Barry Josephson

Appointed in 1991 as senior vice president of production for Columbia Pictures, Josephson brought with him experience in the entertainment world ranging from client management to film, TV and music production. His tenure at Landers/Roberts Productions included work on the popular sequel, "Death Wish II" (1981), and his duties at Lorimar included overseeing the music division's involvement in all feature films and television programming. Josephson later worked for Gallin/Morey & Associates, managing the careers of such performers as Paula Abdul, Patti Labelle, Morris Day, and Whoopi Goldberg (including production work on her Grammy-winning album "Direct from Broadway").

During this time, Josephson also helped found Sandollar Films, whose product has included several of Dolly Parton's made-for-TV movies and specials; "Tidy Endings," an HBO adaptation of Harvey Fierstein's play, "Safe Sex"; and such feature films as "Gross Anatomy" and "True Identity" (both 1989). Before moving to Columbia, Josephson worked with Joel Silver of Silver Pictures on "Die Hard 2" and "Predator 2" (both 1990), earned executive producer credit on both "Ricochet" and "The Last Boy Scout" (both 1991), and oversaw production of 14 episodes of the HBO series, "Tales from the Crypt."

In 1997, Josephson announced his resignation from Columbia Pictures. He had entered into a partnership with director Barry Sonnenfeld and they signed a three-year production deal with The Walt Disney Company.