Warner Bros Bosses Michael De Luca & Pamela Abdy Accept PGA Milestone: Execs Who’ll “Go To The Mat For The Story And The Artists They Believe In” Says Ron Howard
deadline.comSeven months after landing the highly coveted top jobs at Warner Bros. Motion Picture studios, Co-Chairpersons Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were bestowed with the PGA Milestone award tonight and paid respect for their mega industry mentors, remembered emotionally their cinematic NYC and New Jersey youths, and gave a huge shoutout to their new boss, Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav. “I see I’ve entered the twilight portion of my career where they start giving you body-of-work awards… sort of like getting that AARP mailer for the first time.
Sorry to have dragged you into this, Pam. Pam is way younger than I am, as you can all see,” De Luca joked soon after taking the stage after Ron Howard’s very warm introduction of the duo. “As studio heads, they quietly revolutionized industry practices,” beamed Howard who regaled how the twosome gave a “brave greenlight” for his Thai cave rescue movie Thirteen Lives at MGM as the industry was coming out of lockdown. “Most ambitious and experienced directors want to work with them,” emphasized Howard, “They’ll go to the mat for the story and the artists they believe in.” A reel showed highlights from both Abdy and DeLuca’s career, read Garden State, Revenant, Freedom Writers for Abdy, and Austin Powers, Dumb and Dumber, and more for De Luca.
Garden State director Zach Braff in the reel shared how Abdy literally jumped in the pool to test the temperature during production, and to make it warmer for the actors, got access to a oil truck that had hot water in it.
David Fincher who made Seven with De Luca at New Line said that the exec “saved my life”. Adam McKay, who made Anchorman with De Luca at Dreamworks exclaimed, “He starts with the love of movies and the business
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