Faded Internet Sector Returns Executives.

HAS the counter-migration of Hollywood executives turned Internet investment gurus begun? Maybe. Lynda Keeler, who handled new media investments in L.A. for Saratoga, N.Y.-based Redleaf Group, has re-joined her previous employer, Sony Corp.

Keeler, who was a managing director of Redleafs L.A. office, was let go along with about half of the VC firm's employees in June. She joined Sony earlier this month. Before Redleaf, Keeler worked at Sony Pictures Entertainment as vice president and general manager of Columbia TriStar Interactive.

In her new position as vice president of interactive services at Sony, Keeler will oversee an alliance between Yahoo Inc. and Sony, which are working together to develop what Keeler said will be a co-branded Web site serving as "a gateway into the world of Sony."

"I was always in some ways an accidental VC," she said. "It was an amazing opportunity to learn about finance and early stage technology companies."

It was also getting tricky, as firms like Redleaf began steering away from consumer-oriented entertainment plays and focusing more complicated and harder-to-find core technologies.

"Ultimately, I realized that I wanted to get back into media and entertainment, but venture funds are not pursuing those," Keeler said. "I remember sitting in meetings about optical networking and I would be lost in a few minutes."

Will other entertainment executives who jumped on the Internet bandwagon follow in her footsteps?

"I think that bright, shiny, anything-is-possible era is over," Keeler said. "A lot of people that came into new media fields that wanted to get rich quick are realizing that it's a lot harder than it looked."