Berman fallout: Bad timing for vacancy
Bad timing for Fox
March 23, 2005
The sudden vacancy at the top of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s entertainment division comes at a precarious time for the network.
The bombshell that Fox entertainment president Gail Berman is poised to move across town to a top creative job at Paramount Pictures leaves Fox without a programming chief less than two months before it is scheduled to present its 2005-06 season primetime schedule to advertisers May 19 in New York.
Berman's pending departure after five years at the programming helm of Fox caught most executives on the 20th Century Fox lot by surprise when word began to circulate Tuesday morning. It was well-known that Berman was coming up on the end of her employment contract with Fox, and during the holiday period late last year there was much speculation as to whether she intended to sign on for another multiyear tour of duty as entertainment president.
But in recent weeks, sources said Berman had begun contract renewal negotiations and had been expected to stay put at the network, at least for another season or two. Sources said Berman informed her boss, News Corp. president Peter Chernin, of her intention to leave late Monday night.
Sources said Berman's talks with Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Brad Grey -- with whom Berman worked on several TV series that Grey's TV company produced for Fox during the past few years before Grey's move to Par in January -- progressed very quickly in the past few weeks and were kept highly confidential among a handful of top Viacom executives.
As of Tuesday evening, Fox network staffers had no official communication from Berman or anyone else at News Corp. on her resignation, sources said. Berman did not return phone calls seeking comment, and reps for Fox and News Corp. declined comment.
"We have to pick pilots. We have a schedule to set," one Fox executive said. "Right now nobody knows who's going to make those decisions."
As industry insiders digested the news of a shake-up involving a major network and major studio, there was no shortage of speculation about possible Berman successors. Sources close to the situation said that the four leading candidates are already in the News Corp. fold: FX Networks president Peter Liguori, 20th Century Fox TV president Dana Walden, Fox Television Studios president Angela Shapiro-Mathes and Berman's No. 2, Fox executive vp Craig Erwich.
Liguori is seen as a rising star at News Corp. on the strength of his success in transforming FX from a sleepy basic cabler dominated by "In Living Color" reruns to a haven for envelope-pushing, critically embraced original series dramas "The Shield," "Nip/Tuck" and "Rescue Me." FX has a new drama series in the works from writer-producers Steven Bochco and Chris Gerolmo, "Over There," set against the backdrop of an Army unit on the ground in Iraq, that is sure to be controversial and is said to have drawn particularly strong praise from Chernin.
Walden is a Fox veteran who has headed the 20th Century Fox Television production unit with fellow president Gary Newman since late 1999. She began her career at Fox as a publicity executive but shifted into development at 20th in the mid-1990s after impressing Chernin with her business acumen and creative flair.
Shapiro-Mathes took the reins of Fox Television Studios, which houses numerous production banners and Fox's international format licensing unit, last year after a long run at ABC and the Walt Disney Co. in various programming posts. Some veteran Fox observers said she would be a long shot for a promotion to network president over Liguori or Walden after such a short tenure on the lot, but others noted that she was courted by Chernin for the Fox TV Studios job.
"Angela came in and they were always grooming her to do more than the Fox TV Studios job," a knowledgeable industry source said. "She's very talented; this is a place-holder job for her. I don't know if anyone thought (an opening) would be this fast."
Erwich is well liked within the network but is considered a dark horse contender because of his limited management experience. Erwich joined the network in 1995 and was most recently promoted to a post overseeing the network's comedy and drama development in June 2003.
The pressure to make a quick decision on a replacement for Berman is heightened by Fox's recent shift to a year-round programming cycle, meaning that in addition to presenting its plans for the second half of the year to advertisers in May, the network is scheduled to launch a miniseason of new and returning series by mid-summer.
Berman joined Fox in mid-2000 as entertainment president. She became the network's top entertainment executive in January 2004 after the departure of Fox Entertainment Television Group chairman Sandy Grushow. During Berman's tenure, Fox has developed such signature series as the Emmy-winning "24," "The O.C.," "Arrested Development" and most recently the medical drama "House." Berman is widely respected in the industry as a hands-on development executive, though she has had a spotty record of developing major commercial successes for Fox.
Berman was recruited to head programming at Fox after she developed its hit domestic comedy "Malcolm in the Middle" during her two-year tenure as the founding president of Regency Television, a joint venture of News Corp. and New Regency Enterprises. Before that, Berman was president of Sandollar Television, where she helped Joss Whedon develop "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" into a TV series for the WB Network.
