Hollywood's other Hoffman.

Hollywood's other Hoffman Peter Hoffman's business savvy has helped Carolco Pictures grow from a small-time purveyor of forgettable films to one of Hollywood's most profitable studios. But he says he keeps his fingers out of the creative pie

The schmooze is oozing this morning at The Polo Lounge. And sitting comfortably amid the flesh-pressing and teeth-flashing is Peter M. Hoffman.

The 39-year-old president and chief executive of Carolco Pictures Inc. has every reason to be comfortable.

He's just negotiated a lucrative new employment contract with Carolco, and last week he reached an agreement to buy bankrupt De Laurentiis Entertainment Group Inc.

Since joining Carolco in January 1986, Hoffman has successfully transformed the company from a small, independent producer of "Rambo" films into a $165 million (1988 revenues) diversified entertainment company.

Its $35.5 million in profits last year were more than Columbia Pictures and MGM/UA Communications Co., making it Hollywood's sixth most profitable public company. Carolco's stock was one of the top gainers on the New York Stock Exchange last week, jumping 8.5 percent to $9.625 a share in one day.

Hoffman has accomplished most of the growth and diversification at Carolco through acquisitions, including: * A 56 percent stake in LIVE Entertainment Inc., a videocassette distribution company. * The outright purchase of Orbis Communications Inc., a syndicator and distributor of TV programming. * The outright purchase of The IndieProd Co., independent producer of such recent hits as "Footloose," "Roxanne" and "Punchline." * Buying the TV syndication rights to the 40-film library of Hemdale Communications Inc., which contains "Platoon," "The Last Emperor," "Kiss Of The Spider Woman," and several other major hits.

Hoffman isn't through yet. Carolco announced last week that it has agreed to buy 49 percent of Beverly Hills-based De Laurentiis Entertainment Group.

"Hoffman's savvy really comes across when you look at this deal," says Jeffrey Logsdon, an entertainment analyst at Crowell, Weedon & Co. "He's managed to get a company with $15 million to $20 million in assets, after DEG's creditors are all paid off, and he only had to come across with a $6 million letter of credit to get it."

DEG's assets include $28.5 million in high-quality receivables, a 32-acre film studio in North Carolina, a library of 140 Italian-language films and net loss carry-forwards worth about $18 million, Logsdon says.

"I do the acquisitions and deals, buying companies and negotiating film deals, acquiring financing for various projects," says Hoffman, occasionally nodding or waving to fellow Polo Lounge denizens. "The boys make all the creative decisions."

"The boys" are Carolco founders and co-chairmen, Andrew Vajna and Mario Kassar, with whom Hoffman has apparently had a somewhat tumultuous relationship.

"It's ebb and flow at Carolco -- sometimes Andy and Mario love Peter and sometimes they're at war," said a long-time associate of Hoffman who wished to remain anonymous.

(Hollywood insiders rarely, if ever, criticize each other. Relationships remain, as always, crucial to show biz success.)

Hoffman's "wars" with Vajna and Kassar have been caused by his "encroaching on creative areas," says the source. "Like, (Hoffman) will want a certain motion picture made or a certain filmmaker used, and (Vajna and Kassar) will tell him to bug off."

Such a rift was apparently behind the co-chairmen's decision to "end run around Peter" on a major pay TV deal with Showtime last May.

"Peter would have gladly done it," the source said, "but (Vajna and Kassar) didn't let him. They were fighting with him over some issue at the time, and decided to hire an outside attorney instead."

Vajna and Kassar had not returned phone calls by press time.

Hoffman, however, denies sticking his fingers into Carolco's creative pie. And he even cites his ability to define his limits as a major strength.

"Lawyers are often megalomaniacal," he says. "But I was hired for my financial, administrative and legal skills -- not my creative instincts."

While Hoffman's creative instincts may be arguable, his deal-making skills are not.

"Peter is one of the five or six most intelligent people in motion pictures today," says Peter Dekom, a 10-year associate of Hoffman and nameplate partner in the West Hollywood law firm Bloom, Dekom and Hergott.

"He's a combination of owl and Tasmanian devil," Dekom says. "He's very wise, and attacks his problems with incredible speed and ferocity. And he's surrounded himself with a tremendous support staff, which makes him look even better."

One problem Hoffman successfully attacked was the March 31 expiration of his three-year, $750,000-a-year employment contract with Carolco.

As of press time, final details of his new contract were still being ironed out. However, it includes a three-year term, a higher guaranteed annual salary and an outright stock grant worth about $5 million -- 250,000 shares of Carolco, which was trading at about $9.625 a share last week, and 100,000 shares of LIVE Entertainment, which was trading at around $27.50 a share last week.

