UPDATED
Pam Levine, the longtime co-president of marketing at Fox Filmed Entertainment, will be stepping down, according to the studio.
Her co-president, Tony Sella, will be taking over her duties until a replacement can be found. Levine, who came from the world of market research, was considered an anchoring force for Sella's creative acumen, and the two worked successfully as a pair for the better part of a decade.
But Levine, a 16-year studio veteran, moved to New York four years ago for personal reasons. The studio allowed the unusual bicoastal marketing arrangement to continue untill now, when Levine apparently elected to move on.
"Pam is an exceptional and rare talent, one of the very best our business has ever seen," said Fox co-chairman Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos, in a joint statement. "For some time, she and we have discussed the need to centralize all marketing functions in L.A., and the conflict that presents with the life she loves in New York. We are disappointed but respectful of her decision to continue her career in New York. We will miss her acumen, insight, creativity and passion, but know that only great things lay ahead for her."
According to an executive close to the studio, not having Levine's real-world research and media-buying skills on the Century City lot to compliment Sella's creative acumen has been a detriment to Fox, which will now search for a Los Angeles-based replacement.
Levine joined Fox in 1995 as VP of market research, departing tracking and consulting firm MarketCast, wheree she wsa VP of entertainment marketing.
She was appointed co-president of Fox's marketing division alongside Sella in 2002.
