The talks were first reported Friday by the Los Angeles Times.

Speculation has swirled for several weeks that Snider was considering a post at Paramount, but it missed the target. While the most often-heard theory was that Snider was being sought to replace Paramount Pictures president Gail Berman, in fact she was being wooed to oversee DreamWorks? live-action efforts.

""DreamWorks has to come up with some hit movies to make the deal pay off,"" said one executive close to the talks of the rationale behind seeking out an executive of Snider?s stature.

The mother of two children ages 7 and 9, the 44-year-old studio veteran is making up her mind about what she wants to do with the next stage of her life. While Snider?s boss, Universal president Ron Meyer, has said he very much wants to keep Snider at the studio, the question is whether NBC Universal and its parent company, General Electric, are willing to pay a premium to persuade her to continue supervising a slate of some 30 pictures a year.

For his part, DreamWorks chairman David Geffen is still smarting from the perceived withdrawal of NBC Universal?s deal to purchase DreamWorks. Luring away their prized studio chief would be another coup for him.

The job that Geffen is dangling at Snider would have her supervise DreamWorks? production slate of six movies a year, which will be released by Paramount. She would work closely with Steven Spielberg , the most powerful filmmaker in Hollywood, who is at the top of the Hollywood food chain, with access to the best scripts and talent in town.

Snider has worked closely with Spielberg at Universal over the years, and, commented one studio chief of the opportunity, ""She?s young and ambitious and in a great position.""

Skip Brittenham and Sam Fischer, Snider?s attorneys, were expected to begin negotiations with Paramount about the DreamWorks job this weekend. Snider presumably would demand a better deal from DreamWorks than the one commanded by married producing partners Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, who while serving as co-heads of DreamWorks Pictures also earned hefty salaries as well as a sizable cut of the first-dollar gross on movies they produced. They recently forged a new producing deal to deliver several films a year to DreamWorks.

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Source: Reuters/Hollywood Reporter ."