Company enters into partnership with longtime collaborator Ben Murphy of Whiskey Bear.
White Horse Pictures founder Nigel Sinclair is transitioning to non-executive chairman and will maintain an active role in the business and focus on content creation as Nicholas Ferrall assumes the reins as chairman and CEO. Partners Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann are named co-presidents.
Ferrall, who served as president since 2019 after an earlier stint as head of production, came over with Sinclair from Exclusive Media and is currently producing Stax Records show Stax, Gene Wilder documentary feature Wilder, and horror mystery feature The Queen Mary.
The strategic...
White Horse Pictures founder Nigel Sinclair is transitioning to non-executive chairman and will maintain an active role in the business and focus on content creation as Nicholas Ferrall assumes the reins as chairman and CEO. Partners Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann are named co-presidents.
Ferrall, who served as president since 2019 after an earlier stint as head of production, came over with Sinclair from Exclusive Media and is currently producing Stax Records show Stax, Gene Wilder documentary feature Wilder, and horror mystery feature The Queen Mary.
The strategic...
- 12/13/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Film and documentary production company White Horse Pictures said Tuesday it is moving forward with a strategic reorganization to service growth at the company whose recent titles include Lucy and Desi and the Ron Howard pics The Beatles: Eight Days a Week and Pavarotti.
As part of the changes, Nicholas Ferrall, the company’s current president, takes on the role of chairman and CEO, previously held by founder Nigel Sinclair, overseeing all aspects of the company’s business, growth, and development. Sinclair will transition to become the company’s non-executive chairman, maintaining a role in the business while focusing on content creation.
Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann, two partners at the firm, take the role of co presidents, responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s creative content, production, and development.
White Horse also has entered into a partnership with longtime collaborator Ben Murphy, of Whiskey Bear, to...
As part of the changes, Nicholas Ferrall, the company’s current president, takes on the role of chairman and CEO, previously held by founder Nigel Sinclair, overseeing all aspects of the company’s business, growth, and development. Sinclair will transition to become the company’s non-executive chairman, maintaining a role in the business while focusing on content creation.
Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann, two partners at the firm, take the role of co presidents, responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s creative content, production, and development.
White Horse also has entered into a partnership with longtime collaborator Ben Murphy, of Whiskey Bear, to...
- 12/13/2022
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
White Horse Pictures is overhauling its corporate structure as its top executive, Nigel Sinclair, shifts to a more creative role.
Chairman and CEO Sinclair, who founded the indie film and documentary producer in 2014 along with fellow Executive Media alum Guy East, will focus on content as non-executive chairman. And Nicholas Ferrall, the company’s president since 2019 after serving as head of production, will become the new chairman and CEO, replacing Sinclair in the top job.
“This new management plan positions White Horse Pictures to expand upon nearly a decade of consistent growth. I look forward to being a part of this company’s next chapter, as a new generation of leaders creates first-rate content,” Sinclair said in a statement.
As part of the shake-up at White Horse, Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann are promoted from partners to co-presidents of the company. To bolster its corporate structure,...
White Horse Pictures is overhauling its corporate structure as its top executive, Nigel Sinclair, shifts to a more creative role.
Chairman and CEO Sinclair, who founded the indie film and documentary producer in 2014 along with fellow Executive Media alum Guy East, will focus on content as non-executive chairman. And Nicholas Ferrall, the company’s president since 2019 after serving as head of production, will become the new chairman and CEO, replacing Sinclair in the top job.
“This new management plan positions White Horse Pictures to expand upon nearly a decade of consistent growth. I look forward to being a part of this company’s next chapter, as a new generation of leaders creates first-rate content,” Sinclair said in a statement.
As part of the shake-up at White Horse, Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann are promoted from partners to co-presidents of the company. To bolster its corporate structure,...
- 12/13/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
White Horse Pictures, the production company behind recent documentaries about the Beatles, Lucille Ball and the Bee Gees, is producing another look at a legendary entertainer: Gene Wilder.
Library Films’ Chris Smith, the filmmaker behind projects such as “Bad Vegan” and “100 Foot Wave,” is directing the documentary about the star of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” and “Young Frankenstein,” which will be told through the perspective of Jordan Walker-Pearlman, the late actor’s nephew and a filmmaker in his own right.
The documentary is produced in association with Sobey Road Entertainment, Harlem Hollywood and Mojo Global Arts. White Horse president and partner Nicholas Ferrall and partner Cassidy Hartmann will produce alongside Smith and Sobey Road’s Andrew Trapani. White Horse partners Nigel Sinclair and Jeanne Elfant Festa serve as executive producers alongside Mojo Global Arts’ Morris Ruskin and Joseph Mellicker. Joey Scoma will serve as editor and John Keller as co-executive producer.
Library Films’ Chris Smith, the filmmaker behind projects such as “Bad Vegan” and “100 Foot Wave,” is directing the documentary about the star of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” and “Young Frankenstein,” which will be told through the perspective of Jordan Walker-Pearlman, the late actor’s nephew and a filmmaker in his own right.
The documentary is produced in association with Sobey Road Entertainment, Harlem Hollywood and Mojo Global Arts. White Horse president and partner Nicholas Ferrall and partner Cassidy Hartmann will produce alongside Smith and Sobey Road’s Andrew Trapani. White Horse partners Nigel Sinclair and Jeanne Elfant Festa serve as executive producers alongside Mojo Global Arts’ Morris Ruskin and Joseph Mellicker. Joey Scoma will serve as editor and John Keller as co-executive producer.
- 4/28/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
A long-gestating movie about The Who’s late drummer Keith Moon is finally moving ahead, with plans in place to shoot in Britain this summer, Variety can reveal.
The project, which is tentatively titled “The Real Me” (the title of a song on Who album “Quadrophenia”), has Moon’s former band members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend on board as executive producers. The pic is directed by Paul Whittington with a script from prolific British screenwriter Jeff Pope, who was Oscar-nominated for “Philomena.”
Los Angeles-based White Horse Pictures is producing. The outfit is best known for seminal Martin Scorsese documentary “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” as well as Ron Howard’s Beatles documentary “Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years.” Founders Nigel Sinclair and Guy East are also known independently for movies like “The Ides of March” and “Rush.”
Shooting is set to begin on the Moon pic in June,...
The project, which is tentatively titled “The Real Me” (the title of a song on Who album “Quadrophenia”), has Moon’s former band members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend on board as executive producers. The pic is directed by Paul Whittington with a script from prolific British screenwriter Jeff Pope, who was Oscar-nominated for “Philomena.”
Los Angeles-based White Horse Pictures is producing. The outfit is best known for seminal Martin Scorsese documentary “George Harrison: Living in the Material World,” as well as Ron Howard’s Beatles documentary “Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years.” Founders Nigel Sinclair and Guy East are also known independently for movies like “The Ides of March” and “Rush.”
Shooting is set to begin on the Moon pic in June,...
- 1/28/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The story of Black British boxing sensation Len Johnson is to be told in a feature film from Rush exec Guy East, written by the “godmother of Black British playwrights” Winsome Pinnock.
Champion is the first major project from UK commercials producer MindsEye’s two-year-old film and TV division and is based on Rob Howard’s book Boxing’s Uncrowned Champion – Len Johnson and the Colour Bar.
Johnson was one of the top middleweight boxers in the 1920s and 1930s but was denied his dream of becoming a British boxing champion due to the ‘colour bar’, the rule that stated only white fighters could claim championship status.
