Studio executives aren't exactly household names outside of the film industry, but on occasion some do become widely known for various reasons.
One this year was Nina Jacobson. In her time as president of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group from 1998 to 2006, she expanded that studios live-action slate into a formidable powerhouse.
The result was such franchise success as the "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Princess Diaries" films as well as one-off success stories like "Freaky Friday", "The Sixth Sense", "The Prestige", "Remember the Titans", "The Royal Tenenbaums", "Under the Tuscan Sun", "Miracle", "Step Up" and "Invincible".
Despite her great success for the company, she was fired earlier this year as part of a studio restructuring and replaced by Oren Aviv.
The sacking made headlines as the news was delivered to her by studio chief Rick Cook over the phone in mid-July in a hospital delivery room where she and her partner had just given birth to their third child.
Drawing the most ink however was the reason behind the sacking. The move came just a few weeks after the release of a controversial biographical book by "Sixth Sense" and "Signs" director M. Night Shyamalan with whom she had collaborated very successfully in the past.
In the book, Shyamalan claimed that Jacobson amongst others had become overly critical of his script for "Lady in the Water" and left to continue the project over at Warner Bros. Pictures.
Many saw Jacobson's sacking as punishment for losing Shyamalan and the film to a rival. When "Lady in the Water" came out late July and proved a massive failure both critically and financially, Jacobson's comments ended up being proven right.
Now, DreamWorks Studios has signed an overall producing deal with Jacobson and will give the studio a first look at her projects over a three-year term, effective at the beginning of 2007.
The move is a sort of coming home for Jacobson who was a senior film executive at DreamWorks,where her responsibilities ranged from the development of supernatural thriller "What Lies Beneath" to originating the idea of the animated "Antz".
