Mini-mogul back in business

He's Henry Winterstern and he resigned last month as CEO of First Look Pictures, an upstart independent. The NYT's Sharon Waxman did a big writeup on Winterstern as kind of a poster boy for hedge fund money that's being spent in the wrong places by the wrong people. Well, he's back - at First Look. The NYT had an unbylined shortie on C4 this morning that follows up on a piece in Variety. Winterstern says he resigned because the First Look board wouldn't finance his purchase of a production company. Since then, Nu Image, another independent, has acquired a controlling interest in First Look, and Winterstern was named co-chairman of the restructured company. Avi Lerner, co-chairman of Nu Image, will be the other co-chairman of First Look (got all that?). Keep in mind that under Winterstern's stewardship, First Look lost big money last year - $50 million according to the NYT (Winterstern says it wasn't that much). This is also the same guy who hired a staff of 140 and moved into plush digs in Century City. There must be a terrific backstory here. From the Variety story:

Under the new arrangement, Lerner and Winterstern will focus on film acquisitions and theatrical releases, and Winterstern will handle financing, mergers and company acquisitions. Nu Image principal Danny Dimbort will handle international sales of the 700-title First Look library and new product; Nu Image principal Trevor Short, who's primarily responsible for legal, financing and administrative operations at Nu Image, will have similar responsibilities at First Look. "Avi, Danny and Trevor are talented, astute businessmen and prolific producers," Winterstern said. "They have had phenomenal success in the international market, and with this partnership, we will repeat that success domestically."