According the The Hollywood Reporter, out lesbian movie exec Nina Jacobson has landed a production deal at Dreamworks, effective January 1, 2007.
In July, Jacobson was ousted from her job as President of Disney’s Motion Pictures Group. At the time, Disney cited a desire to focus more on “family films” as their reason for firing Jacobson. Ironically, Jacobson was still in the delivery room with her own family (her partner had just given birth to their third child) when she was fired over the telephone by Disney’s studio chief.
Her firing came as a shock to many industry folks, as Jacobson had an incredibly successful tenure at Disney and was responsible for the Pirates of the Caribbean films and The Chronicles of Narnia, and woman/girl-centric hits like Freaky Friday, The Princess Diaries, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Flight Plan.
In addition to her studio work, Jacobson also co-founded Out There, a collection of out gay and lesbian entertainment industry activists, with movie producer Bruce Cohen. In 2005, Forbes.com named Jacobson one of the world’s “100 Most Powerful Women.”
Jacobson’s return is big news in this relentlessly male-dominated (and straight) industry. Keep you fingers crossed for one of the few out lesbians in a position of power in the film industry, and be sure to go see her movies preferably on opening weekend!
