COMPANY TOWN : Will Disney Be Able to Keep Roth Happy?

Now that everyone knows that Terry Semel is staying put at Warner Bros., naturally it’s time for Hollywood to have someone new to gossip about.

That someone is Joe Roth.

Just as Time Warner management had a decision to make about Semel, the question is can--or perhaps more pointedly, will--top Disney brass make the chairman of its live-action motion picture group happy enough to stay put. Sources say one of Roth’s main concerns is whether he’ll have enough operating room under his recently named boss.

Much has changed since the executive was recruited to the studio 16 months ago by Disney honcho Michael Eisner after his longtime lieutenant, Disney Studios Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, lost the fight to replace the late Frank Wells as president of Walt Disney Co.

For Roth, that change came in the form of Michael Ovitz, who suddenly went from being Roth’s friend and agent to his boss when he was named the new president of Disney in August. While Hollywood was stunned that Ovitz would go from his powerful perch as head of the industry’s most powerful agency to the No. 2 post at Disney under his pal Eisner, probably none was more nonplused than Roth.

His low-key manner can be misleading, but the fiercely independent Roth is neither a shrinking violet nor the kind of person who likes to be second-guessed. He’s someone who likes to run his own show and doesn’t like to be meddled with--and he has said so both publicly and privately.

When he was abruptly summoned last summer from his vacation spot at Martha’s Vineyard to Aspen, Colo., where Eisner and Ovitz were huddling about the uber agent’s new Disney post, Roth stressed his desire to be left alone to do his job. He was reportedly assured that Ovitz--whose natural inclination would be toward the movie business since that’s what he’s known for the last two decades--would basically stay off his turf.

Well . . . that’s not exactly what’s transpired.

Though Ovitz is obviously busy learning the ropes of the business and attending to other corporate matters and new business opportunities at Disney (like dealing with the impending ABC-TV merger and getting an NFL franchise and possibly building a sports stadium), he has in fact trespassed on some of Roth’s creative territory.

Ovitz may not attend the studio’s motion picture group meetings, but that doesn’t stop him from lunching in the Disney commissary with talent he once represented at Creative Artists Agency.

At one point, Ovitz made a big push for Disney to make a huge deal with his friend talent manager Brad Grey and the company Grey runs with Bernie Brillstein, Brillstein/Grey. That didn’t happen.

But some talent deals, negotiated by Roth, have been made with a few of Ovitz’s ex-clients, including Sean Connery and the husband-and-wife director/producer team of Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.

Recently, Ovitz and Roth jointly made a company pitch to CAA author/producer client Michael Crichton, whose credits include the bestselling book “Jurassic Park” and hit TV series “ER,” to lure him to Disney under his own production banner. Other such presentations are reportedly planned with other former Ovitz clients, says a Disney insider.

Another source close to Roth says the executive is “tolerating” Ovitz while Ovitz “takes care of some eight or nine ex-clients.” Just how finite that list is and how long Roth’s tolerance will last is anybody’s guess.

Roth, who could get out of his Disney contract (which has four years to go) because the reporting structure has changed, declined to be interviewed. Ovitz could not be reached for comment.

There have been reports that Roth has been looking for a new job, but sources insist that’s not true. One of the Hollywood trade papers ran an item last week saying Roth was seen at Sony Pictures Entertainment. In fact, Roth did have lunch with Sony’s movie chairman, Mark Canton, but it was at the West Hollywood industry haunt Cicada and it was to discuss two movie projects they are jointly distributing, “Starship Troopers” and “Peter Pan.”

Meanwhile, Disney insiders say Ovitz is acting like Roth’s biggest fan. “For better or for worse,” says a knowledgeable source, he’s being “a cheerleader” for Roth.

Sources at the studio maintain, as they have for some time, that simultaneous with the expected finalization of Disney’s merger with ABC in January or February, the company will restructure its divisions, putting the studio under Roth.

In effect, Roth would be getting the same job Katzenberg originally had, which included overseeing live-action and animated movies, television and home video. When Katzenberg left, Roth took over live action; former television head Rich Frank was put in charge of Walt Disney TV & Telecommunications, which included home video; and animation reported directly to Eisner.

The big question mark is whether animation--the company’s cash cow--would report to Roth as it once did Katzenberg. While Roth’s main responsibility is live action, he is directly involved in the domestic and international theatrical marketing of the animated product.

Also unclear under a restructured studio is what would become of Dennis Hightower, who was taken out of the consumer products division to replace Frank as president of TV and telecommunications. There also continues to be widespread speculation inside the company that Hightower, who had no prior television experience, will be moved out of his present job.

Sources say Ovitz and Eisner have told Roth they are very happy with the way he’s been running things. While his own slate of movies has not yet been released, he’s credited for his marketing acumen both on such animated products as “Toy Story” and “Pocahontas” and such live-action films as “Father of the Bride Part II,” “Dangerous Minds” and “Crimson Tide.”

It was Roth’s idea, for example, to model the marketing of “Toy Story”--which has grossed nearly $100 million in four weeks--after “Aladdin,” in that it was positioned not as a traditional musical but more as an irreverent family comedy. When he took the job in August 1994, Roth repositioned “Santa Clause” from a high-concept comedy to be released at Christmas of that year by Disney’s adult banner, Hollywood Pictures, to a Thanksgiving release under Disney’s family label.

At a studio that had been notoriously tightfisted and had shied away from paying big bucks for stars, directors and scripts, the talent-friendly Roth has allocated more money to production and marketing and has made a number of major movie deals since coming to the studio last year.

Now the question is: Will Disney be able to satisfy his deal?