On Thursday, May 16, Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), in collaboration with leading daytime community voices Alan Locher and Michael Fairman, will come together for a first-of-its-kind livestream event, Daytime Stands Up: A Benefit for Stand Up To Cancer … We All Have a Story.
The three-hour benefit will feature stars from the world of daytime drama television past and present, musical performances, and stories of emotional on- and off-screen experiences with cancer. Special celebrity guests will also join the effort to encourage viewers to support urgently needed research and new cancer treatments.
Daytime Stands Up will stream live between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Et / 5 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Pt on Alan Locher and Michael Fairman’s YouTube channels, The Locher Room and Michael Fairman Channel; as well as StandUpToCancer.org/DaytimeStandsUp.
“Daytime television invites viewers into the private lives of characters, often bringing important issues like cancer...
The three-hour benefit will feature stars from the world of daytime drama television past and present, musical performances, and stories of emotional on- and off-screen experiences with cancer. Special celebrity guests will also join the effort to encourage viewers to support urgently needed research and new cancer treatments.
Daytime Stands Up will stream live between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Et / 5 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Pt on Alan Locher and Michael Fairman’s YouTube channels, The Locher Room and Michael Fairman Channel; as well as StandUpToCancer.org/DaytimeStandsUp.
“Daytime television invites viewers into the private lives of characters, often bringing important issues like cancer...
- 5/7/2024
- Look to the Stars
"The Last Full Measure" is a new war drama, written/directed by Todd Robinson. starring Sebastian Stan ("The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"), Christopher Plummer ("The Silent Partner") , William Hurt ("Altered States") and Jeremy Irvine ("Treadstone"), opening January 17, 2020:
"...fifty-three years after his death, 'Airman William H. Pitsenbarger, Jr.' aka 'Pits'...
"...is awarded the nation's highest military honor for his actions on the battlefield..."
Cast also includes James Jagger, LisaGay Hamilton, Michael Imperioli, Diane Ladd, Amy Madigan, Linus Roache, Alison Sudol, Bradley Whitford, John Savage, Cody Walker, Dale Dye, Richard Cawthorne and Julian Adams.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Last Full Measure"...
"...fifty-three years after his death, 'Airman William H. Pitsenbarger, Jr.' aka 'Pits'...
"...is awarded the nation's highest military honor for his actions on the battlefield..."
Cast also includes James Jagger, LisaGay Hamilton, Michael Imperioli, Diane Ladd, Amy Madigan, Linus Roache, Alison Sudol, Bradley Whitford, John Savage, Cody Walker, Dale Dye, Richard Cawthorne and Julian Adams.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Last Full Measure"...
- 1/5/2020
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
"The Last Full Measure" is a new war drama, written and directed by Todd Robinson. starring Sebastian Stan (aka Marvel's 'Winter Soldier'), Christopher Plummer, William Hurt ("Altered States") and Jeremy Irvine, opening January 17, 2020:
"...fifty-three years after his death, 'Airman William H. Pitsenbarger, Jr.' aka 'Pits'...
"...is awarded the nation's highest military honor for his actions on the battlefield..."
Cast also includes James Jagger, LisaGay Hamilton, Michael Imperioli, Diane Ladd, Amy Madigan, Linus Roache, Alison Sudol, Bradley Whitford, John Savage, Cody Walker, Dale Dye, Richard Cawthorne and Julian Adams.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Last Full Measure"...
"...fifty-three years after his death, 'Airman William H. Pitsenbarger, Jr.' aka 'Pits'...
"...is awarded the nation's highest military honor for his actions on the battlefield..."
Cast also includes James Jagger, LisaGay Hamilton, Michael Imperioli, Diane Ladd, Amy Madigan, Linus Roache, Alison Sudol, Bradley Whitford, John Savage, Cody Walker, Dale Dye, Richard Cawthorne and Julian Adams.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Last Full Measure"...
- 10/17/2019
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Foresight Unlimited represents international sales on Vietnam War-related drama.
Jeremy Irvine, Ethan Russell, Ser’Darius Blain, Zach Roerig, and Cody Walker have joined Todd Robinson’s The Last Full Measure.
Mark Damon’s Foresight Unlimited handles international sales and serves as producer alongside Provocator and Sss Entertainment on the project.
