INDEPENDENT STUDIO LEAVING VALLEY.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

Live Entertainment, one of the few independent studio operations remaining, announced Friday it will leave the San Fernando Valley next month for state-of-the-art facilities in Santa Monica.

The 11-year-old company, which scored its biggest hit early on with the 1987 release of ``Dirty Dancing,'' also announced it has changed its name to Artisan Entertainment and received an investment from prominent Wall Street investment bank Allen & Co.

``The word `artisan' means `a person skilled in an applied art, a craftsman; dedication to one's work,' and after months of restructuring and careful planning, we thought this moniker best represented our company and the team we've brought together,'' said Bill Block, president.

Mark Curcio, chief executive officer, said the steps are part of a strategy to turn Artisan into the ``pre-eminent'' independent studio.

The move, which will transfer most of Live's 170 employees from its headquarters on Sherman Way, had been widely expected since last summer when Boston-based Bain Capital took Live private in a $150 million buyout. At that point, executives announced they planned to rename Live and move it from the Valley to the Westside in order to be closer to the rest of the industry.

The move is set for May 4. Artisan's new facilities will be located at 2700 Colorado Blvd. and house motion-picture production, theatrical marketing, distribution, international sales, home video, television, business affairs, human resources, operations and executive offices. Artisan said a state-of-the-art 60-seat screening room is being built in the lobby.

Until this week's announcement, the company had been operated in a low-key manner as it followed through with a strategy to expand from its core business of home-video distribution into full-fledged theatrical distribution. Since the buyout, Live has struck an output deal with New York-based Shooting Gallery for up to six movies a year and made several acquisitions, including two features - ``Open Your Eyes'' and ``Pi'' - and video distributors Cabin Fever and Hallmark Home Entertainment.

Under Bain's ownership, Live generated reasonably strong performance from ``Wes Craven Presents Wishmaster'' with $16 million in domestic gross, respectable results from ``Caught Up'' with $6 million and a flameout from the slapstick comedy ``Critical Care.'' It recently opened ``Niagara Niagara,'' an offbeat romance, in limited release and will debut ``The Suicide Kings'' later this month.

Artisan and Trimark remain the two independents unaffiliated with a major entertainment giant. Studios have snapped up most major independents in recent years such as the Walt Disney Co. buying Miramax and Universal buying October Films.

As for Live, it is likely to be best remembered for having been headed by Jose Menendez, gunned down in 1989 with his wife, Kitty, by their two sons, Lyle and Erik. Subsequently, the company was hurt by an ill-timed expansion into music retailing and the massive problems that eventually sunk its free-spending partner and co-owner, Carolco Pictures.

Live survived a bankruptcy in 1992, a series of restructurings and hundreds of millions of dollars of red ink. It will release about a dozen more films this year, including screenwriter Jerry Stahl's autobiography ``Permanent Midnight,'' starring Ben Stiller.

Artisan, which also has offices in New York and Dallas, also controls a library of more than 2,600 titles including ``Terminator 2: Judgment Day,'' ``Reservoir Dogs,'' ``Dirty Dancing,'' ``Total Recall,'' ``The Piano'' and the ``Rambo'' films.