He fought tirelessly against this injustice and his determined activism led to the ‘colour bar’ being overturned, clearing the pathway for multiple future Black British champions. Last year, a petition to have a statue erected in his hometown of Manchester was signed...
Champion is the first major project from UK commercials producer MindsEye’s two-year-old film and TV division and is based on Rob Howard’s book Boxing’s Uncrowned Champion – Len Johnson and the Colour Bar.
Johnson was one of the top middleweight boxers in the 1920s and 1930s but was denied his dream of becoming a British boxing champion due to the ‘colour bar’, the rule that stated only white fighters could claim championship status.
He fought tirelessly against this injustice and his determined activism led to the ‘colour bar’ being overturned, clearing the pathway for multiple future Black British champions. Last year, a petition to have a statue erected in his hometown of Manchester was signed...
- 10/19/2021
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
As with most events in Shawn Johnson's life, it can be traced back to the Olympics. Because that's where the then-20-year-old gymnast was—four years after she nabbed three silvers and a gold at the 2008 games in Beijing—when she received an interesting proposition. Purportedly she was in London to represent USA Gymnastics as the brand's most recognizable face from the games prior and also to cheer on cyclist pal Taylor Phinney. She was hardly expecting to find herself face-to-face with a wannabe matchmaker. But as she chatted up Phinney's teammate, Guy East, the biker became convinced that the bubbly 4-foot-11 powerhouse was simply perfect...
- 1/19/2021
- E! Online
Birdman Oscar winner Alexander Dinelaris among participants.
Nigel Sinclair, Celine Rattray and Thomas Benski are among speakers scheduled to attend the 11th annual Winston Baker TV & Film Finance Forum in New York on April 24 in association with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
The event will cover financial and creative perspectives in entertainment and address growth and innovation strategies for film and television investors, operators and content creators in an evolving marketplace.
Strategy executives from Viacom, Vine Alternative Investments, Alcon Media Group and Guggenheim Securities will speak on the state of the market, M&A strategies,...
Nigel Sinclair, Celine Rattray and Thomas Benski are among speakers scheduled to attend the 11th annual Winston Baker TV & Film Finance Forum in New York on April 24 in association with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
The event will cover financial and creative perspectives in entertainment and address growth and innovation strategies for film and television investors, operators and content creators in an evolving marketplace.
Strategy executives from Viacom, Vine Alternative Investments, Alcon Media Group and Guggenheim Securities will speak on the state of the market, M&A strategies,...
- 4/10/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Luciano Pavarotti was one of the most successful tenors of all time, yet the famous Italian opera singer struggled with doubt about his talent. In the first trailer for Ron Howard’s upcoming documentary, Pavarotti, the legendary singer expresses uncertainty at a young age.
Pavarotti, whose father was a tenor, said his mother always told him he had “a beautiful voice.” Yet the young performer would ask if she was just being kind.
“I said momma you say that because you are my mother,” Pavarotti recalled, adding that his mother would respond, “No, because I don’t say that when I hear your father.”
Insiders also describe the singer as a “nervous wreck before every performance” in the trailer from CBS Films. The film hits theaters June 7.
Despite whatever challenges he faced, Pavarotti won five Grammys and became a global phenomenon, selling more than 100 million records and wowing audiences with...
Pavarotti, whose father was a tenor, said his mother always told him he had “a beautiful voice.” Yet the young performer would ask if she was just being kind.
“I said momma you say that because you are my mother,” Pavarotti recalled, adding that his mother would respond, “No, because I don’t say that when I hear your father.”
Insiders also describe the singer as a “nervous wreck before every performance” in the trailer from CBS Films. The film hits theaters June 7.
Despite whatever challenges he faced, Pavarotti won five Grammys and became a global phenomenon, selling more than 100 million records and wowing audiences with...
- 4/9/2019
- by Anita Bennett
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: La-based production firm White Horse Pictures (The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years) has named current head of production Nicholas Ferrall to the newly created role of company president with immediate effect.
Ferrall will oversee the firm’s slate of film and TV projects through development, production and distribution and will produce specific projects with White Horse Executive Chairmen Nigel Sinclair and Guy East and fellow partners Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann.
Ferrall is currently producing feature horror film Queen Mary to be directed by Gary Shore. Pic is also being produced with Brett Tomberlin with Rocket Science repping world sales. He is serving as executive producer on the company’s upcoming slate of docs including The Apollo helmed by Roger Ross Williams; an authorized documentary about The Bee Gees, directed by Frank Marshall; and Ron Howard’s Pavarotti, based on the life of the acclaimed tenor.
Ferrall will oversee the firm’s slate of film and TV projects through development, production and distribution and will produce specific projects with White Horse Executive Chairmen Nigel Sinclair and Guy East and fellow partners Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann.
Ferrall is currently producing feature horror film Queen Mary to be directed by Gary Shore. Pic is also being produced with Brett Tomberlin with Rocket Science repping world sales. He is serving as executive producer on the company’s upcoming slate of docs including The Apollo helmed by Roger Ross Williams; an authorized documentary about The Bee Gees, directed by Frank Marshall; and Ron Howard’s Pavarotti, based on the life of the acclaimed tenor.
- 3/22/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Executive currently producing Queen Mary.
White Horse Pictures chairmen Nigel Sinclair and Guy East have promoted head of production Nicholas Ferrall to the newly created role of company president, effective immediately.
Ferrall will oversee the growing slate of film and television projects through all stages of development, production and distribution while continuing to produce specific projects together with Sinclair and fellow White Horse partners Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann.
He will drive the company’s financial and expansion plans as White Horse Pictures plans for growth and increased production.
He is currently producing the horror film Queen Mary, inspired...
White Horse Pictures chairmen Nigel Sinclair and Guy East have promoted head of production Nicholas Ferrall to the newly created role of company president, effective immediately.
Ferrall will oversee the growing slate of film and television projects through all stages of development, production and distribution while continuing to produce specific projects together with Sinclair and fellow White Horse partners Jeanne Elfant Festa and Cassidy Hartmann.
He will drive the company’s financial and expansion plans as White Horse Pictures plans for growth and increased production.
He is currently producing the horror film Queen Mary, inspired...
- 3/22/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Ron Howard’s Afm buyer presentation for documentary Pavarotti, about iconic opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, was one of the hot tickets at last month’s market. Distributors have responded well to the project with a string of key deals inked by White Horse Pictures and HanWay Films.
Deals have closed for Germany and Austria (Wild Bunch), Spain (A Contracorriente), China (Ddd Dream), Australia/Nz (Madman), Japan (Gaga) and South Korea (Aud). Italy has been licensed in collaboration with TIMVision and Wildside, the former being Telecom Italia’s growing streaming platform, which has picked up films and hit shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Elena Ferrante adaptation My Brilliant Friend. Wildside execs across the Italy deal included Lorenzo Gangarossa, Mario Gianani, and Lorenzo Mieli.
Pre-sales have also been finalized for Benelux (The Searchers), Cis / Baltics (Volga Film), Czech Rep, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania (Prorom), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery...
Deals have closed for Germany and Austria (Wild Bunch), Spain (A Contracorriente), China (Ddd Dream), Australia/Nz (Madman), Japan (Gaga) and South Korea (Aud). Italy has been licensed in collaboration with TIMVision and Wildside, the former being Telecom Italia’s growing streaming platform, which has picked up films and hit shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Elena Ferrante adaptation My Brilliant Friend. Wildside execs across the Italy deal included Lorenzo Gangarossa, Mario Gianani, and Lorenzo Mieli.
