'Where The Wild Things Are' Runs $32.4M 
Oscar Can't Always Get What He Wants 
NBC Bright Spot Of Lousy GE 3Q Earnings; 4Q … 
Oops! Vivendi May Delay 20% NBCU Sale? 
65 Nations Vie For Foreign Language Oscar 
Elle's Women In Hollywood Power List 
HOW BIG IS BIG? AEG Predicts Michael Jackson … 
Sane Debt-Reduction Move By Redstone; But … 
EXCLUSIVE: Comcast Wants NBCU Deal Done … 
UPDATED: Don't you just love it when, after making $400M in 5 days on a monster hit like Transformers 2, a studio starts firing people? That's the situation at Paramount today as new leader Adam Goodman is wielding the layoff ax. This morning, he gutted New York's literary and development offices. Today he's been meeting with the studio's creative group. Let go are head of Physical Production Georgia Kacandes, SVP of production Ben Cosgrove, EVP of production Dan Levine, SVP of visual effects Kim Locascio, head of casting Gail Levin, Paramount Vantage chief Guy Stodel, NYC literary rep Aimee Shieh, and NYC creative exec Mac Hawkins. This looks like Goodman cleaning house after John Lesher and Brad Weston were ousted: Kacandes, Stodel and Levin were brought in by Lesher, while Cosgrove and Levine were put in place by Weston. Goodman sent this memo around to employees explaining the changes in Paramount's production department:
"As you know, last week we announced that we would be streamlining the leadership of the production organization. As an extension of that process and with the goal of managing the business for the long term, I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the changes we’re making.
Today, we are reducing our production workforce by 31 people across some departments. These cuts represent a mix of job eliminations, layoffs and reorganizations in creative, casting and physical production, as well as the Paramount Vantage label. People whose positions are being impacted are being notified today, and supervisors are working through a transition plan with these employees.
While this reduction is small relative to the full strength of our organization, its size did not make our decisions any easier. The great contributions made by these colleagues will be felt at the studio for years to come. But in order to create an environment that is efficient while at the same time maximizes the considerable talent we are fortunate to have, these moves were essential. In today’s challenging environment, we need to be a nimble organization, with a sharp focus, promoting a culture where our best work can get even better. I believe our new structure will allow us to do exactly that."
Loading ...
I can’t blame Goodman for the layoffs, the man does have a bonus to protect.
This is terrible news. The Paramount NYC book department was the cream of the crop, along with Warner Bros’ of course.
What a mess it is over there! Pardon me while I turn over.
But how is Goodman gonna explain A THOUSAND WORDS? He was the genius that took the director and star of MEET DAVE and brought them together again. He thought it was a good idea. What a piece of work.
Any names?
After the money they made this weekend? Totally disgraceful.
Holy shit. Aimee Shieh and Mac Hawkins were truly the best NY execs out there. They ran the town and were aggressive while being beloved. Truly a loss for the film community in NY and LA.
Variety and HR reporting it’s just the NYC lit office. You sure Vantage got the slip?
Isn’t that nice? And just yesterday everybody thought they were going to have a nice weekend after this email was sent yesterday afternoon.
Sub: Congratulations!
Fr: Gonggryp, Heidi – Paramount HR
This is the time to celebrate! As you know, per Brad Grey’s email we set new records with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This is a great moment in Paramount’s history! To celebrate our achievement we will begin the holiday weekend early by closing the studio at 1:00pm on Thursday, July 2nd.
As mentioned last month in the summer schedule email, you will have Friday and Monday (7/3 and 7/6) off as well, so enjoy the long, long weekend.
Please know that management has the discretion to ask you to work if the business requires it.
Be safe and enjoy the time with your family and friends,
Heidi
Was Caloff let go too? I hope they spared him.
This is the mark of a shrinking industry. Yeah the layoffs stink. But an expanding industry that needs people does not lay-off. Entertainment rests on basically, a few blockbuster films like Transformers that draw in actual males. The strategy of chick flicks, art flicks, SWPL yuppie flics, that make say Leonardo Di Caprio or Steven Spielberg happy but don’t sell many tickets has not worked. Most movies lose money, particularly as the DVD market has collapsed and the recession makes Blu-Ray a decades long thing at best, if we don’t have on-demand internet video first.
There is more to come.
what about eben davidson, is he still treading water?
Spotted: SK with a tearful AC in her arms behind MOB.