Production has wrapped in Atlanta and relocates to Thailand where the young cast will go through boot camp in preparation for the action sequences.
The new additions join lead Sebastian Stan as a Pentagon investigator working on the case of a Medal Of Honor candidate to be played by Irvine (pictured) who served many years earlier as a pararescue officer in the Vietnam War.
Previously announced cast includes Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda, Amy Madigan, Bradley Whitford, James Jagger, John Savage, Michael Imperioli, Linus Roache, LisaGay Hamilton, Robert Pine, and Alison Sudol.
“As The Last Full Measure moves into the Vietnam battle stage of...
Jeremy Irvine, Ethan Russell, Ser’Darius Blain, Zach Roerig, and Cody Walker have joined Todd Robinson’s The Last Full Measure.
Mark Damon’s Foresight Unlimited handles international sales and serves as producer alongside Provocator and Sss Entertainment on the project.
Production has wrapped in Atlanta and relocates to Thailand where the young cast will go through boot camp in preparation for the action sequences.
The new additions join lead Sebastian Stan as a Pentagon investigator working on the case of a Medal Of Honor candidate to be played by Irvine (pictured) who served many years earlier as a pararescue officer in the Vietnam War.
Previously announced cast includes Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda, Amy Madigan, Bradley Whitford, James Jagger, John Savage, Michael Imperioli, Linus Roache, LisaGay Hamilton, Robert Pine, and Alison Sudol.
“As The Last Full Measure moves into the Vietnam battle stage of...
- 8/1/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Westworld star boards Pentagon drama.
Westworld star Ed Harris is the latest prestige element to join drama The Last Full Measure, which Foresight Unlimited is selling here at the market.
Director Todd Robinson is currently shooting the film in Atlanta and Costa Rica. Sebastian Stan leads the cast as a Pentagon official investigating the record of a dead Vietnam War rescue officer eligible for the Medal Of Honor.
Harris will play a survivor from the war who is interviewed by the Pentagon investigator.
Harris is riding high on the back of rave reviews for Westworld and will be seen later this year in Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!
Christopher Plummer, William Hurt, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda, Grant Gustin, Michael Imperioli, Diane Ladd and Bradley Whitford also star.
The producers roster includes Timothy Scott Bogart, Foresight Unlimited head Mark Damon, Nicholas Cafritz, Robert Reed Peterson, Shaun Sanghani, Louis Steyn, T.J. Steyn, Julian Adams, [link...
Westworld star Ed Harris is the latest prestige element to join drama The Last Full Measure, which Foresight Unlimited is selling here at the market.
Director Todd Robinson is currently shooting the film in Atlanta and Costa Rica. Sebastian Stan leads the cast as a Pentagon official investigating the record of a dead Vietnam War rescue officer eligible for the Medal Of Honor.
Harris will play a survivor from the war who is interviewed by the Pentagon investigator.
Harris is riding high on the back of rave reviews for Westworld and will be seen later this year in Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!
Christopher Plummer, William Hurt, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda, Grant Gustin, Michael Imperioli, Diane Ladd and Bradley Whitford also star.
The producers roster includes Timothy Scott Bogart, Foresight Unlimited head Mark Damon, Nicholas Cafritz, Robert Reed Peterson, Shaun Sanghani, Louis Steyn, T.J. Steyn, Julian Adams, [link...
- 5/19/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Principal Photography set to begin this month in Atlanta and Costa Rica.
Foresight Unlimited announced the development on Wednesday as Jackson has joined lead Sebastian Stan, Christopher Plummer and William Hurt on the drama.
Bradley Whitford, Michael Imperioli and Linus Roache round out the key cast on The Last Full Measure, which Todd Robinson is directing from his screenplay.
The story follows a Pentagon investigator who teams up with Vietnam War veterans to ensure Air Force medic William Pitsenbarger is posthumously awarded the Medal Of Honor.
Timothy Scott Bogart, Mark Damon, Lauren Selig, Julian Adams, Nicholas Cafritz, Robert Reed Peterson and Shaun Sanghani are producing, with Tamara Birkemoe, Jenna Sanz-Agero and Sidney Sherman on board as executive producers.
Foresight Unlimited handles international sales and produces in association with Provocator and Sss Entertainment.
