Paramount Hires Lesher

Paramount Pictures said Wednesday that it had named Hollywood agent John Lesher president of the studio’s specialty film division.

As previously reported, the Viacom Inc.-owned studio is hiring Lesher, 39, to turn around the fortunes of its foundering independent movie unit, which has trailed more successful rivals such as News Corp.’s Fox Searchlight and NBC Universal’s Focus Features.

Reporting to Paramount Chairman Brad Grey, Lesher will oversee the development, production and acquisition of movies for the film label, which has been known as Paramount Classics but will be renamed soon. Lesher will have his own marketing and distribution team.

Lesher spent the last three years of his nearly two-decade-long career as an agent and partner at Endeavor, working extensively in the independent film world on behalf of such directors as Fernando Meirelles, Walter Salles, Paul Thomas Anderson and Martin Scorsese.

“I look at this not as a departure for me but as an extension of what I’ve been doing -- finding great talent to work with,” Lesher said.