EXCLUSIVE: After nearly 16 years on the Culver City, CA lot, Steve Bersch, President of Screen Gems, is departing Sony when his contract ends on Dec.
1. We understand it’s a very amicable exit, and that the executive, who is going out on a high note with the highest grossing horror movie of the year, Insidious: The Red Door ($188.5M), is eyeing other pursuits after a long career in the motion picture business.
As Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group CEO and Chairman Tom Rothman says in his note to staff below, he tried to convince Bersch to stay.
Deadline also understands that Scott Strauss, EVP of Production for Screen Gems, will also be exiting when Bersch departs. That box office result for Insidious: Red Door also repped the record for the $730M grossing franchise, one which Bersch has been with since Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group bought North American rights to the first Insidious (which was made for a reported $900K) at 2010’s TIFF Midnight Madness as Deadline first reported.
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