Sony Pictures Entertainment this morning held its annual all-hands meeting for employees from all divisions. The yearly “State Of the Union” featured appearances by Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse’s Chris Miller, on the heels of him and partner Phil Lord signing a mega deal with Sony Pictures Television, and by Quentin Tarantino, who showed a five-minute clip from his buzzed about upcoming feature for the studio Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.
SPE chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra closed the two-hour event by announcing the naming of one of the main television buildings on the lot in Culver City after Norman Lear.
“Norman and the shows he created defined what great television can be,” Vinciquerra said. “He sits comfortably in the Pantheon of great television legends, and we are honored to have him in the Sony family.”
Lear took the stage to “Movin’ on Up,” the theme song from his hit show The Jeffersons, to a standing ovation.
“When you honor me with this, you honor an awful lot of other people as well,” he said. “People who I have worked with over the years who have a love of life and entertainment.”
Lear has a development deal at Sony Pictures TV which owns his catalog. Their most recent collaboration is the praised One Day at a Time reboot for Netflix, which Lear executive produces. The comedy series is looking for a new home following Netflix’s cancellation after three seasons.
The meeting, held on one of the studio’s sound stages, came days after Sony Pictures last Friday reported a rise in profit for the fiscal year to $489M. It was attended by all company employees in person or via live stream.
In his remarks, Motion Picture Group chairman Tom Rothman reviewed the past year, highlighted by box office hit Venom and Oscar-winning Spider-Verse and discussed the upcoming slate, anchored by Tarantino’s OUATIH.
TV chairman Mike Hopkins addressed TV strategy, including the big recent overall deals with Lord and Miller, who will oversee Spider-Man Universe TV series, and Homeland’s Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. He previewed footage from the upcoming season of The Crown (with new Queen, Olivia Colman) and the new Spectrum series LA’s Finest starring Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union.
Other speakers included Keith Legoy, head of home entertainment and distribution and networks for SPT; and Lauren Glotzer, EVP Television Strategy and Operations.
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