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December 06, 2008

Cleaning Up Before Par "Toldja"

When Nikki Finke writes about Paramount, I pay attention… since she is getting her spun info from Brad Grey and John Lesher directly. Both men embrace a tradition of releasing bad news or unsettled news to media that will print what they want printed and that continues here.

Nice of them to blame Scott Aversano for being the sucker on the Twilight pass. His next rom-com is set up at Lionsgate. Shamberg/Sher’s closest picture to starting is set up at Grey rival CBS Theatrical Films (meaning that by the time it gets done, it will probably be a Paramount release), which is probably why the Par bosses are throwing this mud at them. And Misher’s deal at Paramount has long been exposed as farce, with three of his four pictures since the deal landing at Universal, the only film attached to Par at all being Peter Berg’s Dune… which is not likely long for that world.

In other words, all three were hamstrung by Par management and are now being positioned as being dumped instead of Par being dumped by them.

As usual, Nikki has no insight into what she is transcribing. I guess that is, when I feel it’s actually worth doing, my job. (Someone needs to report and not just mouth the gossip needing spreding.)

Today, Nikki offers a list of who is left with production deals at Paramount. She lists 13… but the list is actually a lot shorter than it looks by way of contracts.

Nikki fairly pushes aside the all-but-not-real deals for Robert Evans and Christine Peters. But she leaves such non-deals as Gary Sanchez, Ripcord, Dickhouse, Important, and Michaels/Goldwyn on the list, attached to big names, as though they are adding to or intended to add to Paramount’s slate.

Gary Sanchez – Ferrell & McKay’s company – has been signed to the now comatose Paramount Vantage since April 2006 and has produced not a single feature film involving either Ferrell or McKay directly under the deal with a total on none on the way.

Ripcord – Mike White’s company – delivered on flop for Vantage and is now in production on a film – from the Hess Bros of Napoleon Dynamite - for Searchlight.

Dickhouse (Team Jackass), Important (Team South Park), and Michaels/Goldwyn are all television driven deals that do not produce for the studio (the only film from any of these companies was Jackass 2 in 2006).

That leaves six deals that seem real in any way.

Brett Ratner’s company has not delivered anything yet, though Beverly Hills Cop IV is still “in development” with an eye to 2010, perhaps after a film for comatose New Line.

Karey Kirkpatrick’s company is for kid films and has not delivered anything without an additional boatload of producers.

Plan B is not just Brad Pitt’s company, but was Brad Grey’s company. That said, there are no Plan B films with distribution plans at Paramount right now, including the Pitt/Penn film for the great Terrence Malick. So, grain of salt…

Martin Scorsese’s company is making its first film for Paramount now. (The Departed was a Plan B… that was not at Paramount.) He is directing. But he only really produces docs for the studio, which is now esentially out of that business.

And then there were two…

Lorzeno di Bonaventura is on both Transformers 2 and GI Joe for the studio this summer. He is one of two real studio producers.

JJ Abrams is the second “real” producer on the lot for Paramount. Bad Robot is delivering one film a year to the studio. Last year, it was Cloverfield. This year, Star Trek, perhaps the most expensive film ever made by the studio.

Thanks for the impetus, Nikki... took all of an hour to report the actual facts behind the splash headline... and not nearly as inflammatory... darn.

Posted by dpoland at December 6, 2008 01:00 PM

Comments

When are you going to comment on Nick Meyer?

Posted by: T. Holly [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 6, 2008 03:37 PM

What is there to say?

This was written in stone 11 months ago.

Vantage as an ongoing business was a lie from the first time it was expressed.

Are you surprised?

Posted by: David Poland [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 6, 2008 04:17 PM

Nah, he can work on his gardening awhile. Wondering what he can do in the meantime. The rank and file cuts will probably have an oddness to them that may or may not surface.

Posted by: T. Holly [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 6, 2008 04:24 PM

How are you any different than Nikki Finke when it comes to Fox and Vantage? There's no variation on your shtick, and it's not based on reality or facts. "Fox isn't as bad as you think." "Vantage is on the verge of collapse." You've been repeating some variation on those two statements forever, as if you say it enough times it will suddenly become true or be accepted as fact.

Posted by: Rothchild [TypeKey Profile Page] at December 6, 2008 06:57 PM

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