Here’s the Real Story Behind the Headlines at New Line Cinema

As a former vice president of production and employee of New Line Cinema for four years, I had the good fortune to work for Mike De Luca and Bob Shaye. I take exception to Patrick Goldstein’s portrayal of the two in his Jan. 30 column (“End of an Era at New Line, Beginning of One for De Luca”). The article seems to say that De Luca was a maverick who followed his gut and championed original projects while Shaye was a penny-pinching suit who only cared about the bottom line. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

It would be hard to find a smarter and more passionate individualist than Shaye in the entertainment industry. Not without his flaws, he is a man who single-handedly built New Line on his own sweat and instincts, not allowing himself to get sucked into the Hollywood traps that felled almost every other entrepreneur who tried to build an independent studio.

Shaye is the maverick businessman-filmmaker who always put the survival of New Line ahead of all else--ahead of ego, the temptation to be a “player”--ahead of even his artistic ambitions as a director.

Far from a “conformist, suit” mentality, Shaye’s determination to be fiscally prudent was due to his supreme love of New Line. For without his discipline, New Line would not be around to make all those interesting movies for which De Luca is credited.

Shaye should be applauded for his discipline, not made a pariah. In an idiosyncratic industry that routinely sees new ventures fail from a lack of financial discipline (anyone remember Carolco?), Shaye stands out as a role model of a visionary artist-businessman. Shaye almost always put the health of New Line ahead of his ego--anyone who has ever been inside his small, tasteful office can attest to the lack of trappings.

Shaye seldom succumbed to the seductive call of inflated budgets and Hollywood filmmaking excess; and when he did, he regretted it. He might have left some interesting movies on the table, but he preferred to limit the company’s downside risk and thereby assure its survival. Prudent aggression was his motto.

I particularly object to your characterizing Shaye as reluctant to gamble on cutting-edge talent. Who do you think gave John Waters, Wes Craven, Chuck Russell, Renny Harlin, the Hughes Brothers, the Hudlin Brothers and countless others their start before De Luca was president of production? Later, even if he occasionally said no to some of De Luca’s passions, Shaye gave the final OK to all of the cutting-edge filmmakers who “owe” their start to De Luca.

De Luca, a bright, charming and capable exec, got to live the “rock star” life of a studio head without the responsibility and pressure of an owner-founder. De Luca never had to put his money where his mouth is, like Shaye, when greenlighting a movie--he just got to have all the fun. And let’s not mistake superficial artifacts like dress and lifestyle for character and guts--after all, is there a bigger Hollywood cliche than a guy with a T-shirt, backward baseball cap, earring, goatee and Harley?

Shaye, not De Luca, was the true artist at New Line, and had to sacrifice his artistic instincts over and over so New Line, and most notably De Luca, would survive and prosper.