Foresight Unlimited’s Mark Damon said: “When I read Todd Robinson’s exceptionally moving script and heard the real-life interviews of the many men whom...
Foresight Unlimited announced the development on Wednesday as Jackson has joined lead Sebastian Stan, Christopher Plummer and William Hurt on the drama.
Bradley Whitford, Michael Imperioli and Linus Roache round out the key cast on The Last Full Measure, which Todd Robinson is directing from his screenplay.
The story follows a Pentagon investigator who teams up with Vietnam War veterans to ensure Air Force medic William Pitsenbarger is posthumously awarded the Medal Of Honor.
Timothy Scott Bogart, Mark Damon, Lauren Selig, Julian Adams, Nicholas Cafritz, Robert Reed Peterson and Shaun Sanghani are producing, with Tamara Birkemoe, Jenna Sanz-Agero and Sidney Sherman on board as executive producers.
Foresight Unlimited handles international sales and produces in association with Provocator and Sss Entertainment.
Foresight Unlimited’s Mark Damon said: “When I read Todd Robinson’s exceptionally moving script and heard the real-life interviews of the many men whom...
- 3/8/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Mark Damon and Tamara Birkemoe will start pre-sales on the Croisette this week on the drama starring Scott Eastwood and Ed Harris.
Laurence Fishburne is in final negotiations and Morgan Freeman in discussions to join The Last Full Measure, which Todd Robinson will direct from his screenplay.
Principal photography is scheduled to commence in September on the true story that follows efforts by a Pentagon investigator who teams up with Vietnam War veterans to posthumously award Air Force medic William Pitsenbarger the Medal Of Honor.
Lauren Selig, John Watson, Pen Densham, Julian Adams, Howard Burd and Foresight’s Mark Damon will produce, while Foresight’s Tamara Birkemoe serves as executive producer with Sidney Sherman.
Eastwood will be seen this summer in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad for Warner Bros and Oliver Stone’s Snowden for Open Road Films.
Harris recently wrapped production on the Untitled Warren Beatty Project for New Regency Pictures and 20th Century Fox, and...
Laurence Fishburne is in final negotiations and Morgan Freeman in discussions to join The Last Full Measure, which Todd Robinson will direct from his screenplay.
Principal photography is scheduled to commence in September on the true story that follows efforts by a Pentagon investigator who teams up with Vietnam War veterans to posthumously award Air Force medic William Pitsenbarger the Medal Of Honor.
Lauren Selig, John Watson, Pen Densham, Julian Adams, Howard Burd and Foresight’s Mark Damon will produce, while Foresight’s Tamara Birkemoe serves as executive producer with Sidney Sherman.
Eastwood will be seen this summer in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad for Warner Bros and Oliver Stone’s Snowden for Open Road Films.
Harris recently wrapped production on the Untitled Warren Beatty Project for New Regency Pictures and 20th Century Fox, and...
- 5/9/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Scott Eastwood and Ed Harris are set while Laurence Fishburne and Morgan Freeman are in final negotiations to star in "The Last Full Measure" which is being penned and directed by Emmy Award winner Todd Robinson ("The Legend of Billy the Kid").
Based on the true story of a present day cover-up investigation, the story follows young Pentagon investigator Scott Huffman (Eastwood) as he battles the political machine in Washington. He reluctantly teams with veterans of Operation Abilene to convince Congress to award the Medal of Honor to a courageous Air Force medic who sacrificed his life saving more than sixty soldiers in the Vietnam War.
Lauren Selig, John Watson, Pen Denham, Julian Adams, Howard Brud and Mark Damon will produce and shooting begins in September.
Eastwood will appear later this summer in "Suicide Squad," this Fall in "Snowden," potentially later this year in Warren Beatty's still untitled Howard Hughes film,...
Based on the true story of a present day cover-up investigation, the story follows young Pentagon investigator Scott Huffman (Eastwood) as he battles the political machine in Washington. He reluctantly teams with veterans of Operation Abilene to convince Congress to award the Medal of Honor to a courageous Air Force medic who sacrificed his life saving more than sixty soldiers in the Vietnam War.
Lauren Selig, John Watson, Pen Denham, Julian Adams, Howard Brud and Mark Damon will produce and shooting begins in September.
