Since when does scandal stop anyone in Hollywood? It's certainly not stopping HBO's former CEO Chris Albrecht, who was forced to resign from the top spot after he was arrested and charged with assaulting his girlfriend in a Las Vegas hotel parking lot. Oh, and back in 1991 HBO paid $400,000-plus to a woman who worked for Albrecht and accused him of choking her.
But Albrecht was still a hot commodity after leaving HBO thanks to his track record at the cable channel, creating award and ratings-winners: "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City," among others. Now he's reportedly landing at IMG, as head of its global media unit. Albrecht is also reportedly going to start an investment fund with IMG's owner, Theodore Forstmann. They'll finance media and entertainment projects, though Forstmann has owned everything from Dr Pepper, to Gulfstream, to IMG, primarily a talent agency when Albrecht bought it in 2004.
Since then, he's bought two British production companies, one a big supplier to the BBC, the other makes documentaries for Discovery and National Geographic. Now, despite the renown of its clients including Tiger Woods and Maria Sharapova, its global TV business is a revenue driver for the company.
Albrecht brings relationships with talent--the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker eager to work with him again despite his slip-ups. He says he'd like to use his relationships with the creative forces behind series like "Six Feet Under" and "The Wire" to create new series for IMG. He'll develop more scripted series, and will try to use the agencies contacts to create reality shows-- like one tracking IMG athletes training in Florida. If everything goes as planned, within a few years IMG will be a hot acquisition target for one of the media giants, like Time Warner, Albrecht's former employer.
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