COMPANY TOWN : Untangling MCA Management Lineup

MCA Inc. is trying hard to get its executive ducks in a row under its new management team, headed by President Ron Meyer--something many in the Hollywood community who have business with the entertainment giant say they’ll be grateful for.

The company is in the throes of hiring an executive to run its struggling television division and is also in conversations with MCA’s Universal Pictures President Casey Silver, sources say, about the chairmanship of the motion picture group--the job previously held by now Vice Chairman Tom Pollock.

Resolution of both executive appointments are expected shortly.

MCA is particularly anxious to get a TV head in place to replace Tom Wertheimer, both to revitalize its operations and, sources say, to shake off the public embarrassment of a near-miss deal with entertainment attorney Tom Hoberman. Three weeks ago, the industry trade papers Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter each reported that a deal to bring Hoberman aboard was imminent. Days later, they said he was out of the running.

Some folks in town are complaining that with all the management changes at MCA--including the recent hirings of former entertainment attorney Howard Weitzman as executive vice president of corporate operations, and Sandy Climan, the ex-Creative Artists Agency executive who starts Oct. 1 as executive vice president of MCA Inc., the lines of authority and responsibility aren’t clear, which can sometimes make doing business difficult and cumbersome.

An executive at PolyGram Pictures carped that he had no clue whom to call anymore to resolve an important piece of business: the fate of Gramercy Pictures, the joint venture marketing and distribution company PolyGram owns with Universal.

When asked about the current status of Gramercy, given that the deal between the parties expires at the end of the year, the executive said: “Good question. If you find out who I can speak to at MCA, will you tell me?”

Either both companies have to agree to extend the Gramercy partnership or the parties have to figure out who will buy whom out.

“It’s very unsettling for the people who work there” at Gramercy, said the executive, who believes the problem is emblematic of “the fallout” that results from multibillion-dollar mergers today--where the distraction sometimes overshadows the business at hand.

(Suggestion: Call Meyer.)

On the other hand, employees at MCA/Universal Pictures say there is already a noticeable difference in the way the place is run since the takeover of Seagram Co. and the hiring of Meyer this summer.

They say the management style under the new regime of Meyer and his Seagram boss, Edgar Bronfman Jr., is much more congenial and team-oriented than it was under the more autocratic rule of former MCA honchos Lew Wasserman and Sidney Sheinberg.

The two veteran managers hired a handful of operational heads to run each of the company’s key divisions--motion pictures, television, publishing, theme parks-recreation and music--and empowered each with the responsibility for the department’s bottom line. They were given an extraordinary degree of independence. And Wasserman and Sheinberg pretty much stayed out of the way. (Naturally, there were exceptions, like when the budget of “Waterworld” soared to ungodly numbers and a frustrated Sheinberg boarded the corporate jet to Hawaii.)

Now, under the divisional heads there are teams of executives who work on the company’s various projects.

“The management style is different,” said a source familiar with MCA operations. “Ronnie [Meyer] is the leader of the group, but there are now these teams doing everything--that’s the single biggest difference from before.”

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The modus operandi is no different than the way Meyer and his former partner Michael S. Ovitz ran the “commune-like” CAA. There, clients are almost always represented by more than one agent.

Meyer also insisted that his cabinet members be in proximity to each other. Whereas Wasserman and Sheinberg maintained offices on the 15th floor of the famous Black Tower (separated from the rest of the pack), Meyer moved the new corporate executive team to the 10th floor (temporarily until the 14th floor is refurbished) so everyone is more accessible at a moment’s notice. In addition to Bronfman and Meyer, that team includes Weitzman, Climan, Bruce Hack (executive vice president of finance)--each of whom reports to Meyer--and Pollock, vice chairman of MCA, who answers directly to Bronfman.

One has to wonder what Wasserman, now chairman emeritus, who still comes to work every day at 8:30 a.m., thinks about all the changes from his perch on the 15th floor.

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Daddy bought the wrong record company: Aside from his new corporate chores, Edgar Bronfman Jr. is trying to help his son Ben land the right band to play at his upcoming bar mitzvah on Dec. 2.

A memo from an executive in the corporate communications department of Seagram Co. to an assistant to MCA Music Entertainment Chairman Al Teller lists 13 artists that the younger Bronfman “is interested in playing at his bar mitzvah.”

“I am not sure who of the above is on the MCA label, but any other suggestions you may have would be most appreciated,” the Seagram executive wrote.

Well, sorry to disappoint, but only one of the artists listed, rocker Weezer (which is on the Geffen Records label), is distributed by MCA. Three of the others, Tom Petty, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Naughty by Nature, are with Warner Bros. Records. Of course, maybe father Bronfman can use his clout as a 15% Time Warner Inc. shareholder to get one of those bands.

As for Ben’s other dream acts, sorry to inform that Nirvana is no longer since the suicide of bandleader Kurt Cobain.

The 13-year-old also requested Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Bush. These acts are distributed by Interscope Records, which just severed its ties with Warner this week, so perhaps Bronfman would be interested in making another acquisition. (Snoop is being tried on murder charges for driving a vehicle in which his bodyguard shot a man in a West Los Angeles park. So his availability for bar mitzvahs may be limited.)

We’re not sure whether the other acts would be interested--Bush, Green Day, the Foo Fighters, Bone Things in Harmony, Warren G and the Beastie Boys.

Another suggestion for Ben. Maybe he can develop a quick taste for country-western music. One of MCA’s major strengths. Reba McEntire, perhaps?

An MCA official assured that the company will not be paying for Ben’s bar mitzvah.