Pre-sales have also been finalized for Benelux (The Searchers), Cis / Baltics (Volga Film), Czech Rep, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania (Prorom), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery...
- 11/26/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: HanWay Films has boarded international sales rights with White Horse Pictures to Ron Howard’s documentary about iconic opera singer Luciano Pavarotti.
Pavarotti, which will be on sale at the Afm, is being made by Universal Music Group’s Polygram Entertainment, Decca Records (the singer’s lifelong record label), Imagine Entertainment and White Horse Pictures. As we revealed last year, the pic reunites much of the team behind Howard’s music doc The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years.
Currently in production, the team has full access to Pavarotti’s family archives, interviews and live music footage with the blessing of the Pavarotti Estate. Howard directs, and will produce alongside Nigel Sinclair, Brian Grazer, Michael Rosenberg and Jeanne Elfant Festa. Creative team includes writer Mark Monroe and editor Paul Crowder. Dolby Atmos is also a partner on the film.
White Horse’s Guy East and Nicholas Ferrall...
Pavarotti, which will be on sale at the Afm, is being made by Universal Music Group’s Polygram Entertainment, Decca Records (the singer’s lifelong record label), Imagine Entertainment and White Horse Pictures. As we revealed last year, the pic reunites much of the team behind Howard’s music doc The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years.
Currently in production, the team has full access to Pavarotti’s family archives, interviews and live music footage with the blessing of the Pavarotti Estate. Howard directs, and will produce alongside Nigel Sinclair, Brian Grazer, Michael Rosenberg and Jeanne Elfant Festa. Creative team includes writer Mark Monroe and editor Paul Crowder. Dolby Atmos is also a partner on the film.
White Horse’s Guy East and Nicholas Ferrall...
- 10/12/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Polygram, Studiocanal to collaborate on film about celebrated tenor.
Imagine Entertainment partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer have teamed up with Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s White Horse Pictures on a documentary about Luciano Pavarotti.
Howard will direct and produces alongside Sinclair, Grazer, Michael Rosenberg and Jeanne Elfant Festa.
Mark Monroe will write the documentary, which chronicles Pavarotti’s life as a world-renowned tenor and his work as a philanthropist. The Italian died in 2007 at the age of 71.
Polygram Entertainment and Studiocanal are also on board and will co-finance the project, while Studiocanal and White Horse Pictures will handle international sales and White Horse will oversee North American rights.
Sources said the filmmakers have the blessing of the Pavarotti Estate, Universal Music Classics and Decca Records.
East and Nicholas Ferrall will serve as executive producers along with Paul Crowder, Monroe, Dickon Stainer, David Blackman, Didier Lupfer and Ron Halpern.
Imagine and White...
Imagine Entertainment partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer have teamed up with Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s White Horse Pictures on a documentary about Luciano Pavarotti.
Howard will direct and produces alongside Sinclair, Grazer, Michael Rosenberg and Jeanne Elfant Festa.
Mark Monroe will write the documentary, which chronicles Pavarotti’s life as a world-renowned tenor and his work as a philanthropist. The Italian died in 2007 at the age of 71.
Polygram Entertainment and Studiocanal are also on board and will co-finance the project, while Studiocanal and White Horse Pictures will handle international sales and White Horse will oversee North American rights.
Sources said the filmmakers have the blessing of the Pavarotti Estate, Universal Music Classics and Decca Records.
East and Nicholas Ferrall will serve as executive producers along with Paul Crowder, Monroe, Dickon Stainer, David Blackman, Didier Lupfer and Ron Halpern.
Imagine and White...
- 6/1/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Polygram, Studiocanal to collaborate on film about celebrated tenor.
Imagine Entertainment partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer have teamed up with Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s White Horse Pictures on a documentary about Luciano Pavarotti.
Howard will direct and produces alongside Sinclair, Grazer, Michael Rosenberg and Jeanne Elfant Festa.
Mark Monroe will write the documentary, which chronicles Pavarotti’s life as a world-renowned tenor and his work as a philanthropist. The Italian died in 2007 at the age of 71.
Polygram Entertainment and Studiocanal are also on board and will co-finance the project, while Studiocanal and White Horse Pictures will handle international sales and White Horse will oversee North American rights.
Sources said the filmmakers have the blessing of the Pavarotti Estate, Universal Music Classics and Decca Records.
East and Nicholas Ferrall will serve as executive producers along with Paul Crowder, Monroe, Dickon Stainer, David Blackman, Didier Lupfer and Ron Halpern.
Imagine and White...
Imagine Entertainment partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer have teamed up with Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s White Horse Pictures on a documentary about Luciano Pavarotti.
Howard will direct and produces alongside Sinclair, Grazer, Michael Rosenberg and Jeanne Elfant Festa.
Mark Monroe will write the documentary, which chronicles Pavarotti’s life as a world-renowned tenor and his work as a philanthropist. The Italian died in 2007 at the age of 71.
Polygram Entertainment and Studiocanal are also on board and will co-finance the project, while Studiocanal and White Horse Pictures will handle international sales and White Horse will oversee North American rights.
Sources said the filmmakers have the blessing of the Pavarotti Estate, Universal Music Classics and Decca Records.
East and Nicholas Ferrall will serve as executive producers along with Paul Crowder, Monroe, Dickon Stainer, David Blackman, Didier Lupfer and Ron Halpern.
Imagine and White...
- 6/1/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Following their successful collaboration on the The Beatles: Eight Days A Week, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment and Nigel Sinclair and Guy East's White Horse Pictures will follow with a feature documentary on famed tenor and opera icon Luciano Pavarotti. Howard will direct. Much the way that The Beatles film greatly benefited from rare early footage, the Pavarotti pic will be bolstered with full access to the singer’s family archives…...
- 6/1/2017
- Deadline
Exclusive: Fox International Productions has acquired James Luckard’s Ww II serial killer thriller Silent Night from Nigel Sinclair and Guy East's White Horse Pictures. The original screenplay is Luckard’s first and will be one of Fip's most ambitious projects to date. The studio intends to co-finance with White Horse. Sinclair (End Of Watch, The Ides Of March) and White Horse's Nicholas Ferrall will produce with Peter Dealbert (478) of Pacific View Management. Fip and…...
- 10/13/2016
- Deadline
Ron Howard's upcoming Beatles film will be featured in Hulu Documentary Films, the streaming service's newest division. Howard's movie – working title The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – will debut in theaters and on Hulu this fall, Variety reports. The deal marks Hulu's first exclusive documentary premiere following a theatrical run.
Eight Days a Week focuses on the Beatles' iconic early years between 1962 and 1966. It will feature rare and previously unseen footage. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and the late George Harrison's wife Olivia Harrison are involved in the production.
Eight Days a Week focuses on the Beatles' iconic early years between 1962 and 1966. It will feature rare and previously unseen footage. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and the late George Harrison's wife Olivia Harrison are involved in the production.
- 5/4/2016
- Rollingstone.com
White Horse Pictures and Lionsgate are teaming to produce "Emperor," the first film in a proposed trilogy adaptation of Conn Iggulden's series of novels about a young Julius Caesar and his best friend Brutus.