Gail was the voice of reason at that place. And will their be replacements for those SVPs? Paramount is fast becoming an overbloated production COMPANY.
adam is a hack weasel – he will destroy that place.
Disgusting. Disgraceful. Outrageous. How does Goodman have this power to fire people? I thought only Grey could be such an arrogant selfish prick. No matter they’ll both be fired very soon.
Aimee’s amazing and is also 5 months pregnant. What a bunch of idiots. She and Mac will land on their feet.
I’m starting to think it’s not a coincidence that EVERYONE who had anything to do with GI JOE is no longer at the studio…
Gail Levin and Barbara McCarthy fired?? WTF! They are amazing at their jobs and look at the talent they have found!!! Paramount’s loss…..what morons!
>Variety and HR reporting it’s just the NYC lit office. You sure Vantage got the slip?
Yup. I was a reader for Vantage and was just notified of the shutdown. They’re a good bunch of people, treated readers well, and I’m really sorry to hear about this.
Gotta love the “transitional plan” part of the memo. Yeah we fired them, but we’re helping with their “transitional” plans! HA!
Mac Hawkins was one of the best book scouts in New York and executive. He knew everything about every project. Paramount is going to miss having such a knowledgeable book person. I think this was not a smart move on their part.
If you are looking someone should snatch Mac up – he was a gem at William Morris and Paramount was lucky to have him.
I bet he gets hired somewhere fast!
Dan Levine is one of the most intelligent execs I had the pleasure of meeting in NYC after my spec sold a few years ago.
It’s sad to know he’s not there anymore as I always had hope he’d be the exec on one of my projects.
I hope he lands somewhere great. He’s a class act.
The same goes for Eben. I don’t know what anyone in internet land has out for Eben, but every time I’ve met with him he’s been a pleasure to deal with. He’s a smart guy with good taste.
I hope he survives this as I like the guy. It’s refreshing to meet someone real like him when you meet so many fakes out in LA.
they don’t come any better than gail levin. truly a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
This wasn’t Adam’s idea.
He doesn’t have any.
Georgia and her team are absolute gems, and this is a such a shame. She is professional, incredibly knowledgeable from all her time on sets, and nice to boot. And, unlike other studio physical production heads, she is ANYTHING but lazy. And she’s a kick-ass chick.
What is Par’s slate for next year? Oh. Right.
If they were dumb enough to give Calof the chop, he will be snatched up right away.
Huge mistake about Georgia Kacandes…….class act, charming, really smart. Paramount was a kinder smarter place with her around.
Paramount doesn’t hire women it only fires them.
This is crazy. Nobody works harder than Gail, Barbara and Andrew! Paramount’s films wouldn’t have been as successful without this incredible team and the talent they discovered. What a stupid move.
at this rate nikki will lose her par informer before g.i. Joe gets out of iraq
Firings couldn’t have happened to a nicer group of people. What goes around, comes around momma always said.
A good blood letting always necessary every few years. A few more studios need some of the Aztec surgery.
I don’t usually post twice but… is this trimming down getting ready for a pending sale of Paramount? After all, the DVD merger, the loss of DreamWorks, the shutting down of the other labels. It’d seem ridiculous to think that Viacom would sell, but still…
Gail Levin is a class act!
Extraordinary. Exceptional. Genuine Gail.
If a clearer call to action is being made, I sure as hell don’t hear it. How many competent executives have to go in this town before we all realize the studios are playing musical chairs, hoping to stave off their inevitable demise for a beat? The old guard is scared to death of the future. And its silencing anyone with a plan… or taste. Yoo-hoo, gatekeepers, you’re nothing more than distribution machines at this point. The minute the creatives figure out a way to get their IP in the hands of niche markets, you’re FUCKED.
I am shocked. Letting go of Gail Levin, Andrew Brown, and Barbara McCarthy is among the most short-sighted moves a Hollywood executive has made in quite a long time. The biggest casting success of the past year was arguably Chris Pine in “Star Trek”….and it was Gail and her crew who found him.
Gail Levin has one of the best eyes in Hollywood and the track record to prove it: Chris Pine in Star Trek, Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Renee Zellwegger in Jerry Maguire, etc. Andrew Brown is constantly at film festivals and showcases finding the next generation of talent. Barbara is a tireless worker who knows every actor in the business…and can assemble a casting list at a moment’s notice.
