Exclusive: Archer Gray has today announced the promotion of Rebecca Choi to Vice President of Narrative Film and the addition of Kelsey Jackson in the newly established role of Vice President of Narrative Television.
The news follows the recent announcement of Vinay Singh being upped to CEO, as well as the company’s expansion into unscripted content with the hire of Liza Keckler, and the launch of its Co-Lab division headed by former Disney and Fox exec Jim Fielding. It also precedes the bow of The Persian Version — a dramedy from writer-director Maryam Keshavarz, which will this week become Archer Gray’s sixth project to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Both new VPs will help grow the company’s narrative slate under Archer Gray Partner and President of Narrative Production, Anne Carey — collaborating with a team now spanning unscripted content, live experiences, and brand and retail strategy.
“I...
The news follows the recent announcement of Vinay Singh being upped to CEO, as well as the company’s expansion into unscripted content with the hire of Liza Keckler, and the launch of its Co-Lab division headed by former Disney and Fox exec Jim Fielding. It also precedes the bow of The Persian Version — a dramedy from writer-director Maryam Keshavarz, which will this week become Archer Gray’s sixth project to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Both new VPs will help grow the company’s narrative slate under Archer Gray Partner and President of Narrative Production, Anne Carey — collaborating with a team now spanning unscripted content, live experiences, and brand and retail strategy.
“I...
- 1/17/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
A lot has changed in the three years since Sundance was an in-person affair. Streamers now favor production over acquisition and have scaled back their budgets. Box office is still in the throes of recovery — and the indie sector sees the worst of it. No one knows how the hybrid factor will impact the festival, only that it will.
All of that is true, and yet: Optimism abounds.
“I felt like there were fewer titles that were available [last year], and it seems like this year I’m gonna be right back to camping out the Eccles for four or five days, which is great,” Kent Sanderson, president of acquisitions and ancillary distribution at Bleecker Street, told IndieWire. “What that yields in terms of the marketplace, I don’t know. Everything is evolving at an even more rapid clip.”
About 20 percent of the 100-plus movies that play Park City are not up for grabs.
All of that is true, and yet: Optimism abounds.
“I felt like there were fewer titles that were available [last year], and it seems like this year I’m gonna be right back to camping out the Eccles for four or five days, which is great,” Kent Sanderson, president of acquisitions and ancillary distribution at Bleecker Street, told IndieWire. “What that yields in terms of the marketplace, I don’t know. Everything is evolving at an even more rapid clip.”
About 20 percent of the 100-plus movies that play Park City are not up for grabs.
- 1/17/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Archer Gray Partner Vinay Singh has been promoted to CEO at the media company, known for such projects as the Oscar-nominated Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the Tony-winning musical Once and the SXSW-winning documentary, Transmilitary.
Singh has been with Archer Gray since 2015, previously serving as the company’s COO and Vice-Chair. He takes over the CEO post from Amy Nauiokas, the Wall Street exec and investor who launched the company in 2010 and will now focus on her role as its Chair. In his new role, Singh will oversee a rapidly expanding media business, which now spans scripted and unscripted content, live experiences, and brand and retail strategy. He will, at the same time, guide the company’s launch of a venture studio focused on talent-led brands and experiences, reporting to Nauiokas.
During his time at Archer Gray, Singh has directed investments in disruptive media companies like Sharegrid, the production...
Singh has been with Archer Gray since 2015, previously serving as the company’s COO and Vice-Chair. He takes over the CEO post from Amy Nauiokas, the Wall Street exec and investor who launched the company in 2010 and will now focus on her role as its Chair. In his new role, Singh will oversee a rapidly expanding media business, which now spans scripted and unscripted content, live experiences, and brand and retail strategy. He will, at the same time, guide the company’s launch of a venture studio focused on talent-led brands and experiences, reporting to Nauiokas.
During his time at Archer Gray, Singh has directed investments in disruptive media companies like Sharegrid, the production...
- 1/12/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Gabriel Byrne, most recently seen in the acclaimed Hereditary, has joined the Netflix true crime film Lost Girls, along with Lola Kirke (Mozart in the Jungle), Miriam Shor (Younger), Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace), Oona Laurence (The Beguiled), Reed Birney (House of Cards), Kevin Corrigan (Dice), Rosal Colon (Orange is the New Black) and Dean Winters (John Wick).
Oscar nominee Amy Ryan was previously announced as the lead. Prior to Netflix, the project was setup at Amazon Studios with Sarah Paulson attached to headline.
Liz Garbus (What Happened Miss Simone?) is directing the pic, which will be her first narrative feature. The plot is based on Robert Kolker’s nonfiction book of the same name, adapted by Michael Werwie.
The story centers on Mari Gilbert as she relentlessly drives law enforcement agents to search for her missing daughter and in the process sheds light on a wave of unsolved murders...
