As Harvey and Bob Weinstein finalize their divorce papers from the Walt Disney Co., there's a palpable sense of excitement within the Disney studio. Studio insiders can't wait to get their hands on Miramax Films. "It would be fun to be part of it," one senior executive says.

The Weinsteins so fiercely guarded their autonomy that their mini-major effectively has been off-limits to Disney brass, and in recent years the relationship became contentious. While Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner was looking for low expenditures and high profits, Harvey Weinstein developed a growing taste for such big-budget art films as "Gangs of New York," "Cold Mountain" and "The Aviator." And when the goals of a studio and its indie subsidiary don't mesh, problems follow.

The future of the new Miramax boutique will depend on how clearly the studio defines the boutique's new mandate and how well the parent and child can synch up their mutual goals. When that happens, studio subdivisions are successful. When it doesn't, they flounder.

Fox Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics and Universal's Focus Features are examples of well-functioning studio specialty units. On the other hand, Miramax, Paramount Classics, MGM's United Artists and Warner Independent Pictures have not meshed nearly as well with their studio parents.

Success at a studio mini-major can take time. 20th Century Fox executives Bill Mechanic and Tom Rothman took years to fine-tune Fox Searchlight, which was started in 1994. Five years ago, the job of running the division was given to promising young Fox production executive Peter Rice, and he has made the most of it.

Rice and his two lieutenants, distribution chief Steve Gilula and marketing head Nancy Utley, make greenlight and acquisitions decisions as a team. And Searchlight works hand and glove with its parent studio to take full advantage of its TV and motion-picture distribution clout around the world. "Fox Searchlight has resources and confidence," ICM's Robert Newman says. "And they live and die by their own decisions."

Being able to exploit a studio's global clout is key, says manager Ken Kamins: "Searchlight, Focus and Sony Pictures Classics have the advantage of being able to tap into their studios' international TV output deals."

Those three companies all operate under the benign auspices of their studio chairmen -- Fox's Rothman and Jim Gianopulos, Columbia's Amy Pascal and Universal's Stacey Snider, respectively -- who all are willing to grant their units autonomy. "It starts with the senior management," says Bingham Ray, who has headed several studio subdivisions -- most recently UA, where he clashed with MGM brass. "The chairman at the top must acknowledge that there's a world out there that they can't reach and are incapable of understanding fully. Of course, there have to be checks and balances built in to allow people to succeed."

Troubles come when a studio micromanages an indie unit, Ray believes. "Then you get insider-outsider conflict," he says. "Some studio executives may resent a new outfit. They can feel threatened. You have to be skilled and politically adept at working inside the studio system. In these divisions there is risk, and there's a tendency for the fear of risk to paralyze decision-making. It's a lot easier to say no than yes."

UA, which Ray left last year, faces an uncertain future as it is folded into the Sony corporate universe, which already is loaded with specialty labels: Besides the venerable SPC, which fiercely guards its autonomy in the art-film marketplace, there are Screen Gems and TriStar. Ideally, SPC's co-heads Michael Barker and Tom Bernard would like to be reunited with the UA label, which they once ran.

Meanwhile, at Paramount Classics, prospects are looking more hopeful for co-presidents Ruth Vitale and David Dinerstein, who have had to deal in the past not only with the economic strictures imposed by ex-studio financial czar Jonathan Dolgen but also with supervision from studio vice-chairman Rob Friedman.

Sundance 2005 marked the dawn of a new era for the studio subdivision because Viacom's Tom Freston and new Paramount chairman Brad Grey are clearly invested in reinventing the Classics label with a new name, a bigger budget and closer ties to MTV Films. Its ultimate success still will depend on its ability to work in harmony with the studio.

At the moment, the largest questions surrounding a studio specialty division hover over fledgling Warner Independent Pictures, which has not had an easy first year. WIP president Mark Gill, who came into the job after a decade's experience at Miramax, has weathered constant rumors about his imminent departure.

Warner Bros. Pictures was the last of the majors to launch a specialty division. Company president Alan Horn placed WIP under the supervision of production chief Jeff Robinov, who told The Hollywood Reporter at the time of its creation that WIP "will be a filmmaker-driven division. ... We want Warners to be a place for filmmakers to make their big movies and their lower-budgeted features." In order to make any big-money decision, Gill was required to get a go-ahead from either Horn or Robinov.

As a rookie division head at a huge multinational corporation, Gill has had to navigate a tricky course. He acquired several smart art house movies but has yet to push a breakout hit. He inherited films from big Warners, including "Before Sunset," which did well and earned an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay. But he chose to push the high-end French Warners production "A Very Long Engagement" for major Oscar consideration this year even though it hadn't opened in France in time to be eligible for the best foreign-language Oscar.

Although "Engagement" garnered two technical nods, WIP spent heavily for little return at the boxoffice during a year in which Warners had its own Oscar contenders, including "Million Dollar Baby," to nurture. In retrospect, it might have been wiser to postpone "Engagement" until next year, when it might have earned a foreign-film nom.

Gill also has had to contend with studio powerhouse Section Eight, led by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney, who were disappointed with WIP's release of their film "Criminal." Talk about needing political savvy.

Neither Gill nor Robinov was available for comment. But many industry insiders hope that Warners gives Gill time to reach his stride. "It's internal issues," one observer says. "It's not economics, it's ego. I don't know if they've given him the time or the resources to make a go of it." Although schooled in the rock 'n' roll Miramax environment, Gill might need to get more corporate. "You can't shoot from the hip the way Harvey did," one distribution executive says. "Maybe he'll go back and run Miramax."

But, if WIP is to succeed, Warners also must decide what exactly it wants from the division. "They have to create a path for that division to succeed," an executive says.

Because if there is a lesson to be gleaned from the studio-speciality division combinations, it's that harmony breeds success.

Anne Thompson can be reached at athompson@hollywoodreporter.com