William Broyles Jr., Stephen Harrigan, Burr Steers and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers are penning the script which will be based on the first two books in the series. Nigel Sinclair, Gianni Nunnari, Mark Canton and Matt Jackson will produce the project which is currently seeking a director. Nunnari says in an official statement:
"Combining the sweep of '300' with the intrigue of 'Game of Thrones,' this is the part of the story of the mighty Julius Caesar that nobody knows - his emergence alongside Brutus as young powerhouses in Rome, a fresh and contemporary retelling of their rivalries, passions and jealousies, captured in a movie with breath-taking action, spectacular visual effects and epic scope.
William Broyles Jr., Stephen Harrigan, Burr Steers and Ian Mackenzie Jeffers are penning the script which will be based on the first two books in the series. Nigel Sinclair, Gianni Nunnari, Mark Canton and Matt Jackson will produce the project which is currently seeking a director. Nunnari says in an official statement:
"Combining the sweep of '300' with the intrigue of 'Game of Thrones,' this is the part of the story of the mighty Julius Caesar that nobody knows - his emergence alongside Brutus as young powerhouses in Rome, a fresh and contemporary retelling of their rivalries, passions and jealousies, captured in a movie with breath-taking action, spectacular visual effects and epic scope.
- 8/27/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
When Guy East and Nigel Sinclair launched their new company, White Horse Pictures, just one year ago ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, it was a more modest iteration of the successful partnership they ran for years at Exclusive Media. That international sales and financing company, which they founded, was behind such hits as “Snitch,” “The Woman in Black” and “End of Watch” but also the money-losing “Rush.” Now working as producers rather than financiers, Sinclair sat down exclusively with TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman at the Studio Canal offices overlooking the port at the festival to look ahead at an upcoming.
- 5/17/2015
- by Sharon Waxman
- The Wrap
Buyers queue round the block for StudioCanal’s pre-Cannes promo event.
StudioCanal revealed more details of Nick Park’s upcoming prehistoric adventure Early Man at a packed out promo reel screening on Tuesday evening in Cannes.
The $50m joint venture between StudioCanal and UK animation powerhouse Aardman Animations was announced last week but few details were released beyond the fact it would revolve around a plucky caveman who saves his community from destruction.
A mood reel cleverly referencing previous Aardman productions Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep as cave paintings, revealed the central character will be called Doug and have a faithful pet wild boar called Hog Nobs.
In a recorded message, Park told the assembled buyers the film, currently in pre-production, would have all the elements to make a great prehistoric film: “Dinosaurs… volcanoes and a giant, caveman-eating duck.”
”Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run combined have grossed half a...
StudioCanal revealed more details of Nick Park’s upcoming prehistoric adventure Early Man at a packed out promo reel screening on Tuesday evening in Cannes.
The $50m joint venture between StudioCanal and UK animation powerhouse Aardman Animations was announced last week but few details were released beyond the fact it would revolve around a plucky caveman who saves his community from destruction.
A mood reel cleverly referencing previous Aardman productions Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep as cave paintings, revealed the central character will be called Doug and have a faithful pet wild boar called Hog Nobs.
In a recorded message, Park told the assembled buyers the film, currently in pre-production, would have all the elements to make a great prehistoric film: “Dinosaurs… volcanoes and a giant, caveman-eating duck.”
”Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run combined have grossed half a...
- 5/12/2015
- ScreenDaily
White Horse Pictures and Studiocanal will launch international sales in Cannes on Ron Howard’s authorised documentary about The Beatles’ early career.
The companies will show new material from the film, now in post-production, including fresh footage from Fab Four’s early performances.
White Horse Pictures, which launched last year and recently premiered the Ford Mustang doc A Faster Horse in Tribeca, represents Us rights with Scott Pascucci in consultation with Apple Corps Ltd and Imagine Entertainment.
The documentary explores The Beatles’ inner workings and relationships and will trace their path from the early days at Cavern Club in Liverpool through the touring years to the final concert in Candlestick Park, San Francisco, in 1966.
One Voice One World (Ovow) brought the project to Apple Corps and has conducted extensive research and compiled home movies and photos of the band. Ovow’s Matthew White, Stuart Samuels and Bruce Higham are co-producing the film.
Grammy-winning music producer...
The companies will show new material from the film, now in post-production, including fresh footage from Fab Four’s early performances.
White Horse Pictures, which launched last year and recently premiered the Ford Mustang doc A Faster Horse in Tribeca, represents Us rights with Scott Pascucci in consultation with Apple Corps Ltd and Imagine Entertainment.
The documentary explores The Beatles’ inner workings and relationships and will trace their path from the early days at Cavern Club in Liverpool through the touring years to the final concert in Candlestick Park, San Francisco, in 1966.
One Voice One World (Ovow) brought the project to Apple Corps and has conducted extensive research and compiled home movies and photos of the band. Ovow’s Matthew White, Stuart Samuels and Bruce Higham are co-producing the film.
Grammy-winning music producer...
- 5/5/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s La-based company are commencing world sales on the Tribeca Film Festival documentary selection.
The White Horse Pictures co-founders plan to bring on a sales partner to co-ordinate the Us sale of David Gelb’s film, set to receive its world premiere in the New York festival’s Spotlight section next month.
A Faster Horse tells the story of the Ford Mustang and follows the team entrusted with creating the 2015 model 50 years after the iconic car’s original release.
The film includes footage from Mustang clubs, race tracks, assembly lines and the company’s inner workings. Mark Monroe wrote the screenplay.
White Horse CEO Sinclair produces alongside Glen Zipper, the former head of documentaries at Spitfire Pictures with whom Sinclair and East collaborated when they ran Exclusive Media. East and Nicholas Ferrall are executive producers.
“We are delighted that David Gelb’s film, which celebrates one of the greatest pieces of Americana...
The White Horse Pictures co-founders plan to bring on a sales partner to co-ordinate the Us sale of David Gelb’s film, set to receive its world premiere in the New York festival’s Spotlight section next month.
A Faster Horse tells the story of the Ford Mustang and follows the team entrusted with creating the 2015 model 50 years after the iconic car’s original release.
The film includes footage from Mustang clubs, race tracks, assembly lines and the company’s inner workings. Mark Monroe wrote the screenplay.
White Horse CEO Sinclair produces alongside Glen Zipper, the former head of documentaries at Spitfire Pictures with whom Sinclair and East collaborated when they ran Exclusive Media. East and Nicholas Ferrall are executive producers.
“We are delighted that David Gelb’s film, which celebrates one of the greatest pieces of Americana...
- 3/5/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
A Walk Among the Tombstones, starring Liam Neeson (Non-Stop, The Grey, Taken series) and Dan Stevens (The Guest, “Downton Abbey”) debuts on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD on January 13, 2015 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Based on Lawrence Block’s best-selling series of mystery novels and directed and written by Academy Award-nominated writer Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Minority Report, The Wolverine), A Walk Among the Tombstones is produced by Jersey Films’ Danny DeVito.
In this intense thriller, Liam Neeson plays Matt Scudder, an ex-nypd cop turned unlicensed private investigator who reluctantly agrees to help a drug trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who brutally murdered his wife. When the Pi learns that this is not the first time that these men have committed this sort of twisted crime — nor will it be the last — he must blur the line between right and wrong as he races to track the...
In this intense thriller, Liam Neeson plays Matt Scudder, an ex-nypd cop turned unlicensed private investigator who reluctantly agrees to help a drug trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who brutally murdered his wife. When the Pi learns that this is not the first time that these men have committed this sort of twisted crime — nor will it be the last — he must blur the line between right and wrong as he races to track the...