What a loss.
dan levine=good human being, smart funny and a NY Rangers fan most importantly. sucky that he got the axe. still, he’s three studio jobs to my zero so i suspect he will land on his feet once again. good luck man.
Barbara McCarthy was a great exec, as were the rest of that department….Adam was foolish to let them go
Nikki…for the sake of decent reporting, at least make the effort..or in your post sale world is that an antique, quaint concept.?. You say:
“Don’t you just love it when, after making $400M in 5 days on a monster hit like Transformers 2, a studio starts firing people?”
Paramount didn’t “make” $400 million in 5 days. They produced, advertised and distributed a film that cost north of $200 million to do so, and then they’ll still have to split with and collect from exhibition their share of that box office..
Try reporting realities not SAG-induced hallucinations….
Doubt this was Adam’s call. This was probably a necessary move though. Sure, Transformers raped everything in it’s path but it’s not like any wack ass art house film produced by vantage was going to do much for them.
Singing praises now that they’re gone huh? It’s funny to see others perspective of the situation when they have no idea what went on behind office doors.
Dan Levine broke me into the business a few years ago after the NYC lit department found my stage play. He gave me a career and has been incredible to work with. Past couple years, he’s been my biggest champion. I’m extremely disappointed to hear about him leaving. I hope to work with him again wherever he goes.
How do those guys budget severance? Are there now more employees being paid not to work? Good thing Sumner cannot remember the studio’s address…
Kimberly LoCasio was a class act at Paramount. I cannot imagine how they intend to do films with significant visual effects (and that’s all films) without somebody in charge for the studio.
I guess ass kissing and lack of real filmmaking experience has paid off for some people. Congratulations to those who take over for Georgia. Your work here is done.
Am I the only one who’s noticed Paramount’s inability to keep minority execs? Loretha Jones, Naketha Mattocks, Aimee Shieh (pregnancy makes them especially nervous), Mac Hawkins–all the first to go when someone needs to cover his hide for greenlighting (or not) movies that don’t make money.
Georgia has done an amazing job. The only reason she is out of a job is because she was Lesher’s appointment, and everyone hates Lesher and wants rinse the stink of him off 5555.
Hope she lands somewhere well. She is a gem and is loved by filmmakers and executives alike.
Totally agree with georgia fan…she is great at what she does, and respected internally and by filmmakers
I guess Mrs. Roybal/Ms. Colligan, and her publicity girls, had some awesome disinfectant to wash the Lesher stink off her
Loretha moved over to take over BET. Still within the Viacom family.
But point taken
“I guess Mrs. Roybal/Ms. Colligan, and her publicity girls, had some awesome disinfectant to wash the Lesher stink off her”
Marketing reported to Rob Moore, not Lesher. Plus Megan and her girls are very, very good.
I wasn’t speaking of the reporting structure once Megan and her girls went to Paramount under Rob Moore.
Megan and her girls are very very good, but you’d have to admit that after working at Vantage, extremely closely for two years with Lesher, they would have acquired a stink. Remember Megan practically started the company when Lesher hired her to release “An Inconvenient Truth” when there was not much of a company/marketing team to speak of. There is nobody closer/more associated with Lesher/Vantage than Colligan.
My point isnt that they aren’t great at what they do, but that they must have soaked in tomato juice or been doused with powerful cleaner to wipe off the stench of Lesher. Just playing off what you actually said georgia fan.
Let’s just refer to him as Adam Badman from now on. He was never a good man he’s been a jerk from day one.
Georgia was the best thing to happen to that department in the past ten years. There are so many others at the mount that deserve to be booted off the lot, but not her. I heard that Elizabeth Kirkscey is also gone. How stupid of a company to lose passionate, dedicated workers. I can only hope they both land somewhere phenomenal and then wreak some hellish revenge on their former employers.
why don’t they finally get rid of paramounts marketing department and that man child lunatic Josh Greenstein. He is so micro managing that he can’t let the VP’s under him make one decision on their own.
Transformers would have made 200M had they just put a picture of Michael Bay on the poster with the title treatment. Worst creative department in the business.. by far…
the head of a studio putting out such bad grammar on a company wide email………..uhm says it all
“Let’s just refer to him as Adam Badman from now on.”
You’ve got it. Spielberg and Co. elected to ditch Adam Badman, and now he’s Grey’s #2? Badman > Lesher? LOL
Oh, and to reiterate what Anonymous said, the recent cleaning house probably wasn’t Badman’s idea. He doesn’t have any.