A seasoned movie studios executive, Courtney D. Armstrong is joining Paramount Pictures as president of business affairs and administration.
His duties will include overseeing business and legal affairs for all of the studio’s live action and animation production divisions, Deadline reported. Paramount Pictures is owned by ViacomCBS.
Plus, Armstrong will lead the studio’s business development team. In that role, he will be in charge of analysis and evaluation of all new business opportunities for Paramount and its strategic planning activities.
The move was the most recent shakeup in the studio’s executive suite since Brian Robbins, formerly the head of Nickelodeon at ViacomCBS replaced Jim Gianopulos as chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures in September, TheWrap reported The were other executive departures from the studio as well.
In an internal email from Paramount’s Chief Operating Officer Andrew Gumpert, among his statements on Armstrong included: “He is a proven standout as both a leader and business and legal mind and will be a huge asset and addition to the company.”
Gumpert stated Courtney joins Paramount from Warner Bros., where he was
an executive since 2003. He most recently was executive vice president of worldwide business affairs. During his time at Warner, he was instrumental in a number of critical and commercial successes including Wonder Woman, Dunkirk, The Dark Knight trilogy, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grinewald, The Lego Batman Movie, Justice League, Ready Player One, Ocean’s 8 among many others.Before Warner, Armstrong was an attorney in the Business and Legal Affairs division of the Motion Picture Group at Walt Disney Pictures. Before that, he was a litigation associate on the entertainment litigation team at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walter, LLP.
Prior to joining Warner., Armstrong was an attorney in the Business and Legal Affairs division of the Motion Picture Group at Walt Disney Pictures. Before that, he was a litigation associate on the entertainment litigation team at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walter, LLP.
Gumpert noted Senior Executive Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs Stephen Plum and Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning & Business Development Jay Galston will be leaving the company.