- 1/11/2015
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The distributors have acquired all Us rights to the Gillian Flynn adaptation in a deal with Wme Global.
Bloom oversees international distribution on the Gillian Flynn thriller starring Charlize Theron as the survivor of a family massacre forced to investigate the events of that fateful day.
Directv gets an exclusive 30-day window followed by the A24 theatrical release. Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, Tye Sheridan and Corey Stoll round to the key cast.
Paquet-Brenner directed from his adapted screenplay. Cathy Schulman, Matthew Rhodes, Azim Bolkiah, Matt Jackson, Beth Kono, Aj Dix, Theron and Stephane Marsil produce.
Jeff Rice, Jose Levy, Matthias Ehrenberg, Nigel Sinclair, Guy East, Tobin Armbrust, Jillian Longnecker, Ginger Sledge and Peter Safran served as executive producers.
Exclusive Media presents Dark Places, a Denver & Delilah Films, Hugo Productions and Mandalay Pictures production.
A24 and Directv have partnered before on the upcoming Atom Egoyan film Captive and Son Of A Gun.
Bloom oversees international distribution on the Gillian Flynn thriller starring Charlize Theron as the survivor of a family massacre forced to investigate the events of that fateful day.
Directv gets an exclusive 30-day window followed by the A24 theatrical release. Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, Tye Sheridan and Corey Stoll round to the key cast.
Paquet-Brenner directed from his adapted screenplay. Cathy Schulman, Matthew Rhodes, Azim Bolkiah, Matt Jackson, Beth Kono, Aj Dix, Theron and Stephane Marsil produce.
Jeff Rice, Jose Levy, Matthias Ehrenberg, Nigel Sinclair, Guy East, Tobin Armbrust, Jillian Longnecker, Ginger Sledge and Peter Safran served as executive producers.
Exclusive Media presents Dark Places, a Denver & Delilah Films, Hugo Productions and Mandalay Pictures production.
A24 and Directv have partnered before on the upcoming Atom Egoyan film Captive and Son Of A Gun.
- 11/8/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
A24 is closing a $3M U.S. distribution deal along with DirecTV for Dark Places, based on the bestselling novel by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn. Gilles Paquet-Brenner adapted and directed the pic, which stars Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Chlöe Grace Moretz, Christina Hendricks, Tye Sheridan and Corey Stoll.
The deal is the latest in the A24-DirecTV partnership that aims to release films exclusively on the satcaster during a 30-day window before a theatrical debut. Wme Global brokered the deal.
First announced at last year’s Afm by Exclusive Media and shown to buyers this spring in Cannes, the movie centers on Libby Day (Theron), the sole survivor of a violent home invasion. She has lived with the knowledge that her testimony as a 7-year-old sentenced her brother to life in prison for the horrific crime. Twenty-five years later, crime enthusiasts convince her to re-examine the events.
The pic is a Denver & Delilah Films,...
The deal is the latest in the A24-DirecTV partnership that aims to release films exclusively on the satcaster during a 30-day window before a theatrical debut. Wme Global brokered the deal.
First announced at last year’s Afm by Exclusive Media and shown to buyers this spring in Cannes, the movie centers on Libby Day (Theron), the sole survivor of a violent home invasion. She has lived with the knowledge that her testimony as a 7-year-old sentenced her brother to life in prison for the horrific crime. Twenty-five years later, crime enthusiasts convince her to re-examine the events.
The pic is a Denver & Delilah Films,...
- 11/8/2014
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline
The genre sequel – retitled Woman in Black 2 Angel Of Death – will open in the Us on January 2, 2015.
The film was originally set to release on January 30, 2015.
Jeremy Irvine and Helen McCroy star in the sequel directed by Tom Harper and written by Jon Croker.
Tobin Armbrust, Simon Oakes, Ben Holden and Richard Jackson produced, while the executive producers are Marc Schipper, Guy East, Nigel Sinclair, Neil Dunn, Graeme Witts, Xavier Marchand, Roy Lee, Richard Toussaint, Wade Barker, Ryan Kavanaugh and Tucker Tooley.
The sequel takes place in the same house 40 years later when a group of children who are evacuated from London during World War II come to stay and awaken dark inhabitants.
Relativity acquired Us rights from Hammer and eOne to the sequel to The Woman in Black, the 2012 original that grossed more than $54m in the Us and was a smash in the UK.
The film was originally set to release on January 30, 2015.
Jeremy Irvine and Helen McCroy star in the sequel directed by Tom Harper and written by Jon Croker.
Tobin Armbrust, Simon Oakes, Ben Holden and Richard Jackson produced, while the executive producers are Marc Schipper, Guy East, Nigel Sinclair, Neil Dunn, Graeme Witts, Xavier Marchand, Roy Lee, Richard Toussaint, Wade Barker, Ryan Kavanaugh and Tucker Tooley.
The sequel takes place in the same house 40 years later when a group of children who are evacuated from London during World War II come to stay and awaken dark inhabitants.
Relativity acquired Us rights from Hammer and eOne to the sequel to The Woman in Black, the 2012 original that grossed more than $54m in the Us and was a smash in the UK.
- 10/15/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Millennium Entertainment is continuing to make moves following its deal to become a stand-alone distribution and catalog company. Today CEO Bill Lee unveiled that the soon-to-be-renamed outfit has closed a senior revolving credit facility and term loan facility worth $40 million.
The facilities helped finance Millennium and Virgo Investment Group’s August buyout of previous owners including Avi Lerner’s Nu Image, and will help Millennium going forward to acquire films for the studio’s upcoming slate. (The credit facilities provides for a $20 million term loan as well as a $20 million revolving line of credit with an additional accordion feature for future opportunities.)
Among those projects in Millennium’s pipeline is Madam Bovary, the Sophie Barthes-directed film that stars Mia Wasikowska, Paul Giamatti, and Ezra Miller. The company scooped up U.S. rights in a seven-figure deal sealed just before the period pic’s Toronto premiere earlier this month. Another...
The facilities helped finance Millennium and Virgo Investment Group’s August buyout of previous owners including Avi Lerner’s Nu Image, and will help Millennium going forward to acquire films for the studio’s upcoming slate. (The credit facilities provides for a $20 million term loan as well as a $20 million revolving line of credit with an additional accordion feature for future opportunities.)
Among those projects in Millennium’s pipeline is Madam Bovary, the Sophie Barthes-directed film that stars Mia Wasikowska, Paul Giamatti, and Ezra Miller. The company scooped up U.S. rights in a seven-figure deal sealed just before the period pic’s Toronto premiere earlier this month. Another...
- 9/24/2014
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
Exclusive: In a development that bodes well for the coming avalanche of acquisition titles that starts tomorrow at the Toronto Film Festival, Relativity has closed a seven-figure deal for U.S. distribution rights to The Woman In Black 2. That is the sequel to the hit 2012 haunted house film that starred Daniel Radcliffe and was distributed in the U.S. by CBS Films. The sequel rights were controlled by Hammer and eOne, and the deal was brokered by CAA. The original grossed $54 million domestically and $128 million worldwide.
While buyers tell me they don’t see an obvious gotta-have-it title at Toronto like last year’s Can A Song Save Your Life, there is certainly an appetite for films that has been evident in festivals this year from Sundance to Berlin and Cannes. The Woman In Black 2 deal closed today, hours before Warner Bros opens the festival with the Robert Downey Jr-starrer The Judge.
