WOMEN ELITE 2008: PARAMOUNT--Hard work pays for all

Kelley Avery is the only woman to lead a major studio DVD division, but she does not see that as an achievement on its own. Paramount Home Entertainment’s worldwide president believes Hollywood’s female executives can excel by simple hard work, something that people of both genders need to follow for success.

Avery and her large team of female colleagues, also including North American president Meagan Burrows, will likely wind up 2008 positioned as smart executives, period. They are poised to deliver one of Paramount’s best fourth quarters yet, armed with two movies that generated more than $300 million at the box office, Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Paramount has already crowned Sept. 30 release Iron Man the best-selling Blu-ray Disc title of 2008.

“My main goal in the upcoming months is to help the division achieve one of its most successful quarters in its history,” Avery says.

Avery says she has been guided by business role models both male and female.

She does thank Hollywood’s earlier female pioneers for helping to pave her way through the studio system. In fact, former Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Sherry Lansing is considered the first woman to lead a studio’s production division, at 20th Century Fox during the ’80s.

“They have taught me to follow my instincts, not to shy away from the tough decisions,” Avery says, “and that doing the right thing might not always be the most popular choice.”