Eastwood will appear later this summer in "Suicide Squad," this Fall in "Snowden," potentially later this year in Warren Beatty's still untitled Howard Hughes film,...
- 5/9/2016
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Exclusive: Fast-rising Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad) and Ed Harris (Pollock) will star in The Last Full Measure for Emmy winner Todd Robinson (The Legend Of Billy The Kid), who directs based on his screenplay. Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) is in final negotiations to board the project with Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) also in discussions to star. Production is set to begin this September. Lauren Selig, John Watson, Pen Densham, Julian Adams, Howard Burd and Mark…...
- 5/9/2016
- Deadline
In the new Cold War submarine thriller "Phantom," David Duchovny plays a special forces Kgb agent whose mission aboard the sub captained by Ed Harris -- who's on his last command before retiring -- could start World War III. Duchovny sat down with Moviefone to discuss tattoo confusion, his dislike of unitards, and forgetting the submarine-themed episode of "The X-Files" he shot back in the '90s. Moviefone: I just saw Ed Harris in the hallway. I felt like I should salute. David Duchovny: I feel the same way. You punch Ed Harris in one scene. How many takes did you do of that? I don't think I had to punch Ed too often. He got me back, he slams my head into the periscope and that was an actual hit. I also got talking with naval expert Ken Sewell downstairs, who was the technical advisor on the film.
- 3/1/2013
- by Tim Hayne
- Moviefone
Title: Phantom Director: Todd Robinson Starring: Ed Harris, Julian Adams and David Duchovny Reviewed by Philip Barrett and Justin Webb Philip Barrett: Phantom is depressing, but not from anything the film does. No, Todd Robinson’s latest saddens the soul because such absurd filmmaking will be receiving a wide release. How anyone at Rcr thought this needed to be released in theaters is beyond me. It boggles the mind how talent like Ed Harris, David Duchovny, and William Fitchner thought this would be a good career move. To really sum it up, this movie should have stayed underwater like the submarines in this film. Justin Webb: I’d agree with that assessment. [ Read More ]
The post Phantom Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Phantom Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 2/28/2013
- by philip
- ShockYa
Todd Robinson's Phantom submarine thriller has added fresh images to the gallery. The film stars Ed Harris, David Duchovny and William Fichtner. This is quite a solid cast, including names like Lance Henriksen, Johnathon Schaech, Jason Beghe, Dagmara Dominczyk, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jason Gray-Stanford, Julian Adams and Kip Pardue. The trailer was really enjoyable, and this could be quite an entertaining watch when its March 1st release date hits. Pic's distributed by Rcr Distribution, and finds over 2,000 theaters. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much promotion for the film as far as I can tell, so I don't expect Phantom to turn in any massive box office figures. I'll catch the movie if I can.
- 2/24/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Todd Robinson's Phantom submarine thriller has added fresh images to the gallery. The film stars Ed Harris, David Duchovny and William Fichtner. This is quite a solid cast, including names like Lance Henriksen, Johnathon Schaech, Jason Beghe, Dagmara Dominczyk, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jason Gray-Stanford, Julian Adams and Kip Pardue. The trailer was really enjoyable, and this could be quite an entertaining watch when its March 1st release date hits. Pic's distributed by Rcr Distribution, and finds over 2,000 theaters. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much promotion for the film as far as I can tell, so I don't expect Phantom to turn in any massive box office figures. I'll catch the movie if I can.
- 2/24/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Here's the first trailer for a great looking Submarine war film called Phantom, which stars Ed Harris and David Duchovny. I enjoy these kinds of films, and this one has a solid cast of actors. Duchovny doesn't get enough good movie roles, so hopefully this turns out to be a good movie for him. I'm definitely interested in checking it out!
Ed Harris plays the captain of a Cold War Soviet missile submarine who has secretly been suffering from seizures that alter his perception of reality. Forced to leave his wife and daughter, he is rushed into a classified mission, where he is haunted by his past and challenged by a rogue Kgb group (led by David Duchovny) bent on seizing control of the ship's nuclear missile. With the fate of humanity in his hands, Harris discovers he has been chosen for this mission in the belief he would fail.
