Word: freston
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...Then Freston's people paid a hefty $9 million, plus an extra $7 million for a two-picture production deal, for MTV Films to purchase the rights to Hustle & Flow, the inspiring tale of a Memphis street dude with rap-star dreams (think Rocky, except that he's a pimp). Industry savants saw that buy as a clue to the new direction. Freston was the face of triumphant youth culture--the kid whose stuffy parents have handed him not just the keys to the car but their credit cards and the deed to their home...
...object of this attention smiles at all the inferences--not least because, at 59, Freston is old enough to be the granddad of his target ticket buyer. He was in Park City, Utah, he says, at the invitation of Robert Redford, whose Sundance Channel is owned by Viacom. When at a film festival, see a film. Hence his presence at Hustle & Flow. "I couldn't believe the articles--'God, he stood up when the movie was finished!' There were 1,000 people standing up in the room. I was one of the last guys to stand," Freston says...
...Redstone and Viacom's stockholders won't be laughing if Freston and Brad Grey--the former agent (for Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, among others) and packager (The Sopranos) who was recently chosen to run Paramount--don't rejuvenate the moribund movie division. Sherry Lansing, Grey's predecessor, had a nice run of Oscar-winning blockbusters: Forrest Gump, Braveheart and a sea story called Titanic. But the past few years have been strewn with pricey duds, mostly aimed at adults. In a business where about 40% of the audience is under 25, you don't make movies for your friends...
...Freston has been shaping kids' tastes for a quarter-century. In 1980, this former clothing entrepreneur with an M.B.A. from New York University read about the start-up MTV network (then co-owned by Warner Communications, which was later acquired by Time Inc., this magazine's publisher), applied for a job and became one of the founding executives. He oversaw properties like VH1 and Nick at Nite and, friends say, has remained true to MTV values, both personally, as a U2 fan, and as a businessman, believing that interesting content can make money. "Audiences want variety--in their television...
...Freston's idea is to ride the Zeitgeist, keep his stable of semi-indie divisions productive and use the allure of his hip brands to attract fresh, young (and, pssst, cheap) talent. "I want us to be a place where you build relationships with up-and-coming people," he says, "give them a comfortable home so they can be in your solar system." And then, the dream goes, Paramount can roll out the occasional megamovie, like this summer's War of the Worlds, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise (who also has a production deal with Paramount...