YouTube Hires Paramount EVP/GM

Less than a month ago, a rumor indicated that YouTube would begin paying celebrities big money in order to create custom content.  Now, a piece of the organization’s Hollywood-related plans seems to be falling into place, as YouTube’s hired a key Paramount Pictures exec.

At Paramount, Alex Carloss held the title “EVP & GM, WW Distribution.”  At YouTube, he’ll be a member of the content acquisition team, according to Peter Kafka, who broke the story.

Carloss’s impressive employment history should come in handy there.  Over the years, he’s worked at Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, Electronic Arts, Real Networks, and Metro Goldwyn Mayer, presumably making contacts all the way.

That could provide YouTube with a good “in” or two with respect to making deals.

Of course, at the same time, people at Google and YouTube probably appreciate the fact that this move will annoy Viacom, which owns Paramount.

Anyway, Kafka wrote, “[Carloss will] work with Robert Kyncl, the Netflix veteran Google hired last year to figure out its strategy for working with Hollywood and other professional content-makers, which have yet to give the giant site all the video it wants.”