First Movies Founder Leaves Disney

Louise Chater, head of movie market research at Walt Disney Studios, has left the entertainment giant.

According to unsubstantiated claims on Hollywood news site www.thewrap.com , the departure was not a happy one - Chater (pictured) was reportedly dismissed 'in late September under cloudy circumstances that involve an anonymous letter about her sent to the studio'. The letter apparently suggested that her former company had 'benefitted improperly' from her position.

Chater began her MR career in 1996 with teenage pop culture researcher Youth Direct. She founded First Movies International in 2000 and was its CEO before leaving last March to join Disney. Since then, the Studio reportedly moved 'a large portion of its research screenings and material testing' to First Movies, which competed with larger firms such as NRG and Ipsos, and was itself recently acquired by WPP-owned market research and political polling specialist Penn Schoen Berland (PSB).

The anonymous letter, said to have been sent to Disney about the contracts earlier this year and suggesting improper conduct is described as a smear campaign by Chater's representative Michael Plonsker of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P., who confirms that Chater 'never owned any financial interest in First Movies other than stock options, which were never exercised' and have now lapsed.

Disney has not commented, sticking to a longstanding policy on executive departures, but says that no replacement has been named.