FALLEN TO - PINK SLIPS RAIN OVER PARAMOUNT

PINK SLIPS RAIN OVER PARAMOUNT

Even as Paramount's top executives were cheering the rise of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen to the top of the box office on Tuesday, other executives at the studio were receiving notices that they were no longer needed at the studio. Some 31 pink slips were delivered to executives and production staff Tuesday. A memo to the staff said that the layoffs were intended to streamline the company's leadership. Among the executives let go was Guy Stodel, head of Paramount Vantage, the specialty film division that co-produced 2007's No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood with Disney's Miramax. But except for No Country, other releases by the unit have failed to score at the box office. Last month, Paramount moved Paramount Vantage's marketing, distribution, and physical production departments into the main studio. The latest personnel cuts also came on the same day that it was reported that Paramount was in discussions with Sony and Fox on possibly combining their home video production and distribution operations.

01/07/2009