ContentFilm today announces that it has joined forces with Room 9 Entertainment, the North American production company launched by the former Chief Operating Officer of PayPal, Inc., David Sacks, to co-finance and co-produce two feature films that will begin shooting in the coming months. The films will be the first announced productions with ContentFilm’s financing partner, Entertainment Investor, LLP. The first film to go into production will be the big-screen adaptation of “Thank You For Smoking”, from the much acclaimed novel by political satirist, Christopher Buckley. David Sacks and Room 9 have been developing an adaptation of the novel since acquiring the property from AOL Time Warner, Inc.’s Warner Bros. studio. Jason Reitman, an award-winning short film and commercial director wrote the screenplay and will make this his feature-directing debut. Aaron Eckhart, who has starred in such films as “In The Company of Men,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Possession” and “Paycheck” will play the lead role. The companies are working towards a start date in the first quarter of 2005. ContentFilm and Room 9 will also co-finance and co-produce the teen comedy “Queen Lara,” a contemporary re-working of “King Lear” as a high school comedy of manners. The script by Nicholas Thurkettle was originally purchased and developed by Room 9. A dark comedy in the vein of “Heathers”, “Clueless” and “Mean Girls,” the story involves a tyrannical teen queen who gets her just desserts when she divides her kingdom among her three henchmen. “Queen Lara” will be directed by Lev L. Spiro, widely renowned for his work on the TV series “The O.C.” and “Dawsons Creek”. The companies are casting the film with an ensemble of teen stars for a summer start date. Announcing the partnership, Edward R. Pressman and John Schmidt, ContentFilm’s Joint Chief Executives said: “We are very happy to be going into business with David Sacks and Room 9. David’s passion for these smart comedies and his determination to produce them for a reasonable cost is directly in line with ContentFilm’s new business plan. We are also pleased to announce these two films as the inaugural projects with our financial partner, Entertainment Investor. We expect to announce several more projects in the coming months which will fill out their slate.” Room 9’s CEO, David Sacks added: “I am delighted to be partnering with Ed Pressman and John Schmidt. Their track record of making highly original and respected independent films will bring an added level of experience and validation to these projects.” — For information, please call: Tim Allan, Portland 020 7404 5344
Notes to editors:
- ContentFilm plc is a film production, sales and finance company operating in London, New York and Los Angeles. Its shares are traded on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange (“AIM”). ContentFilm has the ability to finance and produce a full range of films, from the smaller budget films that it has produced since it was established in September 2001 to larger scale productions such as “Thank You for Smoking” and “Queen Lara.”ContentFilm will partner on these two new productions with Entertainment Investor, LLP and its principals, Bill Gerhauser and Bradley Adams. The company also recently completed principal photography on the drama “The King,” starring Gael García Bernal and William Hurt. Other ContentFilm productions include “The Cooler,” the acclaimed dark romance starring William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin, for which Alec Baldwin was nominated for an Academy Award, “House of Sand and Fog” which received two Academy Award nominations, and “Open Range” a Kevin Costner film which generated around $60m at the US box office. United Artists also recently released David Gordon Green’s new film, “Undertow”, starring Dermot Mulroney, Josh Lucas and Jamie Bell.
For more information on ContentFilm plc, please go to www.contentfilm.com
- Room 9 Entertainment was formed in December 2002 by entrepreneur David Sacks and his partners from PayPal, Inc., the online money transfer service that David Sacks helped to create and lead as COO to a US$1.5 billion acquisition by eBay Inc. in October 2002. The company has an equity fund to develop, produce, and finance high quality independent films. In addition to “Thank You For Smoking” and “Queen Lara,” the company is developing several other projects which it has optioned or acquired since its inception.