Oscar nominee Amy Ryan was previously announced as the lead. Prior to Netflix, the project was setup at Amazon Studios with Sarah Paulson attached to headline.
Liz Garbus (What Happened Miss Simone?) is directing the pic, which will be her first narrative feature. The plot is based on Robert Kolker’s nonfiction book of the same name, adapted by Michael Werwie.
The story centers on Mari Gilbert as she relentlessly drives law enforcement agents to search for her missing daughter and in the process sheds light on a wave of unsolved murders...
- 10/26/2018
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Each year Variety’s New Leaders feature profiles the most prominent up-and-comers in the entertainment business. To determine this year’s worthies, Variety looked across disciplines, from television, digital, music and film, to law and finance, as well as content creators. They were proposed by their bosses and peers who have worked with them and seen their rise. All are age 40 or under, and Variety has measured them by the progress of their career trajectories: do they take calculated risks? How fast have they risen in their companies? Are they innovative and employ solutions to problems that are creative? As part of the salute to the qualities that keep the town humming, filmmaker/producer Travis Knight, who founded Laika Studios and is also being honored with Variety’s Creative Leadership Award. The New Leaders, Variety’s 10 Asis finishing up the anticipated “Bumblebee” for Paramount, as well as Variety‘s 10 Assistants...
- 10/17/2018
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
In its second acquisition of the Sundance Film Festival, Phase 4 Films has picked up rights to David Andalman and Mariko Munro’s “Milkshake,” which had its world premiere in the Next <=> section on Jan. 20. The company acquired North American rights to Shaka King’s feature debut “Newlyweeds,” also a Next selection, over the weekend. “Milkshake” will screen theatrically and then on VOD as part of Phase 4’s Kevin Smith Movie Club. Tyler Ross, Shareeka Epps, Georgia Ford, Eshan Bay, Leo Fitzpatrick and Danny Burstein star in the story of a white, self-styled thug in mid-’90s suburban DC trying to be black. Munro wrote the screenplay with Andalman, and the two of them produced. Vinay Singh and Jason Sosnoff are executive producers. "I love Milkshake!” said Smith. “There: have fun at the fat guy's expense. As a guy who shopped at Oak Tree for most of the 90's, the.
- 1/28/2013
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
Us in Progress in Wrocław Poland is the only international event I know of which awards American independent films in post-production with cash awards worth Us$ 40,000 and distribution support. This two-day works-in-progress event is targeted to European buyers and as such gives American independent filmmakers the chance to expand their horizons when looking for financing and international distribution.
The event takes place during the third American Film Festival in Wrocław, Poland on November 14-16. It shows a selection of U.S. independent films seeking completion funding to a group of European buyers, programmers and post-production companies in a series of closed screenings.
Titles selected for this year’s edition are: I Used To Be Darker by Matt Porterfield (prod. Steve Holmgren & Ryan Zacharias), Milkshake by David Andalman (prod. Vinay Singh), Bluebird by Lance Edmands (prod. Kyle Martin) which was in both the Sundance Creative Producing Lab and the Directing Lab, A Song Still Inside by Gregory Collins (prod. Patricia Beaury & Rodrigo Lopresti) and two Ifp Labs titles: Cantuckee by Kimberly Levin (prod. Kurt Pitzer), Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Carbone (prod. Matthew Petock).
Around 25 key European buyers will attend the event, among them Wild Bunch (France), Artificial Eye (U.K.), The Works (U.K.), Reel Suspects (France), Sophie Dulac Distribution (France), Imagine Film (Belgium), Gutek Film and Polsat . Programmers from Berlin, Cannes and Locarno Film Festivals will also be present.
The projects will have a chance to find a world sales agent and distributor as well as secure post-production partners at the event. A jury made of professionals will award one of the works in progress with a package of post-production services from partner companies including Di service worth $10,000.00 at Platige Image, a leading Polish post-production and special effects company, up to 150 hours of sound editing or soundtrack at Warsaw-based Soundflower Studio worth $10,000.00, post-production services by the Krakow-based Alvernia Studios worth up to $10.000. Another award will contribute to the promotion and distribution of a film provided by DCinex (Dcp worth $5,000), Vsi Paris (subtitling), Europa Distribution and Cicae, the Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas. One producer will also receive free registration at Producers Network, an exclusive network of Meet-and-Greet, during Cannes Marche du Film.
Us in Progress Wrocław (formerly Gotham in Progress) was started in 2011 in Wrocław, Poland by the New Horizons Association and Black Rabbit Film. In 2012, the event expanded to Paris, where it was part of Sophie Dulac’s Champs-Elysées Film Festival. 2011 Wrocław edition’s success stories include Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin’s Now, Forager: a Film About Love and Fungi which went on to Rotterdam Film Festival, New Directors/New Films and is now in U.S. distribution via Argot Pictures. Roger Ebert says, "***½ The images of wild mushrooms by Cortlund himself and the shots of food prep by cinematographer Jonathan Nastasi, approach art. Now, Forager is an uncompromising film about two people who don't deserve each other...." The title was sold for distribution to 8 other countries by New Europe Film Sales.
