After expanding his role to include Nickelodeon Studios back in March, Paramount COO Andrew Gumpert is exiting the Melrose lot, effective this week. The announcement as just made by studio boss Brian Robbins tonight.
We hear that Gumpert’s exit was amicable, with the exec telling staffers in Robbins’ memo (which you can read below): “I’ve been contemplating the next chapter of my career and I’m excited to figure out what’s next. I am confident that this organization will continue to lead the industry.”
In the wake of Gumpert’s departure, Courtney Armstrong, President of Business Affairs and Administration, will assume responsibilities in Strategic Planning and Labor Relations, with Studio Group President Randall Baumberger overseeing Studio Operations. Both will report to Robbins.
While Robbins oversees the Nickelodeon part of the studio, the exit of Gumpert comes at a time when another part of the Melrose lot is going through turmoil with the integration of Showtime into Paramount+ and layoffs looming on that side. In addition there were series cancellations on Showtime including Let the Right One In, American Gigolo and Three Women.
Gumpert joined Paramount as COO in 2017. Robbins praised Gumpert as an exec who “successfully strengthened” the studios’ relationships “across all aspects of our business, overseeing negotiations with our strategic, creative, and financial partners and licensees, and collaborating with our teams to expand and evolve our revenue sources.”
The exec was credited not only for playing “an integral role” in such key franchises as Mission: Impossible, PAW Patrol, Sonic the Hedgehog, Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Top Gun (with 2022’s Maverick) and Transformers, among others but also for proving “an important advocate” of a forward-looking company culture with advances in diversity and inclusion among its mandates.
“The opportunity to lead and work alongside all of my incredible Paramount colleagues has been an exceptional privilege,” Gumpert also said in a message relayed by Robbins. “Together, we have achieved amazing things, and I will always be grateful for your partnership.”
Prior to joining Paramount, Gumpert was President of Worldwide Business Affairs and Operations for the SPE Motion Picture Group, where he oversaw negotiations for the studio’s productions and structured and managed the studio’s financial partnerships with entities including Lonestar Capital, Village Roadshow and MGM. He began his career as business litigator with the law firm of Hill, Wynne, Troop and Meisinger.
Here is Robbins’ full internal memo: