Higher-Profile Role for Ace Picture Picker

After delivering her first full-blown business presentation to corporate bosses in New York two weeks ago, Sony Pictures Entertainment Vice Chairwoman Amy Pascal received an unexpected response: a hug from Sony Corp.’s normally reserved chairman, Nobuyuki Idei.

Pascal outlined a three-year plan to cut hundreds of jobs and slash costs by tens of millions of dollars at Sony Pictures’ movie studio and other units, which was precisely what Idei wanted to hear, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

The Tokyo-based chairman had mandated that all of Sony’s businesses tighten operations to help boost the corporation’s depressed earnings and depressed stock price, and was clearly glad to find one of his key Hollywood executives on board. “He responded to the tone and spirit of Amy’s presentation,” the source said.

But whether such affirmation will ever give Pascal the fuller authority enjoyed by rival studio heads, such as Sherry Lansing of Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures or Dick Cook of Walt Disney Co.’s Disney Studios, remains an open question.

After 73-year-old John Calley retired as chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment early this month, power at the studio and its allied operations was divided among three vice chairpersons: Pascal, who oversees film production; Jeff Blake, who manages marketing and distribution; and Yair Landau, who watches over the company’s digital operations and television activities.

The lack of a conventional chief defies tradition in Hollywood, which has generally demanded to know who’s the boss at its film companies -- notwithstanding a recent drift toward decision by committee amid escalating costs and risks.

“Sony has one of the more unusual organizational structures and has not felt compelled to have very defined roles,” noted media analyst Jeffrey Logsdon of investment bank Harris Nesbitt Gerard.

As Sony’s top creative executive, a role she had solidified during a largely successful stint as chairwoman of the company’s Columbia Pictures unit, the 45-year-old Pascal might have been Calley’s natural successor under filmdom’s old rules.

But her boss, New York-based Sony Corp. of America Chairman Howard Stringer, appears bent on withholding the chairman’s post in favor of a split regime, at least for now.

“Everything is working fine. I’m not planning on any immediate change,” Stringer said in an interview Monday.

The executive added that he was less focused on management roles than on figuring out what a modern movie studio would look like as it integrated with emerging technology.

“I’m more interested in defining how the studio fits into the broadband future,” Stringer said. “How the place is structured, I haven’t settled on.”

Stringer’s focus on the future hasn’t stopped speculation about some old-fashioned power politics on Sony’s Culver City lot.

One hot topic of discussion is who will occupy a master office suite in the studio’s Irving Thalberg Building -- once the domain of legendary MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer -- when Calley moves out in coming weeks.

“The engine that pulls the train is production,” said Laura Ziskin, a Pascal friend who is based on Columbia’s lot and produced the blockbuster hit “Spider-Man.” “So, de facto, Amy’s the boss and that’s why she gets the office.”

Others believe Stringer, who is spending more time in Los Angeles lately, may take the big office -- a possibility he declined to discuss.

“I’m not going to talk about real estate,” he said.

Pascal, for her part, sidestepped questions about her prospects and ambitions. During a recent interview in her current office, which is more homey than corporate, with vintage mirrors decorating the walls, she parried a query about the Calley suite by talking about accommodations at the studio for her 3 1/2-year-old son, Anthony.

“I have my nursery and my conference room. I’m very set up here,” Pascal said.

Whether or not she gets the boss’ chair, supporters are quick to point out that Pascal’s reach expanded steadily in the last two years, as Calley withdrew from front-line management and she came to the fore as the creative executive responsible for a series of highly successful pictures, including “Spider-Man,” “Men in Black 2” and “Mr. Deeds.”

“She’s the go-to person, and I think she’s headed up,” said “Spider-Man” director Sam Raimi, who is weeks away from wrapping the sequel to his hit movie.

“I just hope she doesn’t get promoted out of working with filmmakers,” said the director, who credits Pascal with taking a “big risk” on both him and “Spider-Man” star Tobey Maguire at a time when both were best known for making smaller, quirkier movies.

The Oscar-winning director James L. Brooks -- about to start production for the studio on the comedy-drama “Spanglish” with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore -- said Pascal was clearly “the one in charge.” The filmmaker said he was deeply impressed when he first met Pascal as a young production executive at 20th Century Fox. “Oh, my God. Who’s that smart girl?” Brooks recalled thinking. “She has all the parts.”

A native of Los Angeles, Pascal followed the classic Hollywood route from secretary to studio production head. After learning the ropes from producer Tony Garnett in the 1980s and serving a short stint at Fox, she moved to Columbia and rose to executive vice president before leaving to run now-defunct Turner Pictures.

She rejoined Columbia as president in 1996 under Calley. After a slow start marked by several years with more misses than hits, her star began rising with the November 2000 success of “Charlie’s Angels,” a hip movie takeoff on the popular ‘70s TV show, which Pascal pushed forward over the protests of her boss.

Last year’s “Spider-Man,” Pascal’s biggest hit, cost a dizzying $175 million to produce but became a runaway success, with an estimated profit of at least $500 million for the studio.

