Amy Pascal resigns.
The Sony Studio executive, Amy Pascal, whose hacked emails revealed some of Hollywood’s dirtiest and darkest secrets will be moving on.
She will be stepping down as Sony Pictures Entertainment’s co-chair to launch a new production venture in May. Pascal’s new company will focus on movies, theater and television, though further details weren’t announced.
“I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energized to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home,” Pascal, who joined Columbia Pictures in 1988, said in a statement.
If you remember, Pascal was the executive whose emails to mega-producer Scott Rudin criticized stars like Angelina Jolie and Adam Sandler. In December, she apologized, but it seems like this was not enough and she stills needs a change of scenery.
This change won’t require her to move very far though. Her new company will work on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, California. Sony Pictures will also finance her venture in a four-year agreement and retain distribution rights to the films.
“I have always wanted to be a producer,” she said in a statement today. “[Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton] and I have been talking about this transition for quite some time and I am grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to pursue my long-held dream and for providing unparalleled support. As the slate for the next two years has come together, it felt like the right time to transition into this new role. I am so grateful to my team, some of whom I have worked with for the last 20 years and others who have joined more recently. I am leaving the studio in great hands. I am so proud of what we have all done together and I look forward to a whole lot more.”
The major corporate hack was associated with the comedic film The Interview starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. Sony revealed the hack cost $15 million, the same amount it made in its first four days when it had more than 2 million digital rentals and purchases.
Sony Corporation CEO and president Kazuo Hirai said he was “pleased that she will continue to work closely with SPE in her new venture.
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