Ed Harris plays the captain of a Cold War Soviet missile submarine who has secretly been suffering from seizures that alter his perception of reality. Forced to leave his wife and daughter, he is rushed into a classified mission, where he is haunted by his past and challenged by a rogue Kgb group (led by David Duchovny) bent on seizing control of the ship's nuclear missile. With the fate of humanity in his hands, Harris discovers he has been chosen for this mission in the belief he would fail.
- 12/24/2012
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
"The X-Files" and "Californication" star David Duchovny has signed on for the indie Cold War-era Soviet submarine thriller "Phantom" reports Variety.
Duchovny will portray the leader of the Soviet special forces team aboard the submarine, whose mission is cloaked in mystery.
Duchovny replaces the originally cast Andy Garcia. Ed Harris, William Fichtner and Natascha McElhone also star.
Todd Robinson ("Lonely Hearts") will direct from his own script with shooting kicking off next month in Long Beach. John Watson, Pen Densham and Julian Adams will produce.
Duchovny will portray the leader of the Soviet special forces team aboard the submarine, whose mission is cloaked in mystery.
Duchovny replaces the originally cast Andy Garcia. Ed Harris, William Fichtner and Natascha McElhone also star.
Todd Robinson ("Lonely Hearts") will direct from his own script with shooting kicking off next month in Long Beach. John Watson, Pen Densham and Julian Adams will produce.
- 9/28/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
David Duchovny has joined the cast of Phantom, an indie submarine thriller. Variety reports that the X-Files actor will star opposite Ed Harris, William Fichtner and Natascha McElhone. The film takes place on "a Soviet submarine during the Cold War," and will be shot on location in Long Beach, Calif., in October. Phantom will be direced by Todd Robinson (Lonely Hearts) from a script he wrote.
Duchovny will play the "leader of the Soviet Special Forces team aboard the submarine, whose mission is cloaked in mystery." Andy Garcia was attached to star inn the part, but had to drop out. The film is being produced by John Watson, Pen Densham and Julian Adams. Rcr Media Group principals Rui Costa Reis and Eliad Josephson are exec producing. Phantom gained Rcr Media came as co-financier and producer in August. The film is set to be distributed domestically by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisition Group.
Duchovny will play the "leader of the Soviet Special Forces team aboard the submarine, whose mission is cloaked in mystery." Andy Garcia was attached to star inn the part, but had to drop out. The film is being produced by John Watson, Pen Densham and Julian Adams. Rcr Media Group principals Rui Costa Reis and Eliad Josephson are exec producing. Phantom gained Rcr Media came as co-financier and producer in August. The film is set to be distributed domestically by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisition Group.
- 9/27/2011
- by Tiberius
- GeekTyrant
What looms below? A new horror thriller is being developed by K5 Media Group titled Phantom. Terror takes place on a haunted submarine hundreds of feet below the surface. How do you escape a haunted submarine? Ed Harris and Andy Garcia will star, in what is surely a thrilling feature. Also, fans of horror in the deep will not have to wait long as Phantom is set to release in 2012. Enjoy the first poster art for the film here, with cast and crew details below.
The synopsis for Phantom is here:"The haunted Captain of a Soviet submarine holds the fate of the world in his hands. On a seemingly haunted vessel, with a rogue element on board, Captain Zubov is forced to face his past in order to find redemption in the present. But, in the depths of the South Pacific, man and machine are not alone" (Phantom).
Release Date: 2012.
Director/writer: Todd Robinson.
The synopsis for Phantom is here:"The haunted Captain of a Soviet submarine holds the fate of the world in his hands. On a seemingly haunted vessel, with a rogue element on board, Captain Zubov is forced to face his past in order to find redemption in the present. But, in the depths of the South Pacific, man and machine are not alone" (Phantom).
Release Date: 2012.
Director/writer: Todd Robinson.
- 8/8/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Allen)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
Clive Owen will star in Shadow Dancer, a BBC Films coproduction that will be directed by Man on Wire helmer James Marsh, with production to begin in Dublin later this month. Wild Bunch will sell international territories at Cannes, and Paramount Pictures has signed on to distribute in the UK. The film also stars Andrea Riseborough, Aidan Gillen and Gillian Anderson. Tom Bradby adapted his novel. The focus is an Ira sympathizer who is arrested after an aborted bombing attempt in London and has to decide whether to turn against her cause or spend her life in prison. Owen plays the MI5 officer trying to turn her. Chris Coen, Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney are producing, with BBC Films' Joe Oppenheimer exec producer. ... Writer and director Todd Robinson's Phantom will be sold at Cannes by K5. Andy Garcia, William Fichtner, Ed Harris and Natascha McElhone are starring. Pic's...
