MCA Appoints Al Teller to Senior Executive Post

In a move that was anticipated for weeks, MCA Inc. elevated music chief Al Teller to corporate executive vice president and signed him to a new long-term agreement.

Teller, 49, joins three others in an elite group of senior executives at the Universal City-based entertainment conglomerate that make up something of an inner circle, helping MCA Chairman Lew R. Wasserman and President Sidney J. Sheinberg plot strategy.

Others holding the corporate executive vice president title are MCA Enterprises chief Skip Paul, motion picture chief Tom Pollock and Tom Wertheimer, who oversees television.

Teller, who retains the title of chairman of the MCA Music Entertainment Group, is the first music executive to hold the corporate-level title. In a statement, Sheinberg said the move recognizes Teller’s “superior performance in guiding and expanding” the company’s music business and his role “as a member of the core group of senior executives of the company.”

* Brian Siberell, formerly vice president of HBO Showcase, joins Creative Artists Agency as an agent in the made-for-TV movie department.

* Walt Disney Pictures has promoted Tim Engel to the newly created position of senior vice president, production, for feature animation.

* Brett Chapman, senior counsel at the Walt Disney Co., has been named vice president of business and legal affairs at Buena Vista Home Video Intl.

* Skouras Pictures has hired William M. Russell as chief financial officer.