Key Post at Paramount

David Kirkpatrick, a onetime screenwriter who moved into the executive ranks, appears to be next in line for the co-presidency of Paramount Pictures, a high-profile post that Sidney Ganis is expected to vacate soon.

Ganis and studio Chairman Frank Mancuso have been negotiating Ganis’ exit for more than a week, according to a source at the studio.

The co-president, who is 50 and has two years remaining under his employment contract with Paramount, is expected to remain with the studio as a consultant and an independent producer, according to studio sources.

Ganis didn’t return a call seeking comment. Kirkpatrick also declined comment. A Paramount spokeswoman said: “This is all speculation, and we can’t comment on it.”

Rumors of Ganis’ departure began circulating in July, when Kirkpatrick left Walt Disney Co. to join Paramount as executive vice president. Kirkpatrick was given extensive authority over filmmaking when he joined the studio, and he quickly pushed Ganis aside in what some Hollywood observers described as a classic power struggle.

Some industry sources expressed surprise that Paramount would put film production in the hands of Kirkpatrick, rather than a better-known executive such as former Paramount President Ned Tanen. “To have David and a bunch of kids running the studio isn’t going to send the right message to Wall Street,” one top talent agent said of the 38-year-old Kirkpatrick.

Tanen, who is 59, stayed on as a consultant to Paramount after resigning the presidency but has repeatedly told associates that he isn’t interested in returning to an executive role. He didn’t return a call Monday seeking comment on his plans.

Mancuso, 56, is said to have taken a much stronger hand in script and casting decisions at Paramount over the past several weeks, and some insiders speculated Monday that Mancuso would continue to involve himself more directly in movie decisions under a Kirkpatrick regime.

Ganis, who came to Paramount after working as marketing vice president and principal aide to filmmaker George Lucas at his Marin County ranch, has been blamed by some in Hollywood for weakening Paramount’s standing in the creative community during his two-year tenure as co-president. Several agents and producers have complained that the former marketing chief is indecisive and slow to act and that his cost-cutting efforts alienated some talent. (Paramount marketing and distribution chief Barry London is the other co-president.)

Ganis didn’t have strong relations with Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, two of the most successful producers on the Paramount lot, and had argued against signing their lucrative production deal last year. But he is close to Francis Ford Coppola, among other filmmakers, and even as the studio’s marketing chief he argued strongly in favor of producing “Tucker” to lure the director into making “The Godfather, Part III.”

Ganis partisans maintain that he was unfairly blamed for Paramount’s problems. They say, for instance, that Paramount’s tough business affairs department repeatedly undermined him. “Sid made many decisions that business affairs overruled,” one defender said.

Ganis is given much of the credit for shepherding the studio’s big summer hit “Ghost” through the studio. So far, “Ghost,” the second-biggest hit of the year, has grossed $148 million. Ganis projects still in the Paramount pipeline include “Regarding Henry,” directed by Mike Nichols and starring Harrison Ford, and “Dead Again,” directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Donald Sutherland.

Kirkpatrick has a reputation as being an aggressive executive and a savvy--some say savage -- political player. But with filmmakers, he maintains a gentle touch--too gentle for Disney’s tastes, where his hands-off approach to movie making drew some criticism from fellow executives.

This is Kirkpatrick’s third tour of duty at Paramount. He began as a story analyst there after graduating from California Institute of Arts in 1974 and writing a screenplay called “The Great Texas Dynamite Chase,” which was produced by New World in 1976 under the title “Dynamite Woman.”

Even as a story analyst in 1979, Kirkpatrick was writing scripts on the side. “Screenwriting was his first goal,” recalled screenwriter Larry Wilson, who worked with Kirkpatrick at the time.

He left Paramount to work with independent producer Sidney Beckerman at United Artists, then returned to Paramount in 1982 as executive director of production. At Paramount, he was the executive in charge of Eddie Murphy’s films--including “Beverly Hills Cop”--and dealt routinely with Simpson and Bruckheimer, particularly on “Top Gun.”

Kirkpatrick left Paramount to join Weintraub Entertainment Group’s film division, where he worked under Guy McElwaine, then chairman of the division. At Weintraub, Kirkpatrick oversaw an ill-starred slate that included “Fresh Horses” and “My Stepmother Is an Alien.”

Kirkpatrick’s career moves of late haven’t happened quietly. When he left for Weintraub Entertainment in 1987, Paramount sued him for breach of contract. (The suit was later settled with a Kirkpatrick payment to the studio.) When he returned to Paramount this year, Disney sued him, claiming that Kirkpatrick had broken an agreement by trying to hire away one of its executives and by using internal information to interfere with a Disney production. Kirkpatrick is contesting the suit.