Hoffman says he received other offers but decided to stay with Carolco because "I have a big personal stake in the people and businesses here; I view myself as the architect of what we have today."

How has Hoffman become a successful architect where other attorneys -- most notably New World Entertainment's co-chairmen Lawrence Kuppin and Harry Evans Sloan -- have failed?

Some industry sources point to Hoffman's early background at Irell & Manella, where he represented several creative-oriented showbiz clients.

While working at that large Century City law firm, Hoffman became acquainted with Thomas Pollack, chairman of Universal Pictures. And Pollack, in turn, introduced Hoffman to more Hollywood insiders.

From there, Hoffman further strengthened his showbiz contacts by forming a Century City law firm of his own: Gibson Hoffman and Pancione.

Hoffman seems to prefer dealing with fellow lawyers and bankers to dealing with creative types.

"All these artists are difficult," he says from his small but strategically located table at The Polo Lounge. "They all want to do things their own way."

Regarding Carolco's biggest cash cow, Sylvester Stallone, Hoffman says dispassionately, "The guy is talented. We've made a lot of money with him."

About 16 percent of Carolco's 1988 revenue came from Stallone's three "Rambo" movies; whereas 99 percent of the company's revenue came from "Rambo" in 1985.

Hoffman is an avid movie fan, seeing at least two movies every weekend.

"I see virtually every major film released," says Hoffman, dressed in a loose-fitting Italian suit (sans tie). "I always go to big-screen theaters. They're much better than a private screening room. You can gauge the audience's reaction -- see what's going on."

But music remains Hoffman's first love; it always has been.

"Ironically, movies were irrelevant when I was growing up," he says. "Rock and roll was king in those days."

His favorite recording artists include "Fine Young Cannibals," "Bruce Springsteen" and "Roachford."

"I like anything that's energetic and progressive, but not head-banging music," he says.

How does a music-loving child of the '60s justify working for a company best known for its war movies?

"The media have developed that image; Rambo movies do not identify with any political party or country," says Hoffman, an ardent Democrat. "Rambo has been successful because he is an underdog; a guy who stands for things that people believe in -- personal loyalty, integrity, courage, and the alienation of a large group of the American culture (Vietnam veterans). If Rambo films are guilty of anything, they're guilty of providing the audience with too much narcissistic fulfillment."

While Hoffman downplays his creative instincts, he is as passionate about his work as any writer, artist or composer, insiders say.

"Peter is so bright and passionate that he sometimes gets out on a limb where he shouldn't be," says a former associate. "Eighty percent of what he says is accurate and the other 20 percent [isn't]. But he believes it, and everyone else gets carried along by the momentum of his conviction."

This combination of passion and intellect also make Hoffman susceptible to the type of temper outbursts made infamous by Dawn Steel, the acerbic head of Columbia Pictures, and Barry Diller, the gruff chairman of 20th Century Fox.

"I often engage in those kinds of dramas to make a point," concedes Hoffman. It's the "flip side" of the act that goes on at The Polo Lounge and other showbiz watering holes, where charm and charisma are thicker than any steak.

After breakfasting at The Polo Lounge, Hoffman jumps into his slate gray Porsche 944 Turbo and motors two miles to his seventh-floor office on the Sunset Strip.

(He usually prefers his Porsche unless traveling with Vajna or Kassar, who always travel by limo, or unless he has planned discussions during the drive.)

Once at his office, which is immaculately tidy and trendily furnished with Southwest "hacienda haute" designs, Hoffman gets right to work.

He usually remains in Carolco's "inner sanctum" -- conducting informal meetings with Vajna, Kassar and other Carolco execs, or having phone conversations about prospective deals -- until about 1 p.m.

He then strolls a few doors down the street to lunch at Le Dome Restaurant, where the Hollywood movers and shakers once again don their deal-making smiles.

While Hoffman reserves his breakfast meetings for catching up on old friendships and meeting new friends, his lunches are much more business-oriented, he says. Bankers and movie producers are the usual companions.

After lunch, he usually returns to his office for more deal making, which continues well into the evening. The weary dealster then snakes his Porsche up Benedict Canyon, and home.

PHOTO : Hoffman: Music remains his first love SNAPSHOT Peter M. Hoffman Native of: Washington, D.C. Age:39 Current residence: Benedict Canyon Spouse: Susan College: Drew University, New Jersey, B.A.; Yale Law School, J.D. Other activities: Co-founder, Mental Health Advocacy Project; Member, Committee to Elect John Van de Kamp for Governor; Advocate and Contributor, UCLA Film Archives.