Sony formalizes Family Entertainment Group

Sony Pictures Entertainment
has formalized the name of its newest business unit, Sony Pictures Family
Entertainment Group (SPFE), and appointed Gary Hirsch as senior vice
president and general manager of the division. Reporting to Sander
Schwartz, president of the relatively new division, Hirsch will oversee new
business development opportunities for the division and its day-to-day
operations, including business affairs, human resources, studio operations,
production and marketing. Hirsch comes to Sony's SPFE from Columbia
Pictures, where he served as senior vice president of business affairs
since 1992. He joined TriStar Pictures in 1987 as director of business
affairs and was promoted to vice president of business affairs two years
later. Sony Pictures Entertainment's Family Entertainment Group, which was
established last February, produces animation and live-action properties
for television and theatrical release around the world. The division
currently produces GODZILLA: THE SERIES, MEN IN BLACK: THE SERIES, JUMANJI
and EXTREME GHOSTBUSTERS. For fall 1999, the division's television
programming slate includes three new series. BIG GUY AND RUSTY THE BOY
ROBOT, premiering on Fox Kids Network, is a 26-episode animated action
series based on the Dark Horse comic book by Frank Miller and Geoff Darrow.
ROUGHNECKS: STARSHIP TROOPERS CHRONICLES, premiering on Bohbot Kids
Network, is a 40-episode, 3-D CGI animated action series based on Robert
Heinlein's novel of the same name. DRAGON TALES, a 40-episode, animated
preschool fantasy adventure series co-produced with Children's Television
Workshop, will premiere on Monday, September 6, as part of PBS' Ready to
Learn block.