Yet Pascal is now talking as much about financial responsibility as creative flair -- largely because the studio has been under mounting pressure from corporate overseers to end a cost spiral that has already pushed the budget for next year’s “Spider-Man 2” to about $210 million.

Pascal and her fellow vice chairmen are part of an executive committee set up by Stringer this spring to monitor spending and cut production and marketing costs.

In keeping with the new austerity, Pascal acknowledges that she overspent in the past, most notably on last summer’s sequels to “Bad Boys” and “Charlie’s Angels,” each of which cost $130 million to make and tens of millions more to market.

“These were all profitable movies for this company, but not as profitable as I wanted them to be,” Pascal said. “The mandate is to increase the margins.”

Feeling the pressure, Columbia managers have lowered the studio’s average production cost to $60 million and have begun enforcing a policy that no more than 25% of the studio’s revenue will go out the door to stars and filmmakers with participation deals.

She held the line when making talent deals on such big-budget high-profile projects as “Fun With Dick and Jane,” to star Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz, and the sequel to “Zorro,” with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. And she expects to do the same on “Bewitched,” to be headlined by Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have done that two or three years ago,” Pascal said. “I guess I have a different kind of confidence about what we’re doing than I did before.”

In another twist to Sony’s internal politics, one of Pascal’s peers on the company’s cost-monitoring committee is Joe Roth, whose Revolution Studios supplies more than one-third of the studio’s annual movie slate -- and who was long considered a possible successor to Calley.

Pascal said she saw Roth not as a rival but a key advisor. “I call and get advice from him on things that have nothing to do with Revolution, because I trust him,” she said.

Confirming that relationship, Roth said he had seen Pascal’s stature increase as Calley pulled back. “In a short period of time, she has become more influential in the business area. And I think she’ll continue to grow,” Roth said.

Pascal -- who is looking for a strong business executive to replace Columbia’s outgoing President Peter Schlessel -- is likely to continue the studio’s risk-reduction drive by recruiting financial partners on films. In keeping with that strategy, which mimics that of competitors such as Paramount and Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros., Columbia recently signed long-term financing deals with Spyglass Entertainment, which helped fund such hits as “Bruce Almighty” and “Seabiscuit,” and other producers who bring money to the table.

Similarly, the studio sold Warner the international rights to the coming Christmas movie “Something’s Gotta Give,” a romantic comedy starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton and directed by Nancy Meyers, which cost in the neighborhood of $90 million.

However, on its other big December release, Sony is shouldering the entire cost of the nearly as expensive Pascal pick, “Big Fish,” an offbeat drama directed by Tim Burton about an ailing man, played by Albert Finney, whose tall tales about his oversize life as a young man, played by Ewan McGregor, wows nearly everyone but his estranged son, played by Billy Crudup.

Asked about that slate, Stringer praised Pascal’s “versatility of choices” and stressed that he valued her as picture picker -- while leaving the bigger issue of studio leadership wide-open.

“I’m more interested in her strength as a great creative leader of our studio,” Stringer said.

“I am very proud of what Amy has achieved. She has taste, restraint and imagination and has come a long way.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Big bets

Some of the major films on Amy Pascal’s upcoming Columbia Pictures slate:

“Big Fish”

Drama directed by Tim Burton. About an ailing man, played by Albert Finney, whose tall tales about his oversize life as a young man, played by Ewan McGregor, charm almost everyone except for his estranged son, played by Billy Crudup.

Release date: Dec. 10.

Approximate cost: $85 million.

*

“Something’s Gotta Give” (co-financed by Warner Bros.)

Romantic comedy written and directed by Nancy Meyers. About a perennial playboy, played by Jack Nicholson, who likes younger women but suddenly finds himself falling for an age-appropriate, successful, divorced New York playwright, played by Diane Keaton, after having spent the weekend with her daughter, played by Amanda Peet.

Release date: Dec. 12.

Approximate cost: $90 million.

*

“50 First Dates”

Romantic comedy directed by Peter Segal. About a love-’em-and-leave-’em ladies’ man, played by Adam Sandler, who falls for the seemingly perfect woman, played by Drew Barrymore, who has to be reminded who he is every time they meet because she suffers from short-term memory loss.

Release date: Feb. 13.

Approximate cost: $73 million.

*

“Spider-Man 2”

Comic book adventure directed by Sam Raimi. Follows the adventures of Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man, played by Tobey Maguire, as he confronts the maniacal, multi-tentacled Doc Ock, played by Alfred Molina.

Release date: July 2.

Approximate cost: $210 million.

*

“Spanglish”

Cross-cultural comedy-drama written and directed by James L. Brooks. About a beautiful young Mexican immigrant, played by Paz Vega, who never fathomed the perils of being embraced by an affluent Bel-Air family, played by Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni, for whom she goes to work.

Release date: Fourth quarter 2004.

Approximate cost: $72 million.

*

“Bewitched”

Romantic comedy written and directed by Nora Ephron. Based on the TV sitcom about a contemporary witch, to be played by Nicole Kidman, and her husband, to be played by Will Ferrell.

Release date: Fourth quarter 2004.

Approximate cost: $100 million.

*

Sources: Times research, Columbia Pictures