Miramax president Daniel Battsek, a good man, has been given the boot. As part of a late September announcement about streamlining/downsizing the company, Disney management stated that Battsek would “continue to oversee all aspects of creative, development, production and business and legal affairs” out of New York. Nikki Finke is reporting that Miramax’s NY office will now be closed, and that the whole operation will now move to the Disney lot.

A studio spokesperson told L.A. Times reporter Claudia Eller on 9.24 that “we continue to look at the best way to run our lines of businesses most efficiently.” I said in a 9.26 posting that “rhetorical references to ‘efficiency’ by management are usually cause for concern.” So there you go.

Sorry for Daniel — a longtime supporter and friend of Hollywood Elsewhere — and for anyone else at Miramax who may also be thrown over the side. It’s tough rowing out there.