Amy Seimetz' Sun Don’t Shine won the Jury Award at SXSW and played in Edinburgh Iff. Patricia Benoit's Stones in the Sun played Tribeca and won Best New Narrative Director and Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival. Us in Progress Us$ 60,000 prize winner, Devyn Waitt’s Not Waving But Drowning has Sarasota Ff and was picked up for world sales by Premium Films. The winning film of the Paris edition, Champs Elysees Film Festival, was A Teacher by Hannah Fidell.
Us in Progress runs concurrently with the American Film Festival which will be honoring Wes Anderson whose Moonrise Kingdom will have its Polish premiere and Jerry Schatzberg, the legendary director and accomplished photographer who will receive the annual Indie Star award, given by the festival to helmers of American independent cinema (first one given to Todd Solondz in 2011). The festival will screen his most important films including Puzzle of a Downfall Child, The Panic in Needle Park and Scarecrow.
The event takes place during the third American Film Festival in Wrocław, Poland on November 14-16. It shows a selection of U.S. independent films seeking completion funding to a group of European buyers, programmers and post-production companies in a series of closed screenings.
Titles selected for this year’s edition are: I Used To Be Darker by Matt Porterfield (prod. Steve Holmgren & Ryan Zacharias), Milkshake by David Andalman (prod. Vinay Singh), Bluebird by Lance Edmands (prod. Kyle Martin) which was in both the Sundance Creative Producing Lab and the Directing Lab, A Song Still Inside by Gregory Collins (prod. Patricia Beaury & Rodrigo Lopresti) and two Ifp Labs titles: Cantuckee by Kimberly Levin (prod. Kurt Pitzer), Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Carbone (prod. Matthew Petock).
Around 25 key European buyers will attend the event, among them Wild Bunch (France), Artificial Eye (U.K.), The Works (U.K.), Reel Suspects (France), Sophie Dulac Distribution (France), Imagine Film (Belgium), Gutek Film and Polsat . Programmers from Berlin, Cannes and Locarno Film Festivals will also be present.
The projects will have a chance to find a world sales agent and distributor as well as secure post-production partners at the event. A jury made of professionals will award one of the works in progress with a package of post-production services from partner companies including Di service worth $10,000.00 at Platige Image, a leading Polish post-production and special effects company, up to 150 hours of sound editing or soundtrack at Warsaw-based Soundflower Studio worth $10,000.00, post-production services by the Krakow-based Alvernia Studios worth up to $10.000. Another award will contribute to the promotion and distribution of a film provided by DCinex (Dcp worth $5,000), Vsi Paris (subtitling), Europa Distribution and Cicae, the Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas. One producer will also receive free registration at Producers Network, an exclusive network of Meet-and-Greet, during Cannes Marche du Film.
Us in Progress Wrocław (formerly Gotham in Progress) was started in 2011 in Wrocław, Poland by the New Horizons Association and Black Rabbit Film. In 2012, the event expanded to Paris, where it was part of Sophie Dulac’s Champs-Elysées Film Festival. 2011 Wrocław edition’s success stories include Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin’s Now, Forager: a Film About Love and Fungi which went on to Rotterdam Film Festival, New Directors/New Films and is now in U.S. distribution via Argot Pictures. Roger Ebert says, "***½ The images of wild mushrooms by Cortlund himself and the shots of food prep by cinematographer Jonathan Nastasi, approach art. Now, Forager is an uncompromising film about two people who don't deserve each other...." The title was sold for distribution to 8 other countries by New Europe Film Sales.
Amy Seimetz' Sun Don’t Shine won the Jury Award at SXSW and played in Edinburgh Iff. Patricia Benoit's Stones in the Sun played Tribeca and won Best New Narrative Director and Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival. Us in Progress Us$ 60,000 prize winner, Devyn Waitt’s Not Waving But Drowning has Sarasota Ff and was picked up for world sales by Premium Films. The winning film of the Paris edition, Champs Elysees Film Festival, was A Teacher by Hannah Fidell.
Us in Progress runs concurrently with the American Film Festival which will be honoring Wes Anderson whose Moonrise Kingdom will have its Polish premiere and Jerry Schatzberg, the legendary director and accomplished photographer who will receive the annual Indie Star award, given by the festival to helmers of American independent cinema (first one given to Todd Solondz in 2011). The festival will screen his most important films including Puzzle of a Downfall Child, The Panic in Needle Park and Scarecrow.
- 10/19/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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