Hollywood Scuffle

For Jeffrey Katzenberg, quitting Disney opened up a whole new world. Within hours of his Aug. 24 resignation as chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Katzenberg was fielding phone calls from such moguls as William H. Gates III and John C. Malone. Some simply wanted to talk. Others offered to invest in Katzenberg's next venture. First among the callers was Robert A. Iger, who was soon to be named president of Capital/Cities ABC Inc.

Iger's promptness paid off. On Nov. 28, Cap Cities announced it had bagged the "Dream Team." The network will start a television studio in partnership with the new entertainment company owned by Katzenberg and his teammates, David Geffen and Steven Spielberg. The two sides will kick in $100 million each to develop programs for network TV, cable, and syndication. Iger notes that the money is going into the shows themselves, not to build an elaborate studio lot or hire platoons of executives. "We want to build something for today's business environment," he says, "not yesterday's."