MGM names Spyglass veteran to top film executive post, lays off more staff

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New Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer chief executives Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum have begun putting their own team together while laying off executives and employees from the former regime.

In their first appointment of a senior executive at the restructured studio, Jonathan Glickman was named president of the motion picture group.

The move was widely expected, as Glickman had been Barber and Birnbaum’s top production lieutenant at their former company, Spyglass Entertainment, since 1998. In 2003 he was promoted to president of the company. Before that he worked with Birnbaum at Caravan Productions, rising from an intern in 1993 to president in 1997.

MGM’s former top film executive, Mary Parent, departed in October, before the company’s bankruptcy filing, as it became clear that Barber and Birnbaum would bring in their own team.

Glickman is the son of former Motion Picture Assn. of America Chairman Dan Glickman.

He was a shareholder in Spyglass, which was merged into MGM as part of the company’s bankruptcy process last fall, according to court documents.

The move comes as MGM continues to shed staff under its new leadership. Several dozen executives and employees were laid off in recent days, according to people familiar with the matter. A studio spokeswoman declined to comment.

MGM laid off about 50 people in December. In Bankruptcy Court documents, the company said it intended to shrink from 400 employees to about 320.

-- Ben Fritz