Spielberg, India Firm Near Deal to Ally With DreamWorks

[Boyd Ostroff]

From the Wall Street Journal: http://interactive.wsj.com/article/S...=fpa_whatsnews

The film industry has been closely monitoring the fate of the 61-year-old Mr. Spielberg and partner David Geffen, co-founders of DreamWorks SKG. DreamWorks was sold to Viacom in 2006 after a decade-plus run as a private company. But a tense relationship soon developed between DreamWorks and Paramount, and last year DreamWorks began to signal publicly that they might leave the studio in 2008, when the contracts of Messrs. Spielberg and Geffen allow it. Another provision of their complex arrangement will likely allow them to keep using the DreamWorks SKG name, though Viacom would retain rights to the films they created during their short time at Paramount.

The fractured relations reached a boiling point last fall when, threatened by rumors that Mr. Spielberg might bolt, Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said that any such departure would be "completely immaterial" to the company's financial future. Mr. Dauman and executives at Paramount have since then scrambled to repair relations with Messrs. Spielberg and Geffen, to no avail.

[Mike Teutsch]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

From the Wall Street Journal: http://interactive.wsj.com/article/S...=fpa_whatsnews

Mr. Spielberg might bolt, Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said that any such departure would be "completely immaterial" to the company's financial future.

Hum! Seems somewhat short sighted to me!

Mike