Contract Deal Near for MCA’s Pollock

After protracted negotiations, MCA Motion Picture Group Chairman Tom Pollock is expected to sign a three-year contract extension as early as next week, though it appears doubtful that he will get the broader management responsibilities he has been seeking after eight years on the job.

Discussions with MCA/Universal have lurched along for months, with Pollock lobbying for more authority and new challenges. One of his main strategic goals was to have MCA’s home video division added to his domain, but sources say he made little headway in that area.

“This company has clung to the notion that home video is a bastard of ancillary rights and the record business and it’s Tom’s notion that home video is a major component of the motion picture business,” one insider said.

Pollock’s new contract would expire near those of MCA Chairman Lew R. Wasserman and President Sidney J. Sheinberg. While all sides declined comment--Sheinberg saying “we don’t discuss our colleagues”--Pollock’s package is said to be much the same as his old one, which would still return him millions of dollars over the term of the deal.

By extending his contract, Pollock also retains the power and prestige that come from running a major studio. Friends say that appeals to him more than returning to his law practice, or any other options.

With stability as a primary concern, Wasserman and Sheinberg never seriously considered anyone else for the job, sources say. There were also no obvious alternatives. “The feeling is ‘why rock the boat?’ ” said one industry observer.

With Pollock, Universal production chief Casey Silver also is expected to stay.

That should lay to rest concerns on the studio lot, where deal signings have recently been hurried as a hedge against a power shift, even as Universal projected a confident image as the studio behind the record-setting “Jurassic Park” and the award-winning “Schindler’s List.”

At 50, Pollock is regarded as one of Hollywood’s brightest and most buttoned-down moguls. Since his tenure began in 1986, Universal films have grossed a collective $4 billion. But the former entertainment lawyer has also come under criticism for the studio’s mediocre performance in recent years. “Jurassic” and “Schindler” did little to ease the pressures on Pollock, since those successes have been solely credited to Steven Spielberg.

While Pollock has gotten high marks over the years for encouraging cutting-edge talent such as Spike Lee and, more recently, “Reality Bites” director Ben Stiller, he’s also well known for frequently buying into expensive star- and director-driven packages from talent agencies. Universal is not known for developing a large number of its projects in-house.

Projects often flow into the studio’s pipeline through deals Pollock has secured with such high-profile filmmakers as Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack, Robert Zemeckis and Ivan Reitman.

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“Tom is very smart, but my feeling is that he’s allowed himself to be driven more by deal and marketing considerations than he was at the beginning, when he let his gut guide him,” said one source who has worked closely with Pollock over the years.

Even though “Jurassic” has taken in nearly $900 million worldwide so far and is the highest-grossing film ever (helping give the studio a 14.2% market share last year), the rest of the slate largely tanked. Apart from modest successes such as “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story,” “Carlito’s Way” and “Beethoven’s 2nd,” Universal’s slate included “Matinee,” “Cop and a Half,” “Heart and Souls,” “The Real McCoy” and “Mad Dog and Glory.”

This year looks more promising. Besides 1993’s holdovers--”In the Name of the Father” and “Schindler,” which is considered likely to win the Oscar for best picture--there are strong expectations for Ron Howard’s “The Paper,” “The Flintstones,” and this Christmas season’s “Junior,” re-teaming Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito and director Reitman of “Twins” success. Also potentially promising could be the remake of “The Getaway” and “Reality Bites,” starring Winona Ryder.

Expected to be Universal’s costliest production of the year is “Waterworld,” a big special effects-laden film starring Kevin Costner and directed by Kevin Reynolds, set for summer, 1995.

While Pollock’s future seems secure through 1996, outsiders wonder what will become of him and the rest of MCA’s senior management after that. Wasserman and Sheinberg signed five-year extensions when Japan’s Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. bought the company for $6.6 billion in 1991. But sources say there’s no long-range succession plan in place.

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Grandiose plans: With his $10-billion bid for Paramount Communications, QVC Network Chairman Barry Diller certainly has grand ambitions. But does he qualify as a “grand sponsor?” That’s what some supporters of last week’s AIDS Project Los Angeles’ Commitment to Life benefit were loudly pondering after Diller was given top billing in the program. APLA could not be reached for comment. But sources pointed out one explanation for the self-aggrandizing-sounding title: Diller gave “a ton of money” to the benefit.