While buyers tell me they don’t see an obvious gotta-have-it title at Toronto like last year’s Can A Song Save Your Life, there is certainly an appetite for films that has been evident in festivals this year from Sundance to Berlin and Cannes. The Woman In Black 2 deal closed today, hours before Warner Bros opens the festival with the Robert Downey Jr-starrer The Judge.
- 9/4/2014
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline
The management team of Millennium Entertainment, led by CEO Bill Lee, and private investment firm Virgo Investment Group have partnered to acquire the Millennium Entertainment library and distribution platform.
The group is acquiring the assets from a consortium of investors including majority shareholder Nu Image led by Avi Lerner and Trevor Short, White Horse Pictures principals Nigel Sinclair and Guy East and Prentice Capital, who are understood to have owned 20% apiece.
The company will operate under a new name. Going forward the Millennium brand will be held solely by Nu Image subsidiary Millennium Films, the production arm that is not a part of the transaction.
Lee will continue as CEO and all existing management are expected to remain in place. The company and Virgo plan to grow the platform through investments in film content, distribution growth and corporate acquisitions. Millennium Entertainment had courted buyers since it was put up for sale in April 2013.
“I’m proud of our...
The group is acquiring the assets from a consortium of investors including majority shareholder Nu Image led by Avi Lerner and Trevor Short, White Horse Pictures principals Nigel Sinclair and Guy East and Prentice Capital, who are understood to have owned 20% apiece.
The company will operate under a new name. Going forward the Millennium brand will be held solely by Nu Image subsidiary Millennium Films, the production arm that is not a part of the transaction.
Lee will continue as CEO and all existing management are expected to remain in place. The company and Virgo plan to grow the platform through investments in film content, distribution growth and corporate acquisitions. Millennium Entertainment had courted buyers since it was put up for sale in April 2013.
“I’m proud of our...
- 8/19/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The management team of Millennium Entertainment, led by CEO Bill Lee, and private investment firm Virgo Investment Group have partnered to acquire the Millennium Entertainment library and distribution platform.
The group is acquiring the assets from a consortium of investors including majority shareholder Nu Image led by Avi Lerner and Trevor Short, White Horse Pictures principals Nigel Sinclair and Guy East and Prentice Capital, who are understood to have owned 20% apiece.
The company will operate under a new name. Going forward the Millennium brand will be held solely by Nu Image subsidiary Millennium Films, the production arm that is not a part of the transaction.
Lee will continue as CEO and all existing management are expected to remain in place. The company and Virgo plan to grow the platform through investments in film content, distribution growth and corporate acquisitions. Millennium Entertainment had courted buyers since it was put up for sale in April 2013.
“I’m proud of our...
The group is acquiring the assets from a consortium of investors including majority shareholder Nu Image led by Avi Lerner and Trevor Short, White Horse Pictures principals Nigel Sinclair and Guy East and Prentice Capital, who are understood to have owned 20% apiece.
The company will operate under a new name. Going forward the Millennium brand will be held solely by Nu Image subsidiary Millennium Films, the production arm that is not a part of the transaction.
Lee will continue as CEO and all existing management are expected to remain in place. The company and Virgo plan to grow the platform through investments in film content, distribution growth and corporate acquisitions. Millennium Entertainment had courted buyers since it was put up for sale in April 2013.
“I’m proud of our...
- 8/19/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Millennium Entertainment's current management team and private investment firm Virgo Investment Group have acquired the company's catalog and distribution platform. The company, which will be renamed, made the announcement Tuesday. Millennium Entertainment was sold by majority investor Avi Lener (pictured) and Trevor Short's Nu Image, along with White Horse Pictures’ principals Nigel Sinclair and Guy East and Prentice Capital. Nu Image will keep the Millennium brand, which now will be associated solely with its other subsidiary, Millennium Films. Chief executive Bill Lee will stay on, and none of Millennium's 780 employees will lose their jobs. No price for the deal was announced,...
- 8/19/2014
- by Todd Cunningham
- The Wrap
Exclusive Media co-founder and former deputy COO Alex Brunner has joined UTA Independent Film Group as a film finance agent.
Brunner will focus on global film finance, packaging and distribution strategies for independent and co-financed features.
“Alex is a superb film executive whose experience and relationships throughout the global film community will greatly benefit our clients as we create the best financing and distribution options for their films,” said UTA Independent Film Group head Rena Ronson.
Prior to Exclusive Media Brunner co-founded Spitfire Pictures with Guy East and Nigel Sinclair in 2003, where he built a slate of projects as the key development and production executive.
Before that he worked at Intermedia Films under company co-chairman Sinclair. He launched his Hollywood career in the motion picture literary and production departments at ICM.
Prior to coming to the Us, Brunner worked in production at Golden Harvest Films in Hong Kong and managed the development of a studio facility in the...
Brunner will focus on global film finance, packaging and distribution strategies for independent and co-financed features.
“Alex is a superb film executive whose experience and relationships throughout the global film community will greatly benefit our clients as we create the best financing and distribution options for their films,” said UTA Independent Film Group head Rena Ronson.
Prior to Exclusive Media Brunner co-founded Spitfire Pictures with Guy East and Nigel Sinclair in 2003, where he built a slate of projects as the key development and production executive.
Before that he worked at Intermedia Films under company co-chairman Sinclair. He launched his Hollywood career in the motion picture literary and production departments at ICM.
Prior to coming to the Us, Brunner worked in production at Golden Harvest Films in Hong Kong and managed the development of a studio facility in the...
- 8/4/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Alex Brunner has left Exclusive Media to join UTA Independent Film Group as a film finance agent. He will focus on global finance, packaging and distribution strategies for independent and co-financed feature films. Brunner, a respected indie sales veteran, was one of the original co-founders and deputy chief operating officer at Exclusive, which just went through a revamp earlier this year in which co-chairmen and CEOs Nigel Sinclair and Guy East departed and Marc Schipper took over as CEO. Sinclair and East had been on the outs with Exclusive’s majority owners who no longer wanted to take big bets in the […]...
- 8/4/2014
- Deadline
©Apple Corps Ltd
Apple Corps Ltd., White Horse Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have announced they will produce a new authorized documentary for Apple, based on the first part of The Beatles’ career — the touring years.
The film will be directed by Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard and will be produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. White Horse’s Grammy Award-winning Nigel Sinclair, Scott Pascucci and Academy Award winner and multiple nominee Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment will produce with Howard. Imagine’s Michael Rosenberg and White Horse’s Guy East will serve as executive producers.
Howard said, “I am excited and honored to be working with Apple and the White Horse team on this astounding story of these four young men who stormed the world in 1964. Their impact on popular culture and the human experience cannot be exaggerated.”
This film...
Apple Corps Ltd., White Horse Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have announced they will produce a new authorized documentary for Apple, based on the first part of The Beatles’ career — the touring years.
The film will be directed by Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard and will be produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. White Horse’s Grammy Award-winning Nigel Sinclair, Scott Pascucci and Academy Award winner and multiple nominee Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment will produce with Howard. Imagine’s Michael Rosenberg and White Horse’s Guy East will serve as executive producers.
Howard said, “I am excited and honored to be working with Apple and the White Horse team on this astounding story of these four young men who stormed the world in 1964. Their impact on popular culture and the human experience cannot be exaggerated.”
This film...
