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Gersh Adds Four Agents to Comedy Department

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The Gersh Agency’s Comedy Division has hired four new agents between the New York and Los Angeles offices, bringing the total number of staffers in the department to 15. All four hires will report to Rick Greenstein, senior partner and EVP and head of the comedy division who said that each of the respective new agents “bring specific skills that allow us to represent our clients both comprehensively and strategically. We currently have the strongest and most experienced team that we’ve ever had in the Comedy Department during my 20 year tenure at Gersh.”

See the full announcement on the Gersh Comedy Division’s expansion on Deadline.

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Robert Ogden Barnum and Katie Mustard recognized as Variety’s “10 Producers To Watch”

Rob Barnum

 

Katie Mustard

Robert Ogden Barnum and Katie Mustard earned two of the ten coveted slots on Variety’s annual “10 Producers to Watch” list released this month, with each boasting a background of impressive credentials in the field.

Barnum first garnered attention for his producing on J.C. Chandor’s MARGIN CALL, and has since gone on to produce SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY, among others. Up next on his slate is MILES AHEAD, the Miles Davis biopic with Don Cheadle set to star.

Mustard has also kept busy, working on films such as Simon Helberg’s WE’LL NEVER HAVE PARIS. Her next project, DAUGHTER OF GOD – a mystery-thriller starring Keanu Reeves – is currently in production.

Mustard and Barnum also collaborated on Paul Bettany’s directorial debut, SHELTER.

Read more about Robert Ogden Barnum and Katie Mustard on Variety.

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Electric Entertainment’s Dean Devlin on passion and the film business

DevlinHeadshot.October2013

Dean Devlin, well-known for his producing credit on ‘Independence Day,’ discusses his upcoming projects and the role passion has played in the success of his independent film financing company, Electric Entertainment. Electric recently announced that it will be co-financing the film GO WITH ME alongside Enderby Entertainment.

“We just fell in love with GO WITH ME,” Devlin said. “We don’t have investors so Electric is a very passion-based company. I’ve done well by following my passions.”

In addition to GO WITH ME, Devlin is currently shooting GEOSTORM. On the television front, Devlin and Electric are producing ‘The Librarians,” which will premiere on TNT December 7th.

Read the full article on Variety.

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AFM Hot Lists

This year’s American Film Market recently wrapped with a strong smattering of Prodigy clients’ projects making the highly-coveted AFM ‘Buzz Title’ lists produced annually from the trades.

Electric Entertainment and Enderby Entertainment’s GO WITH ME was recognized by Screen Daily, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, respectively.

Also making all three lists was Fortitude International’s upcoming project “Urge,” starring Pierce Bronson. The thriller, currently in production, follows friends on an island that experiment with a dangerous new designer drug.

XYZ Films made two contributions this year, with titles YOGA HOSERS and 6 DAYS both featured. YOGA HOSERS is Kevin Smith’s follow-up to TUSK, while 6 DAYS details the SAS raid that ended the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege in London.

Das Films’ upcoming dance flick HEART BEATS 3D was also recognized for 2014. From the writer of STEP UP, the film is set to begin production in India in the upcoming months and will star Aimee Teegarden. Sriram Das and Guneet Monga will produce.

Read the fill lists here: Screen Daily, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety

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Freestyle Releasing’s ZOMBEAVER’s gets release date

Zombeavers

The highly-anticipated ZOMBEAVERS will be coming to the big screen on March 20, 2015 thanks to Freestyle Releasing for a limited theatrical release.

From the producers of AMERICAN PIE, CABIN FEVER and THE RING, the film follows a group of college students heading into the wilderness for spring break. Their carefree good time ends when zombie beavers attempt to eat them.

ZOMBEAVERS made its debut at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival and the trailer for the horror-comedy has already garnered more than 3.6 million views on YouTube.

Read more about ZOMBEAVERS on Variety.

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DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – NOW IN THEATERS

Andy Serkis talks fitness, and how he keeps fit, with LA Times!  Check out the story online here.

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IN THEATERS NOVEMBER 5TH – NATIONAL GALLERY

“National Gallery,” the new documentary from Frederick Wiseman, is set to open in theaters on November 5th via Zipporah Films!

Here’s what Wiseman has to say about the film and the London museum in a statement sent out with the the announcement:
“I am trying to show as many different aspects of contemporary life as I can and organize them into a dramatic narrative structure. I first thought of making a film about a museum 30 years ago but other subjects intervened. I chose the National Gallery because it has one of the greatest collections of paintings from the 13th to the end of the 19th Century. Filming at the National Gallery was an opportunity to photograph some of the greatest paintings in the history of Western Art and to show the efforts involved in their restoration, preservation and presentation to the public and scholars of art.”

See the full announcement from nonfics here.

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MICHAEL BENAROYA TEAMS UP WITH DARRYL TAJA TO LAUNCH REVOLUTION MEDIA

Film Financier and producer Michael Benaroya (Kill Your Darlings, Margin Call) has teamed up with veteran manager-producer Darryl Taja to form Revolution Media, an independent television studio. See the full announcement, from Deadline, here.

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OSCAR-NOMINATED DIRECTOR ULI EDEL, REPPED BY GERSH, IS SET TO DIRECT “HARPER’S FAIRY” FOR BIFROST PICTURES

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Written by Nat Mauldin and Jeff Stein, the film follows a single father dealing with his young daughter’s terminal illness and his overbearing mother-in-law’s interference. He weaves fantastic stories about a fairy named Caitlin, and these stories seem to be coming to life in the real world.

The project, slated to begin production in the first quarter of 2015, will be produced by Steffen Aumüller and Claus Clausen of The Very Useful Co., Daniel Wagner and Robert Ogden Barnum in association with The Bridge Finance Co. and MMC Studios. The film, which BiFrost Pictures is producing and co-financing along with The Very Useful Co., will shoot in Cologne, Germany.

Edel’s 2008 film Der Baader Meinhof Komplex was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for best foreign language film. He’s repped by Gersh.

BiFrost Pictures’ current projects include Don Cheadle’s directorial debut Miles Ahead; Paul Bettany’s directorial debut Shelter; and The World Made Straight, directed by David Burris and starring Minka Kelly, Haley Joel Osment and Noah Wyle.

See the full announcement here.

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CANNES: DEAN DEVLIN’S ELECTRIC ENTERTAINMENT SECURES $50 MILLION

From Variety:

Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment has  secured $50 million in a combination of corporate and production credit facilities from First Republic Bank.

The coin will be used to continue Electric’s expansion of TV and feature film production along with its worldwide sales and distribution arm. The company currently has TNT series “The Librarians,” starring Rebecca Romijn and John Laroquette, which started shooting in April; Devlin is also in pre-production on “Geostorm,” his feature directorial debut.

Electric’s international sales and distribution division launched last year at the American Film Market. It  has acquired international sales rights to the SXSW film “Kelly and Cal”;  Audience Award winner “Before I Disappear,” and the Terrence Malick-produced film “The Better Angels.” It’s also selling “God’s Pocket,” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, and “The Wannabe,” starring Patricia Arquette, Vincent Piazza and Michael Imperioli.

Devlin produced “Independence Day” and helped start Voltage Entertainment in 2005. He announced at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival last year that he was returning to the foreign sales/financing business through his Electric Entertainment banner.

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