Paramount Picks Chief for London Office

Paramount Pictures said it plans to open a European production office in London that will be headed by former Lorimar and MGM/UA executive Ileen M. Maisel.

The move makes Paramount the only major movie studio with a production presence in Europe, a company spokeswoman said. Several major studios are looking at Europe as a growing market for films and television shows that can be produced there at lower cost than in the United States.

Sidney Ganis, president of Paramount’s motion picture group, described it as “urgent” that the studio seek film projects conceived outside Hollywood, “otherwise we’ll be running around in smaller and smaller circles.”

“We want to have a sensibility about the rest of the world,” Ganis said. “This is going to be about doing European films in Europe, versus hiring a British or European director to come to the United States and shoot in Kansas City.”

Paramount anticipates four or five European films a year by the mid-1990s, Ganis said.

Maisel, senior vice president-European production, has headed Brillstein Co.’s motion picture division since January, 1989. Before that, she was senior vice president-worldwide production for two years at Lorimar Pictures. Maisel also has served as vice president-production at Taft-Barrish and MGM/UA.