- 5/4/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
He's been called an unabashed Hollywood hustler. Sordid tales of unpaid vendors, lawsuits, layoffs and movie shutdowns have dogged him in the year and a half since he took over specialty distributor ThinkFilm and foreign sales agent Capitol Film.
Yet David Bergstein is unperturbed.
"There is always an adjective that precedes us: 'Beleaguered,' 'financially distressed,' " Bergstein said recently from his plush new offices in the Fox Plaza in Century City, with a hint of an accent from his native New York. "And none of these people know anything."
What is known is that after a summer in which ThinkFilm has been battered by bad press -- especially during the repeated shutdowns of the Jake Gyllenhaal political satire "Nailed," financed by a Bergstein-backed entity -- he is actively looking for cash.
Whether that will be enough to repair the executive's strained relationships with Hollywood and allow his company to stay in business remains to be seen.
But Bergstein is adamant that he is on the right track.
"Our business plan is not so much about the movie business," he said, noting that he controls about a thousand films. "It's really to build a global digital distribution business. It's based on the expectation that in the not too distant future most content will be delivered digitally and on-demand."
Bergstein began to make a mark in Hollywood just 18 months ago, when he and construction magnate Ron Tutor bought ThinkFilm and London-based Capitol.
Yet after releasing 20-odd pictures in 2006 and 2007, only nine ThinkFilm movies have opened this year. Bergstein apparently has sold off some films, canceled others and has refused to commit to release dates for the only other two films originally scheduled for 2008: January's Sundance Film Festival pickups "Phoebe in Wonderland" and "The Escapist."
At the same time, at least four separate lawsuits have been filed against ThinkFilm this year by vendors and others claiming they were short shifted.
"Some of what is out there is true," Bergstein said. "The vast majority is not true. And for the stuff that is true, my answer is, 'So what? So what if X, Y or Z might be owed money?' "
That attitude has some in the creative community fuming.
"He's the biggest disgrace in the film business," said producer Albie Hecht, formerly president of Nickelodeon, who produced the Oscar-nominated ThinkFilm documentary "War/Dance" and claims he still has not seen the small advance ThinkFilm promised. An arbitration is pending.
"This is someone who goes around making deals and looks like he has no intention of fulfilling his obligation to filmmakers and artists," Hecht added. "Not only is it disgusting, but downright immoral."
Alex Gibney, director of the Oscar-winning ThinkFilm documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side," charges in a lawsuit that ThinkFilm did not have the financial resources to properly release his film and "fraudulently concealed this fact from the film's creative team, its investors and the film's sales agent, Cinetic Media."
Bergstein said Gibney was paid everything he was owed, including a $50,000 Oscar bonus. Bergstein also downplayed lawsuits by Allied Advertising seeking $4.2 million for ads it placed and Brooklyn-based Mammoth Advertising, which said it has nearly $430,00 in unpaid bills.
Lawsuits are just part of doing business, said Bergstein, 46, whose office is stacked with boxes of files and a framed photo of John Lennon flashing a peace sign.
He made a small fortune acquiring depreciated assets, cutting costs and selling for a profit, then dived into the film business in 2003 via his acquisition of Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures library.
"He is used to going in, buying something that's normally four cents for two cents and then saying to everyone, 'It's a distressed asset. I'm only going to pay you half of what you deserve,' " said a veteran talent manager and producer who has worked with Bergstein. "It's just a whole mindset that is antithetical to the movie business."
Bergstein acknowledged he's had problems paying such creditors as PR companies and production services, but he said those issues were caused by the move of ThinkFilm's headquarters from Canada to the U.S., which required new accounting and tracking systems.
A spokesman for Investment bank Db Zwirn & Co. says it has about $100 million in loans to ThinkFilm’s umbrella company. Zwirn was forced to liquidate a hedge fund this year but Bergstein said he has been able to find additional funds from Comerica Bank and others.
