Pascal Named President of Production at Turner

In a long-rumored move, Turner Pictures Worldwide named Amy Pascal president of production Wednesday. Pascal, a former executive vice president of production at Columbia Pictures, is to produce up to eight theatrical features a year under the Turner Pictures banner by 1998.

Media mogul Ted Turner is ramping up production as part of a broad Hollywood expansion. Earlier this year, he purchased two of the industry’s most successful independent companies, New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment, for a combined $750 million.

Scott Sassa, president of Turner Entertainment Group, said the three companies will eventually be making 40 movies a year among them. At that rate, Turner will eclipse some of the major studios. But Sassa says he’s not sure if the company will acquire its own studio facilities.

“Ultimately, we all have leases on current buildings,” he said, “but we would like to see everyone under one roof. I’m not sure if that means a studio. We’ll run the numbers.”

Pascal’s hiring ended a lengthy search for an executive capable of functioning alongside Castle Rock and New Line management. One early candidate, Dawn Steel, declined the job in favor of a production deal at Turner with her husband, Charles Roven, and producer Robert Cavallo.

Pascal, who at Columbia was involved with such movies as “Awakenings” and “Groundhog Day,” said she will make movies in the range of $15 million to $30 million but has no mandate to fill a particular niche. She said Steel and her partners will be Turner’s “main supplier.”

Pascal will assemble a production staff from scratch. She will be on equal footing with Turner Pictures President Dennis Miller. Miller will continue to focus on Turner cable movies, feature animation and the Turner library. Both will report to Sassa.