Dave Targan, who had been recently fired co-chairman David Linde’s assistant and then was promoted to junior creative exec, has been let go in what Universal Pictures is calling “more cost-cutting” moves.
Uni Equates Personnel With Paper Clips
By NIKKI FINKE | Friday October 16, 2009 @ 6:37am PDTTags: Studios
This article was printed from http://www.deadline.com/2009/10/universal-equates-personnel-with-paper-clips/
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A single junior CE getting laid off warrants a Nikki Finke post? Wow. Slow news day?
Among Linde’s overstuffed assistant staff, Targan’s duties consisted of pacing the floor while talking loudly on his headset, regaling visitors and callers with a detailed history of himself, and generally setting the hoops the interns had to jump through on fire. I’ve never seen another assistant with the temerity to invite create execs visiting his boss to his backyard barbecue.
His promotion was the equivalent of buying the boss’s lap dog a fancy new bed. Now that the master is gone, his lap dog’s going to the pound.
Sounds like jealousy that you’re still rolling calls douche.
Cost cutting, eh Universal? Have fun taking that $80k off your books while you make more $75M comedies that flop. So you fire the one guy with any comedic sensibilities at the CE level. Real vision there Donna and Adam. Oh and I’m sure everything will be cool now because you two had nothing to do with that epic string of flops and even worse marketing campaigns to support them. That one sheet for ‘Funny People’ just screamed comedy. Ok Sandler just stand there. Good now Leslie and Seth, just put your head on his shoulders. Gimmie some half smiles. Now everyone say ‘cancer!’ Perfect.
Good luck to one of the decent people in town. Any company would be lucky to have him.
Dave is a good guy. Feels like a regime change layoff.
Dave is a great guy and a great exec. He goes out of his way to help people in the industry. He is extremely loyal and it is a shame that he was let go. Who ever picks him up will be better off for it.
yes it does, just goes to show you how bullshit this business is.
Dave is awesome. It’s lame he becomes collateral damage.
Dave is one of the few genuinely good guys I’ve met in the business. Hopefully he’ll launch his own prodco.
His own production company? Producing what…coffee?
And speaking as someone who has been to one of his “backyard barbecues”, it’s not an empty invitation — Dave has a serious gift with BBQ.
Seems like a cheap shot at Linde to me.
Here’s to temerity, they need more of it in England where the lesser classes know their places.
I met Dave a few times – he has tremendous promise and I wish him the best.