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<strong>The</strong> Business<br />
Executive Suite<br />
Steve Bersch<br />
<strong>The</strong> veteran film exec sounds off on the<br />
state of indie moviemaking, taking over<br />
Screen Gems and the surprising most<br />
profitable division at Sony By Tatiana Siegel<br />
It’s an impressive stat that<br />
comes with a small asterisk:<br />
Sony Pictures Worldwide<br />
Acquisitions president Steve<br />
Bersch, 61, runs the most profitable<br />
division within the studio.<br />
<strong>The</strong> caveat is that with just 20<br />
employees, SPWA doesn’t carry<br />
the same overhead as, say,<br />
Columbia Pictures, given that it is<br />
not a releasing entity. Still, during<br />
his 10-year stint, SPWA boasts<br />
films such as Arrival, the Insidious<br />
franchise, Spotlight, Whiplash,<br />
Foxcatcher, Don’t Breathe and the<br />
upcoming Tom Hanks-starring<br />
RÉSUMÉ<br />
CURRENT TITLE<br />
President of Screen<br />
Gems and president<br />
of Sony Pictures<br />
Worldwide Acquisitions<br />
PREVIOUS JOB<br />
COO, 20th Century Fox<br />
Home Entertainment<br />
BIG HIT<br />
<strong>The</strong> Insidious<br />
horror franchise’s four<br />
films have grossed<br />
$517 million worldwide<br />
Photographed by Michele Thomas<br />
Greyhound. On Jan. 19, Bersch’s<br />
purview expanded even further<br />
when he took the reins of Screen<br />
Gems following the announcement<br />
that Clint Culpepper was<br />
exiting after a 28-year run at the<br />
genre label.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re was little time to<br />
celebrate considering that Bersch<br />
was busy negotiating a slew of<br />
deals on the ground at Sundance,<br />
where he acquired worldwide<br />
rights to the John Cho internet<br />
thriller Search for $5 million, and<br />
all international rights to Debra<br />
Granik’s drama Leave No Trace and<br />
↑ Bersch, photographed Feb. 1 at his<br />
Culver City office on the Sony lot, says,<br />
“<strong>The</strong> job of acquisitions when you’re<br />
buying at the script stage is twofold: to<br />
predict execution and marketability.”<br />
the Nick Offerman-led Hearts<br />
Beat Loud. <strong>The</strong> company had previously<br />
nabbed a wide swath<br />
of international territories for<br />
Paul Dano’s directorial debut,<br />
Wildlife, which was well reviewed<br />
after its Sundance premiere.<br />
Bersch, a Berkeley grad (“I’m a longsuffering<br />
Cal fan”) and father of<br />
two, talked to THR about his busy<br />
festival, the most profitable SPWA<br />
film and Screen Gems’ future.<br />
GROOMING BY SU HAN AT DEW BEAUTY<br />
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER<br />
38<br />
FEBRUARY 7, 2018
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