Andrew Wallenstein and Nellie Andreeva contributed to this report.
The bombshell that Fox entertainment president Gail Berman is poised to move across town to a top creative job at Paramount Pictures leaves Fox without a programming chief less than two months before it is scheduled to present its 2005-06 season primetime schedule to advertisers May 19 in New York.
Berman's pending departure after five years at the programming helm of Fox caught most executives on the 20th Century Fox lot by surprise when word began to circulate Tuesday morning. It was well-known that Berman was coming up on the end of her employment contract with Fox, and during the holiday period late last year there was much speculation as to whether she intended to sign on for another multiyear tour of duty as entertainment president.
But in recent weeks, sources said Berman had begun contract renewal negotiations and had been expected to stay put at the network, at least for another season or two. Sources said Berman informed her boss, News Corp. president Peter Chernin, of her intention to leave late Monday night.
Sources said Berman's talks with Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Brad Grey -- with whom Berman worked on several TV series that Grey's TV company produced for Fox during the past few years before Grey's move to Par in January -- progressed very quickly in the past few weeks and were kept highly confidential among a handful of top Viacom executives.
As of Tuesday evening, Fox network staffers had no official communication from Berman or anyone else at News Corp. on her resignation, sources said. Berman did not return phone calls seeking comment, and reps for Fox and News Corp. declined comment.
"We have to pick pilots. We have a schedule to set," one Fox executive said. "Right now nobody knows who's going to make those decisions."
As industry insiders digested the news of a shake-up involving a major network and major studio, there was no shortage of speculation about possible Berman successors. Sources close to the situation said that the four leading candidates are already in the News Corp. fold: FX Networks president Peter Liguori, 20th Century Fox TV president Dana Walden, Fox Television Studios president Angela Shapiro-Mathes and Berman's No. 2, Fox executive vp Craig Erwich.
Liguori is seen as a rising star at News Corp. on the strength of his success in transforming FX from a sleepy basic cabler dominated by "In Living Color" reruns to a haven for envelope-pushing, critically embraced original series dramas "The Shield," "Nip/Tuck" and "Rescue Me." FX has a new drama series in the works from writer-producers Steven Bochco and Chris Gerolmo, "Over There," set against the backdrop of an Army unit on the ground in Iraq, that is sure to be controversial and is said to have drawn particularly strong praise from Chernin.
Walden is a Fox veteran who has headed the 20th Century Fox Television production unit with fellow president Gary Newman since late 1999. She began her career at Fox as a publicity executive but shifted into development at 20th in the mid-1990s after impressing Chernin with her business acumen and creative flair.
Shapiro-Mathes took the reins of Fox Television Studios, which houses numerous production banners and Fox's international format licensing unit, last year after a long run at ABC and the Walt Disney Co. in various programming posts. Some veteran Fox observers said she would be a long shot for a promotion to network president over Liguori or Walden after such a short tenure on the lot, but others noted that she was courted by Chernin for the Fox TV Studios job.
"Angela came in and they were always grooming her to do more than the Fox TV Studios job," a knowledgeable industry source said. "She's very talented; this is a place-holder job for her. I don't know if anyone thought (an opening) would be this fast."
Erwich is well liked within the network but is considered a dark horse contender because of his limited management experience. Erwich joined the network in 1995 and was most recently promoted to a post overseeing the network's comedy and drama development in June 2003.
The pressure to make a quick decision on a replacement for Berman is heightened by Fox's recent shift to a year-round programming cycle, meaning that in addition to presenting its plans for the second half of the year to advertisers in May, the network is scheduled to launch a miniseason of new and returning series by mid-summer.
Berman joined Fox in mid-2000 as entertainment president. She became the network's top entertainment executive in January 2004 after the departure of Fox Entertainment Television Group chairman Sandy Grushow. During Berman's tenure, Fox has developed such signature series as the Emmy-winning "24," "The O.C.," "Arrested Development" and most recently the medical drama "House." Berman is widely respected in the industry as a hands-on development executive, though she has had a spotty record of developing major commercial successes for Fox.
Berman was recruited to head programming at Fox after she developed its hit domestic comedy "Malcolm in the Middle" during her two-year tenure as the founding president of Regency Television, a joint venture of News Corp. and New Regency Enterprises. Before that, Berman was president of Sandollar Television, where she helped Joss Whedon develop "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" into a TV series for the WB Network.
Andrew Wallenstein and Nellie Andreeva contributed to this report.
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