48. Amy Baer

Mere weeks after Baer was handpicked by Leslie Moonves to run CBS' fledgling film division, the former Sony production exec was sidelined by the writers strike, and "I sat here for four months unable to hire one writer," she recalls. But the former CAA assistant (who nearly got fired for not scoring Michael Jackson concert tickets for a client) refused to concede defeat, using the downtime to acquire rights to properties like Vince Flynn's spy novels, and to build her staff. "We went from zero to over 20 projects in eight months and actually have three scripts that we're really excited about as movies," she says, referring to the romantic comedy "Plan B," the Harrison Ford starrer "Crowley," and "Beastly," all three of which will begin production in 2009. "I'm proud of that," she says, "because it's really hard to start from scratch."