Sony Pictures has parted ways with James L. Brooks and his famously shushing Gracie Films, declining to renew the writer-director’s overall deal with the studio that has been in place since 1990. Brooks’s most recent effort with the studio, the $120 million How Do You Know, was a financial bomb for Sony, grossing only 40 percent of its budget. Sony declined to comment on the reason behind the split. It’s not a total separation, however, as Brooks will maintain his development fund at the studio, through which he produced such films as Jerry Maguire. Just don’t tell Gavin Polone.