In her first creative hire since becoming head of MGM's worldwide motion picture group, Mary Parent has brought in New Line Cinema executive Cale Boyter as exec veep of production -- a move which casts a shadow over the future of chief operating officer Rick Sands.
Boyter's hire begins the makeover of MGM under Parent, who has a mandate from chairman-CEO Harry Sloan to build a creative staff that will generate a homegrown slate of feature films. Sloan and Parent are expected to do so without Sands, whose role was usurped by Parent's appointment earlier this month (Daily Variety, March 14).

Neither MGM nor Sands would comment. While there are rumors that Sands is working on his exit, he is still coming to work and has met with Parent in an effort to divide responsibilities. Sands, the former chief operating officer of DreamWorks and Miramax, was brought in by Sloan in 2006 to leverage the MGM library for distribution platforms and to create new content opportunities for the studio.

Full story: variety.com