Gill exiting WIP post for prod'n deal
Gill exiting WIP
May 3, 2006
Mark Gill has stepped down as president of Warner Independent Pictures, Warner Bros.' Burbank-based specialty film division, which he has headed since it was created in August 2003.
The move was announced Tuesday evening by Warners production president Jeff Robinov, to whom Gill had reported.
Gill, who was in New York on Tuesday, will segue into an exclusive, two-year production deal with the studio, effective Thursday.
The unit's startup had been a shaky one, and word spread within the insular indie community in late 2004 that tensions between Gill and the studio over both the style of his management and the direction of the unit could imperil its existence. But the success of the documentary "March of the Penguins," which Gill acquired at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, silenced some of that talk. The film, which won an Oscar as best documentary, grossed more than $77 million domestically.
However, conflicts apparently continued and resulted in Tuesday's announcement, which came as something of a surprise, at least in terms of its abruptness.
In a statement, Robinov said, "Mark has done a very good job of establishing Warner Independent, and we thank him for his contributions in positioning the company as a leader in this market. He is a talented executive with a passion for making movies, and we are very pleased that he will remain on the Warner Bros. lot as a producer."
He emphasized that Warners remains committed to WIP, and said that future plans for the unit would be announced shortly.
In a statement of his own, Gill said, "I am grateful to (Warner Bros. president) Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov for the opportunity to start and run Warner Independent, and I am thankful to our tiny group of 25 people -- most notably Laura Kim, Steven Friedlander, Paul Federbush, Tracey Bing and Erin O'Neil -- for their brilliant, impossibly hard work and the remarkable results they achieved."
Gill joined WIP from Stratus Film Co., where he developed, packaged and produced several films.
Prior to Stratus, he spent eight years at Miramax Films, where he rose to the position of president of Miramax-L.A.
Before Miramax, Gill worked for six years at Columbia and TriStar Pictures, culminating in a three-year tenure as senior vp marketing.
The move was announced Tuesday evening by Warners production president Jeff Robinov, to whom Gill had reported.
Gill, who was in New York on Tuesday, will segue into an exclusive, two-year production deal with the studio, effective Thursday.
The unit's startup had been a shaky one, and word spread within the insular indie community in late 2004 that tensions between Gill and the studio over both the style of his management and the direction of the unit could imperil its existence. But the success of the documentary "March of the Penguins," which Gill acquired at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, silenced some of that talk. The film, which won an Oscar as best documentary, grossed more than $77 million domestically.
However, conflicts apparently continued and resulted in Tuesday's announcement, which came as something of a surprise, at least in terms of its abruptness.
In a statement, Robinov said, "Mark has done a very good job of establishing Warner Independent, and we thank him for his contributions in positioning the company as a leader in this market. He is a talented executive with a passion for making movies, and we are very pleased that he will remain on the Warner Bros. lot as a producer."
He emphasized that Warners remains committed to WIP, and said that future plans for the unit would be announced shortly.
In a statement of his own, Gill said, "I am grateful to (Warner Bros. president) Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov for the opportunity to start and run Warner Independent, and I am thankful to our tiny group of 25 people -- most notably Laura Kim, Steven Friedlander, Paul Federbush, Tracey Bing and Erin O'Neil -- for their brilliant, impossibly hard work and the remarkable results they achieved."
Gill joined WIP from Stratus Film Co., where he developed, packaged and produced several films.
Prior to Stratus, he spent eight years at Miramax Films, where he rose to the position of president of Miramax-L.A.
Before Miramax, Gill worked for six years at Columbia and TriStar Pictures, culminating in a three-year tenure as senior vp marketing.
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