- 7/16/2014
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Photo Courtesy of Apple Corps Ltd
Word has broken this morning that Ron Howard is set to direct a documentary based on legendary rock band, The Beatles. It will reportedly focus on their touring years, and feature exciting, rarely seen footage of the band in action.
Here's the official press release:
Apple Corps Ltd., White Horse Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have announced they will produce a new authorized documentary for Apple, based on the first part of The Beatles’ career -- the touring years. The film will be directed by Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard and will be produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. White Horse’s Grammy Award-winning Nigel Sinclair, Scott Pascucci and Academy Award winner and multiple nominee Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment will produce with Howard. Imagine’s Michael Rosenberg and White Horse’s Guy East will serve as executive producers.
Word has broken this morning that Ron Howard is set to direct a documentary based on legendary rock band, The Beatles. It will reportedly focus on their touring years, and feature exciting, rarely seen footage of the band in action.
Here's the official press release:
Apple Corps Ltd., White Horse Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have announced they will produce a new authorized documentary for Apple, based on the first part of The Beatles’ career -- the touring years. The film will be directed by Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard and will be produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. White Horse’s Grammy Award-winning Nigel Sinclair, Scott Pascucci and Academy Award winner and multiple nominee Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment will produce with Howard. Imagine’s Michael Rosenberg and White Horse’s Guy East will serve as executive producers.
- 7/16/2014
- by Mario-Francisco Robles
- LRMonline.com
Documentary will focus on The Beatles’ touring years from their early days in Liverpool and Hamburg to their last public concert in 1966.
Ron Howard is to direct an official documentary about The Beatles’ years on tour in the early 1960s, produced with the cooperation of band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr alongside Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, widows of John Lennon and George Harrison.
Howard, director of Apollo 13, Rush and the upcoming Heart Of The Sea, said: “I am excited and honoured to be working with Apple and the White Horse team on this astounding story of these four young men who stormed the world in 1964. Their impact on popular culture and the human experience cannot be exaggerated.”
The film will focus on The Beatles’ journey from the early days of the Cavern Club in Liverpool and gigs in Hamburg to their last public concert in Candlestick Park, San Francisco...
Ron Howard is to direct an official documentary about The Beatles’ years on tour in the early 1960s, produced with the cooperation of band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr alongside Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, widows of John Lennon and George Harrison.
Howard, director of Apollo 13, Rush and the upcoming Heart Of The Sea, said: “I am excited and honoured to be working with Apple and the White Horse team on this astounding story of these four young men who stormed the world in 1964. Their impact on popular culture and the human experience cannot be exaggerated.”
The film will focus on The Beatles’ journey from the early days of the Cavern Club in Liverpool and gigs in Hamburg to their last public concert in Candlestick Park, San Francisco...
- 7/16/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Apple Corps Ltd., White Horse Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have announced they will produce a new authorized documentary for Apple, based on the first part of The Beatles' career - the touring years. The film will be directed by Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard and will be produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. White Horse's Grammy Award-winning Nigel Sinclair, Scott Pascucci and Academy Award winner and multiple nominee Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment will produce with Howard. Imagine's Michael Rosenberg and White Horse's Guy East will serve as executive producers.
- 7/16/2014
- Comingsoon.net
Ron Howard is set to direct a new authorized documentary about The Beatles and the iconic band's touring years, it was announced Wednesday by Apple Corps, White Horse Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. The film will be produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison. White Horse's Nigel Sinclair, Scott Pascucci and Imagine's Brian Grazer will produce with Howard, while Imagine's Michael Rosenberg and White Horse's Guy East will serve as executive producers along with Jeff Jones and Jonathan Clyde of Apple Corps. Also read: Jimmy Fallon Unearths ‘Never-Before-Seen’ Beatles Footage of Band Promoting Twitter,...
- 7/16/2014
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
Production has begun on A Faster Horse, the first film from Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s White Horse Pictures.
The documentary explores the history and legacy of America’s iconic Ford Mustang in its 50th anniversary year.
This marks the first project that Sinclair will produce under the White Horse Pictures label he and East formed earlier this year after exiting Exclusive Media.
David Gelb, whose credits include the acclaimed Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, directs for White Horse Pictures with the cooperation of The Ford Motor Company.
Glen Zipper, the former head of documentaries at Spitfire Pictures, produces alongside Sinclair. East serves as executive producer with Nicholas Ferrall, executive in charge of production for White Horse Pictures
A Faster Horse will look at the passion the Ford Mustang inspires among not only enthusiasts but lovers of the car across the world.
Gelb will blend anecdotes and interviews with those who built the Mustang legend over the...
The documentary explores the history and legacy of America’s iconic Ford Mustang in its 50th anniversary year.
This marks the first project that Sinclair will produce under the White Horse Pictures label he and East formed earlier this year after exiting Exclusive Media.
David Gelb, whose credits include the acclaimed Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, directs for White Horse Pictures with the cooperation of The Ford Motor Company.
Glen Zipper, the former head of documentaries at Spitfire Pictures, produces alongside Sinclair. East serves as executive producer with Nicholas Ferrall, executive in charge of production for White Horse Pictures
A Faster Horse will look at the passion the Ford Mustang inspires among not only enthusiasts but lovers of the car across the world.
Gelb will blend anecdotes and interviews with those who built the Mustang legend over the...
- 5/29/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
“Jiro Dreams of Sushi” director David Gelb will make a movie about the Ford Mustang, a classic American car celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The film will be the first produced by White Horse Pictures, the new company run by Exclusive Media co-founders Guy East and Nigel Sinclair. Sinclair is producing the movie with Glen Zipper, the former head of documentary label Spitfire Pictures. Nicholas Ferrall is the executive in charge of production and will executive produce with East. Also read: Guy East, Nigel Sinclair Exit Exclusive Media, Form New Production Company They are making the movie with the cooperation of the.
- 5/29/2014
- by Lucas Shaw
- The Wrap
Production has begun on A Faster Horse, the first film from Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s White Horse Pictures.
The documentary explores the history and legacy of America’s iconic Ford Mustang in its 50th anniversary year.
This marks the first project that Sinclair will produce under the White Horse Pictures label he and East formed earlier this year after exiting Exclusive Media.
David Gelb, whose credits include the acclaimed Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, directs for White Horse Pictures with the cooperation of The Ford Motor Company.
Glen Zipper, the former head of documentaries at Spitfire Pictures, produces alongside Sinclair. East serves as executive producer with Nicholas Ferrall, executive in charge of production for White Horse Pictures
A Faster Horse will look at the passion the Ford Mustang inspires among not only enthusiasts but lovers of the car across the world.
Gelb will blend anecdotes and interviews with those who built the Mustang legend over the...
The documentary explores the history and legacy of America’s iconic Ford Mustang in its 50th anniversary year.
This marks the first project that Sinclair will produce under the White Horse Pictures label he and East formed earlier this year after exiting Exclusive Media.
David Gelb, whose credits include the acclaimed Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, directs for White Horse Pictures with the cooperation of The Ford Motor Company.
Glen Zipper, the former head of documentaries at Spitfire Pictures, produces alongside Sinclair. East serves as executive producer with Nicholas Ferrall, executive in charge of production for White Horse Pictures
A Faster Horse will look at the passion the Ford Mustang inspires among not only enthusiasts but lovers of the car across the world.
Gelb will blend anecdotes and interviews with those who built the Mustang legend over the...
