Exiting Paramount Exec Seeks Deal

As Paramount Pictures hurries to finalize a deal to make former Fox Entertainment chief Gail Berman its new president, the man she’s replacing is seeking a hefty financial settlement that would bring his time as a studio executive to an abrupt close, said sources at the Viacom Inc.-owned company.

Donald DeLine, who has served just 14 months of his three-year contract at Paramount, is angry about the way his job as the studio’s top creative executive was yanked from under him, friends say. He learned about it not from his boss, new studio chief Brad Grey, but from associates.

Still, DeLine may not leave Paramount altogether. Sources said he had been discussing the possibility of producing some movies for the studio. Some believe DeLine, who sources say was earning a base annual salary of about $2 million plus bonuses, could pocket a multimillion-dollar settlement.

That makes Berman, whose appointment is expected to be formally announced early next week, a very expensive choice. But to Grey, it was apparently worth it. By going outside the company for such a key position, he is sending the message he was hired to send: that a new day is dawning at the beleaguered studio, which in recent years has weathered numerous box-office flops and persistent management upheaval.

Neither Grey nor DeLine would comment for this article. Paramount spokeswoman Nancy Kirkpatrick would say only, “We don’t comment on employee contract negotiations.”

In replacing DeLine, a seasoned film executive, with Berman, who has no movie experience, Grey is taking a risk. Like her, Grey knows much more about TV than movie production, having worked on such popular shows as “The Sopranos” and “Just Shoot Me.”

But Grey, a former talent manager, is in sync with his boss, Viacom co-President Tom Freston, who has been outspoken about his desire to make Paramount movies more relevant to younger viewers than they were under longtime studio chief Sherry Lansing. Berman, 47, does bring an edgy sensibility to the job, having overseen such pop culture favorites as Fox’s “American Idol,” “The O.C.” and “24.”

Lansing, who late last year announced she would retire from show business when her contract expired in 2006, had been grooming DeLine as her successor. But that plan was nixed in January when Freston tapped Grey to run the studio.

The hiring of Grey took Lansing and others at Paramount by surprise. But it was the naming of Berman this week that made many Paramount executives and producers anxious, not only about the direction of the studio but also about their own jobs.

“It has become a culture of fear,” said one studio veteran.

No one knows yet when Berman will report for duty at Paramount. Most likely, it will be after pilot season gets underway in May, sources said.

In the interim, DeLine’s possible departure could endanger some high-profile projects at Paramount. Last week, he was in London to urge the director and producers of the studio’s superhero action thriller “The Watchmen” to cut back the film’s $100-million-plus budget so it could get the greenlight for production, sources said. As those negotiations continue, it is unclear now which Paramount executive will be doing the talking.