Ben Silverman will be leaving his job as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Movie Studios to head a new venture with Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp focusing on producing and distributing multimedia content.
NBC named Jeff Gaspin, president and chief operating officer of the company’s cable entertainment group, to replace him. Gaspin also will keep his current duties as the new chairman of NBC Universal’s television entertainment unit.
IAC said Monday it is forming a new production company led by Silverman that will look to bring advertisers into further into the development process on new media products.
In an interview, Silverman said the company will develop content and marketing across every medium, “from Twitter to television.” He said the idea is to break out of the old media paradigm that centered on the 30-second TV spot.
“Attention is the toughest commodity to harness,” he said. “To get people’s attention you have to disrupt, you have to make things part of the culture, not just part of the marketing.”
IAC hopes to take advantage of Silverman’s broad media experience in the new venture.
He helped produce the “The Office” and the reality series “The Biggest Loser.” Before joining NBC, he had launched his own independent production company, Reveille.
In a statement, Diller, IAC’s chairman and chief executive, called the new company, “a next generation enterprise that bridges the gap between traditional television and the Internet.”
IAC said it will provide an undisclosed amount of initial capital but hopes to spin the venture off into a separate entity. The company launches formally in September.
IAC said Silverman, who started as co-chairman of NBC in June 2007, will continue to have a relationship with the network through its new company. He plans to stay on for the next few weeks to help with the transition.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More