Entertainment : Motion Picture : Finance
Former Sony execs offer advice for H'wood
Two former top execs of Sony Pictures Entertainment will lead a potentially watershed new Hollywood consulting venture for JPMorgan. Former SPE president Alan Levine and the studio's one-time co-president Ken Lemberger will be based at the investment bank's longtime headquarters in Century City, where the initiative will complement film-finance operations. John Miller, veteran managing director of JPMorgan Securities in Los Angeles, will have ultimate responsibility over both the film-finance operations, known as JPMorgan's Entertainment Industries Group, and the new consulting unit, JPMorgan Entertainment Advisors.
Apr 23, 2007, 10:55

Entertainment : Motion Picture : Finance
Friedman, Wachsberger form studio
Armed with more than $1 billion in funding from Merrill Lynch and other investors, former Paramount Pictures COO Rob Friedman and Summit Entertainment president and CEO Patrick Wachsberger are launching a new Summit Entertainment Llc., a studio set to produce, acquire, market and domestically distribute films. Friedman will be CEO and Wachsberger will serve as president of the studio, with both sharing the title of co-chairman. The company has absorbed the production, distribution and international sales outfit of the same name and will continue to function as a sales agent for its own films and outside projects through its new arm, Summit International. Wachsberger will lead that division as CEO. Heading the company's executive team are three Summit veterans: COO Robert Hayward, production and acquisitions president Erik Feig and senior executive vp David Garrett, who will serve as president of Summit International. Ron Hohauser will join the team as CFO. Each year, the company plans to produce about eight films for worldwide distribution and acquire about four films for distribution domestically and in other territories. Titles are expected to range from $15 million-$60 million in a wide variety of genres that Friedman described as "studio commercial fare."
Apr 20, 2007, 10:32

Entertainment : Motion Picture : Finance
Cotter in film funding venture
Colin Cotter and financial services company Citi are forming a full-service film production and finance company called Continental Entertainment Group (CEG). CEG will consist of two units, Continental Pictures, a global sales company, and Continental Entertainment Capital (CEC), which will provide film distributors, producers and developers with a full suite of financial services. Benjamin Waisbren, who was managing director at Stark Investments, will head CEC as president and CEO out of New York. D. Jeffrey Andrick, previously of Comerica, has joined CEC as managing director and will run its Los Angeles office. CEC will offer a wide range of financial products, including equity, structured finance, gap loans, mezzanine financing, P&A funding and debt-replacement loans.
Apr 19, 2007, 10:00