- 5/29/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Nigel Sinclair and Guy East are revving up the first project under their newly formed White Horse Pictures. The former Exclusive Media co-chairmen, who exited the company in March, have begun production on the documentary A Faster Horse. The film explores the history and legacy of America's most iconic car, the Ford Mustang, which is celebrating its 50-year anniversary this year. A Faster Horse marks Sinclair and East's first post-Exclusive project, which will be directed by David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi). White Horse has secured the cooperation of The Ford Motor Company. Glen Zipper (Undefeated) and
read more...
read more...
- 5/29/2014
- by Tatiana Siegel
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes: Now that former president of international sales and distribution Alex Walton has announced his new company Bloom, Us operations at Exclusive Media are expected to wind down quickly.
What will remain of Dasym-owned Exclusive Media and continue as going concerns are the 800+ library and UK-based genre label Hammer run by Simon Oakes.
The popular Walton has transitioned his international team with him to the new venture, backed by producer-financier and Waypoint Entertainment founder Ken Kao.
The extraction of the sales team, allied to the fact that Bloom will continue to sell and service outstanding titles on the Exclusive Media slate, foreshadows the demise of the production division under president of worldwide production and acquisitions Tobin Armbrust.
The short-lived Exclusive Releasing’s days are numbered once the Us distribution operation has met all its obligations. Release titles included Adore (pictured) and Parkland.
Da Vinci Media Ventures, backed by UK entrepreneur Toby Moores and spearheaded by Wendy Rutland, will...
What will remain of Dasym-owned Exclusive Media and continue as going concerns are the 800+ library and UK-based genre label Hammer run by Simon Oakes.
The popular Walton has transitioned his international team with him to the new venture, backed by producer-financier and Waypoint Entertainment founder Ken Kao.
The extraction of the sales team, allied to the fact that Bloom will continue to sell and service outstanding titles on the Exclusive Media slate, foreshadows the demise of the production division under president of worldwide production and acquisitions Tobin Armbrust.
The short-lived Exclusive Releasing’s days are numbered once the Us distribution operation has met all its obligations. Release titles included Adore (pictured) and Parkland.
Da Vinci Media Ventures, backed by UK entrepreneur Toby Moores and spearheaded by Wendy Rutland, will...
- 5/13/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Ending weeks of negotiations over their exit packages, Exclusive Media co-chairmen Nigel Sinclair and Guy East are officially out. Marc Schipper, who previously served as COO, has been promoted to CEO of the company, effective immediately. Story: 'Rush' Crash: Will Exclusive Media Stop Releasing Films? Giant hedge fund Dasym, which owns a majority stake in Exclusive, were unhappy with Sinclair and East's tenure and losses stemming from a hefty marketing spend for Rush. It's still unclear what Dasym has planned for a pared-down Exclusive, but insiders say Dasym doesn't have much interest in staying in the production business.
read more...
read more...
- 3/21/2014
- by Pamela McClintock
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nigel Sinclair and Guy East have formalised their departure from Exclusive Media, the company they ran for close to six years as co-chairmen.
Exclusive Media COO Marc Schipper will run the company as CEO in a move first anticipated by ScreenDaily during the recent Efm in Berlin.
It is understood the international sales unit led by Alex Walton is well regarded and will remain operational and that Dasym is also holding on to the Hammer genre division run by Simon Oakes out of the UK. Exclusive Releasing remains on the books however its future profile was unclear.
Sources said Sinclair (pictured), who also previsouly held the title of CEO, and East are preparing to announce their new production entity White Horse Pictures and will take with them several Exclusive Media titles, among them the Young Caesar property.
The companies will collaborate on the Keith Moon film as Sinclair is a producer, however insiders...
Exclusive Media COO Marc Schipper will run the company as CEO in a move first anticipated by ScreenDaily during the recent Efm in Berlin.
It is understood the international sales unit led by Alex Walton is well regarded and will remain operational and that Dasym is also holding on to the Hammer genre division run by Simon Oakes out of the UK. Exclusive Releasing remains on the books however its future profile was unclear.
Sources said Sinclair (pictured), who also previsouly held the title of CEO, and East are preparing to announce their new production entity White Horse Pictures and will take with them several Exclusive Media titles, among them the Young Caesar property.
The companies will collaborate on the Keith Moon film as Sinclair is a producer, however insiders...
- 3/21/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive Media co-founders Nigel Sinclair and Guy East have reached a deal that will see them exit the film finance and production company they helped build to create a new venture dubbed White Horse Pictures. Sinclair and East's exit clears the way for Chief Operating Officer Marc Schipper to be become CEO of the company. His promotion is effective immediately. Schipper will be at the helm as Exclusive moves away from producing films towards becoming a company that is primarily focused on film sales. To that end, Alex Walton, president of international sales and distribution, will remain at Exclusive and.
- 3/21/2014
- by Brent Lang and Lucas Shaw
- The Wrap
Breaking: Exclusive Media co-chairman/CEO Nigel Sinclair and Guy East have finalized their exits, and Marc Schipper has taken the reins as new Exclusive CEO. Insiders say that Sinclair and East will resurface very quickly with White Horse Pictures, a company that will focus on the production of quality feature films and TV programming. The name comes from the prehistoric hill figure known as the Uffington White Horse. The duo had been on the outs with the company’s majority owners who no longer wanted to take big bets in the production business after a few films didn’t hit. The company has downsized since, and for instance exited the Johnny Depp Whitey Bulger film Black Mass, which Warner Bros acquired to distribute worldwide. Backed by the Dutch investment fund Dasym Investment Strategies, Exclusive has laid off most of its production department, but it has a strong library of over...
- 3/21/2014
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
You hear it all the time: Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News. But Americans were buying all the same, and to quote Screen International: “The current market is focused on smart money and smart deals, not volume of product”. Business at Afm was also solid though unspectacular. Moreover, the pre-buying of projects may be below the radar of this $3 billion business of international film buying and selling. TrustNordisk’s CEO Rikke Ennis says that 70% of their films are pre-sold. As you look at the upcoming Winter Rights Roundup due out in two weeks from SydneysBuzz.com/Reports, you will notice many of the films have been pre-buys this market and many films screening were already pre-sold during Afm in November.
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?
Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.
Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:
“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.
“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.
“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.
“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”
"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."
Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.
This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.
The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.
The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.
India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.
Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.
The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.
U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.
Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.
Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.
The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.
The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.
A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:
In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento
All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.
One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.
Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.
Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).
Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.
Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...
Efm Coproduction Market
Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.
Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.
Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.
Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.
Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.
Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.
Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.
Trend of smart art genres
Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".
Trend of remake rights
Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.
The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.
Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.
The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…
Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?
Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.
Tipped for Cannes
Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.
Rumors and truths about people changing positions
Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.
What I Saw and What I Thought
For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.
First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.
Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.
Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.
About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.
Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.
Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.
Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!
Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.
A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!
- 2/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive Media co-founders Nigel Sinclair and Guy East are negotiating their exit from the company and seeking to form a new venture with assets from the current company, several individuals with knowledge of their plans told TheWrap. Layoffs at the movie sales and finance company were underway on Friday, after the company’s primary investor Dasym Media began to take measures in the wake of $15 to $20 million in losses from “Rush.” A spokeswoman for Exclusive cautioned that negotiations between East, Sinclair and Dasym are ongoing, but multiple insiders said Sinclair will leave and take Spitfire Pictures, Exclusive’s documentary label,...
- 2/22/2014
- by Lucas Shaw
- The Wrap
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