missingharvmilk2.jpgRemember when Harvey Weinstein told me, “Now I have to go back to being Harvey” and refocus on the movie biz? That was back in April after Grindhouse bombed. Well, it’s not even his choice anymore. Not only is The Weinstein Co board of directors stepping up its oversight and meeting nearly every month — as it did by teleconference on May 18 during the Cannes film festival — but it’s also searching for a top executive to run day-to-day operations. So says Fortune magazine. Good luck finding, as one board director said, somebody who’s both a top-level CEO and would be compatible with the market and investors and the brothers. Even Bob Weinstein had a heart to heart with Harv who seemed more concentrated on Halston than TWC’s movie slate. Other news from the article (reported before 1408 did well this weekend):

  1. The Weinstein Co’s full eight-member board of directors hadn’t convened in six months before April 10th. How is that oversight?
  2. Goldman Sachs, which raised TWC’s equity in the summer of 2005 , is only doling it out in relatively small chunks.
  3. Harvey blames his brother and Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez for the decision to release Grindhouse as a double feature rather than two separate pics.
  4. A Weinstein Co. executive said the company is estimating that its revenue will be off about 12% at the end of 2007, compared with the original projections. (This would have been worse if TWC’s home distribution arm Genius, which wasn’t included in the original projections, hadn’t boosted sales.)
  5. The next six months are crucial. If the remainder of the company’s 2007 slate of movies does not perform well in theatrical release, the company could be forced back to the debt markets to raise additional capital.
  6. Some investors blame Harvey’s hanging with hedgies and honchos rather than filmmakers for the box-office shortfall.

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.