Editing Michael Eisner (section)

==ABC and Paramount==
After two brief stints at [[NBC]] and [[CBS]], [[Barry Diller]] at [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] hired Eisner as assistant to the national programming director. Eisner moved up the ranks, eventually becoming a senior vice president in charge of programming and development. In 1976, Diller, who had by then moved on to become chairman of [[Paramount Pictures]], recruited Eisner from ABC and made him president and COO of the movie studio. During his tenure at Paramount, the studio produced films such as ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'', ''[[Grease (film)|Grease]]'', the ''[[Star Trek]]'' film franchise, ''[[Ordinary People]]'', ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'', ''[[An Officer and a Gentleman]]'', ''[[Flashdance]]'', ''[[Terms of Endearment]]'', ''[[Beverly Hills Cop]]'', and ''[[Footloose (1984 film)|Footloose]]'', and TV shows such as ''[[Happy Days]]'', ''[[Laverne & Shirley]]'', ''[[Cheers]]'' and ''[[Family Ties]]''.<ref name="bio" />

Diller left Paramount on September 30, 1984, and, as his protégé, Eisner expected to assume Diller's position as studio chief. When he was passed over for the job, though, he left to look for work elsewhere and lobbied for the position of CEO of [[the Walt Disney Company]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harmetz |first1=Aljean |title=DISNEY NAMES MOVIE AND TV HEAD |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/01/business/disney-names-movie-and-tv-head.html |access-date=2 November 2023 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1 October 1984}}</ref>