Brad Grey And Steven Spielberg In Dire Need Of A Good Marriage Counselor
While the tense relationship between Paramount and DreamWorks has recently been compared to that of the Trojans and the treacherous, studio-hijacking Greeks waiting to be wheeled inside the Melrose lot's fortified walls to slit emperor Brad Grey's throat, in carping to the NY Times about Paramount's annoying tendency to take credit for his studio's hard work, director Steven Spielberg offered a different analogy to describe the dynamic:
"I insisted, contractually, on autonomy for DreamWorks if I was going to continue under the Paramount and Viacom funding arrangement. So I take exception when the press is contacted by our friends and partners at Paramount, who refer to every DreamWorks picture as a Paramount picture. It is not the case." [...]
Indeed, Mr. Spielberg likened the relationship with Paramount to a marriage of sorts.
"The best marriage is when the husband and wife are always open to compromise, and the most important thing is dialogue," said Mr. Spielberg, who has himself been married 15 years. "I think this marriage is going to be dependent on a healthy amount of dialogue."
Spielberg's marriage analogy does seem like one that's more hopeful about the future of the partnership; whereas any argument that begins with Grey attempting to get his way by crassly reminding his DreamWorks partners that he's the boss because his studio laid out $1.6 billion to acquire theirs probably ends with him being quickly stabbed to death in the Trojan Horse scenario, in the context of a marriage, it ends with a much less fatal bedroom door-slamming, and a vow not to put out again until Grey apologizes for making them feel like such dirty little whores.