He said he has brought ThinkFilm’s debts from $30 million to $8 million and is pumping in another $25 million to market ThinkFilm releases on top of a total investment of $400 million for all his entertainment businesses, which include a postproduction facility and music publisher in London. He declined to say where that new money will come from.
Bergstein said he has image problems because nobody in Hollywood really knows him. He grew up in New York and attended Polytechnic Institute (now part of New York University), studying engineering and pre-med. In the late 1970s he became an investment banker, seeking undervalued stocks.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1983 and worked for a mortgage broker, then began buying real estate. He operated Metropolis Publishing for a time and acquired Express Inc., an online DVD seller that had gone bankrupt in 2001, losing a reported $240 million.
Bergstein and Tutor, a friend who headed two major construction companies that merged this year in a deal valued at $862 million, began investing in Los Angeles restaurants, including Le Dome. There they met Samaha, who was flying high with Franchise Pictures. When Franchise began struggling, Bergstein and Tutor loaned Samaha $14 million, secured by Franchise's film library. When Franchise went under, Bergstein ended up with most of the library.
Armed with product, Bergstein and Tutor acquired ThinkFilm in November 2006 for a reported $18 million in cash and $5 million in debt. The distributor, founded in September 2001 by veteran execs Jeff Sackman, Randy Manis and Marc Hirshberg, as well as Mark Urman from Lionsgate, fielded a string of such Oscar-worthy films as "Half Nelson," which earned Ryan Gosling a best actor nod in 2007, and "Born Into Brothels," 2005's winner for best documentary.
Bergstein said ThinkFilm was insolvent when he bought it. Sackman, who quit the company in anger in April, said it was profitable for four of its first five years but looked for a buyer two years ago when art-house attendance dipped.
"We were very cooperative at first," Sackman said of Bergstein.
At Bergstein's urging they went on a buying spree, acquiring films like "In the Shadow of the Moon," which ThinkFilm bought for $2.5 million at Sundance in 2007 but which grossed only $1.1 million in theaters that November.
Indeed, only four films out of more than 30 releases during the past two years have grossed more than $1 million, including Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," which grossed $7 million last fall, and Helen Hunt's "Then She Found Me," which grossed $3.6 million in April despite advertising money being pulled, sources said.
Many planned ThinkFilm releases are now in limbo. The dark comic drama "Momma's Man" was announced in March as a ThinkFilm acquisition and August release. But the deal never happened and it went to Kino International instead.
"Battle in Seattle," "A Stone's Throw" and "A Happy Death" have been taken off the calendar and the drama "Blue Valentine" was never made because the promised funding fell through.
ThinkFilm doesn't list "The Last Confederate: The Story of Robert Adams" as having been released but producer Julian Adams said it was released briefly last August. Since then he said he has been unable to get a financial statement from Bergstein. "I can't even describe the heartache," Adams said. "I'm beyond frustrated with it."
Bergstein's highest-profile production is the $30 million "Nailed," directed by David O. Russell, which was shut down by SAG, the DGA and Iatse four times this summer over money woes.
Bergstein said the guild problems have been resolved and that the movie only needs two days of pickup shots; others said scenes crucial to the film are missing. In any case, additional days were funded and the film will apparently arrive on schedule in early 2009.
Producer-director Taylor Hackford, who is finishing postproduction on ThinkFilm's "Love Ranch," starring his wife Helen Mirren, said funding came through "just in time."
"The fact is he stayed with us," Hackford said of Bergstein. "We never shut down for a day. Everybody got paid."
Other Bergstein-backed movies nearing completion include the road comedy "Five Dollars a Day," the romantic comedy "My Sexiest Year" and the $30 million crime drama "Black Water Transit."
It's unclear what effect, if any, ThinkFilm's apparent money woes will have on Bergstein's current productions. But his credibility, per various sources, is at an all-time low.
One agent said he feels sorry for Urman, who must field calls from angry filmmakers and skeptical reporters. "(Bergstein) over-committed," the agent said. "He didn't care about the budgets of movies. He just did them. It was like almost a three-card Monte game. Monies were moving in all different places to meet the latest fire drill, and at some point the cards stop and there is no money."
Urman declined repeated requests for an interview, but Bergstein angrily denied rumors that the company is firing employees, withholding paychecks and stiffing profit participants.
