1 December, 2003
By Ian Mohr and Stuart Kemp
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Ed Pressman and John Schmidt’s 2-year-old ContentFilm unit is expected to unveil a reverse takeover of financially embattled U.K.-based production, distribution, and financial banner Winchester Entertainment.
Through the deal, Winchester will be absorbed into the ContentFilm fold, but remain based in the United Kingdom, retaining its Alternative Investment Market listing.
Pressman and Schmidt will serve as joint CEOs of the enlarged combined company, which has as its lead investor private equity firm Syntek Capital. Former Universal executive Frank Biondi also is a ContentFilm investor, and various Winchester backers are expected to further invest after the merger.
Jamie Carmichael, the head of ContentFilm’s sales arm, is expected to oversee the newly combined sales divisions.
ContentFilm’s feature credits include Party Monster, The Guys, and Lions Gate Entertainment’s current domestic release The Cooler, starring Alec Baldwin, William H. Macy, and Maria Bello. The company’s upcoming slate includes Never Die Alone, starring rapper-actor DMX; All the Real Girls helmer David Gordon Green’s Undertow, starring Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney, and Jamie Bell; and a remake of the 1968 Burt Lancaster classic The Swimmer, with Baldwin taking the lead role.
