Company Town : It’s a Big Deal, and It’s Still Cooking

Hollywood is hyper and impatient.

There were reports last week that DreamWorks was on the verge of closing its deal with MCA. Well, here it is Friday and it’s not soup yet. Not even close.

There are still a number of issues that need to be hammered out, from real estate--where the DreamWorks partners Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen will base their entertainment company--to exactly how much of an equity investment MCA is contemplating and what the terms of the various distribution rights to its movies and music will be.

In any case, DreamWorks and MCA will not sign final papers until Seagram consummates its $5.7-billion purchase of the Universal City-based company in early June after completing its due diligence. Moreover, the DreamWorks founders won’t be signing anything without knowing who the new chairman of MCA will be.

Since the partners are engaged in serious discussions with MCA and Seagram chief Edgar Bronfman Jr., one can assume that MCA President Sid Sheinberg--Spielberg’s longtime mentor--is “being taken care of.”

It’s still anybody’s guess what Bronfman and Sheinberg will agree on, however. Regardless of what Bronfman has in mind, sources close to Sheinberg suggest that the executive is still unsure himself what he wants.

What does seem clear is that Sheinberg isn’t going anywhere, at least physically speaking. He probably will wind up either setting up his own company within MCA--the scenario most industry insiders foresee--or perhaps with his boss Lew Wasserman’s job--the chairmanship.

What also seems clear is that HBO honcho Michael Fuchs, one of the rumored candidates for a top MCA post, will stay put at Time Warner, where he has been placed in charge of the world’s largest music company.

Another rumored candidate, former Disney TV head Rich Frank, left this week for Africa, where he’ll spend the next few weeks not only photographing elephants but reportedly also contemplating the possibilities at MCA.

In the meantime, it has become increasingly evident that whoever ends up on top at MCA will have to share the perch with Bronfman, whose interest in the movie side of the business has been widely noted.

“The more I get to know him, the more I believe that the person who is going to run MCA is Edgar Bronfman,” said one insider. “This is not some passive guy who is going to get someone to ‘please run it for me.’ He wants to be an active partner.”

Talk About Chutzpah! Some people will try anything to break into Hollywood. A Grand Rapids, Mich., artist and writer have created a billboard and fake ad campaign to promote a fictitious movie called “Lucky Break,” using the likenesses of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis.

“We wanted to market a movie that didn’t exist, and the reason is to use this to get some attention,” says political artist Mark Heckman, who has been painting satirical billboards since 1984. “There are thousands of people trying to break into Hollywood, and we wanted to use this as a door opener to get a production deal.”

Heckman said he and writing partner Mark Newman paid about $15,000 for the campaign and sent out 250 press kits. “This is a satire and parody on the conventions of movie marketing,” Heckman says.

Given the response from the attorney who represents Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis on litigation matters, Heckman and Newman may leave Hollywood with more than a movie deal.

“It is clearly actionable because it’s a commercial misappropriation of our clients’ likenesses and names. It’s a violation of their right of publicity, and we may take legal action,” says lawyer Marty Singer.

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Warner Woos Ostin: Three days before Gerald Levin ousted Warner Music Group chief Robert Morgado, the Time Warner chairman was sitting on the beach in Acapulco trying to woo record industry titan Mo Ostin back into the Warner fold.

Ostin--who quit his job as chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records on Jan. 1 after a bitter dispute with Morgado--spent last weekend at a secluded Time Warner villa in Mexico listening to Levin pitch him on a new label deal.

Sources said that Levin offered the revered 68-year-old record chief and his protege Lenny Waronker a generous joint venture start-up label with access to several Warner stars, including Quincy Jones, who accompanied Ostin to Acapulco.

Ostin and Waronker, who have been pursued in recent months by Warner’s five major competitors and also by Viacom, Fox, Disney and DreamWorks, could not be reached for comment. Levin also declined comment, but music industry insiders are universally skeptical that Ostin will return to Warner.

“It’s such a transparent scam on Levin’s part to save face,” said the CEO of a competing company. “After what they did to Mo, it was decent for him to even listen. It’s not only too little, it’s too late, and I think it reflects terribly on Levin.”

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Inside Hollywood

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