When he bought ThinkFilm, he said, he agreed with Canadian regulators to close its Toronto office, which resulted in layoffs. He also put pressure on Urman and Sackman to trim the staff, and he outsourced home video to Image Entertainment, which Bergstein was to acquire. The Image deal later fell apart, with Bergstein blaming Image for backing out and Image claiming Bergstein did not come through with funding. A separate deal to acquire Im Global as a second sales agent also unraveled, and Bergstein recently divested his majority interest in the company.
Bergstein dismissed as "complete nonsense" allegations that he has not paid DVD royalties. "We're the same as any other studio," he said. "We recoup what we're due. We get our distribution fee and the rest goes out. Sometimes reporting by ThinkFilm was in fact late, just like studios report to me late sometimes."
Bergstein said his plans for ThinkFilm are much larger than anyone realizes. Theatrical distribution and foreign sales platforms are only a means in which to gather content before the industry transitions to selling directly to consumers digitally. Then the key will be to own the most content, so despite all the naysayers, he plans to acquire even more movie and TV libraries.
In the meantime, Bergstein said ThinkFilm's finances are solid and it will continue to release films.
But Sackman said what has happened at the company he co-founded breaks his heart.
"I am very proud of what we built and accomplished at ThinkFilm," Sackman said. "And very sad to see how in the past 16 months the company and its reputation have been diminished."...
Yet David Bergstein is unperturbed.
"There is always an adjective that precedes us: 'Beleaguered,' 'financially distressed,' " Bergstein said recently from his plush new offices in the Fox Plaza in Century City, with a hint of an accent from his native New York. "And none of these people know anything."
What is known is that after a summer in which ThinkFilm has been battered by bad press -- especially during the repeated shutdowns of the Jake Gyllenhaal political satire "Nailed," financed by a Bergstein-backed entity -- he is actively looking for cash.
Whether that will be enough to repair the executive's strained relationships with Hollywood and allow his company to stay in business remains to be seen.
But Bergstein is adamant that he is on the right track.
"Our business plan is not so much about the movie business," he said, noting that he controls about a thousand films. "It's really to build a global digital distribution business. It's based on the expectation that in the not too distant future most content will be delivered digitally and on-demand."
Bergstein began to make a mark in Hollywood just 18 months ago, when he and construction magnate Ron Tutor bought ThinkFilm and London-based Capitol.
Yet after releasing 20-odd pictures in 2006 and 2007, only nine ThinkFilm movies have opened this year. Bergstein apparently has sold off some films, canceled others and has refused to commit to release dates for the only other two films originally scheduled for 2008: January's Sundance Film Festival pickups "Phoebe in Wonderland" and "The Escapist."
At the same time, at least four separate lawsuits have been filed against ThinkFilm this year by vendors and others claiming they were short shifted.
"Some of what is out there is true," Bergstein said. "The vast majority is not true. And for the stuff that is true, my answer is, 'So what? So what if X, Y or Z might be owed money?' "
That attitude has some in the creative community fuming.
"He's the biggest disgrace in the film business," said producer Albie Hecht, formerly president of Nickelodeon, who produced the Oscar-nominated ThinkFilm documentary "War/Dance" and claims he still has not seen the small advance ThinkFilm promised. An arbitration is pending.
"This is someone who goes around making deals and looks like he has no intention of fulfilling his obligation to filmmakers and artists," Hecht added. "Not only is it disgusting, but downright immoral."
Alex Gibney, director of the Oscar-winning ThinkFilm documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side," charges in a lawsuit that ThinkFilm did not have the financial resources to properly release his film and "fraudulently concealed this fact from the film's creative team, its investors and the film's sales agent, Cinetic Media."
Bergstein said Gibney was paid everything he was owed, including a $50,000 Oscar bonus. Bergstein also downplayed lawsuits by Allied Advertising seeking $4.2 million for ads it placed and Brooklyn-based Mammoth Advertising, which said it has nearly $430,00 in unpaid bills.
Lawsuits are just part of doing business, said Bergstein, 46, whose office is stacked with boxes of files and a framed photo of John Lennon flashing a peace sign.
He made a small fortune acquiring depreciated assets, cutting costs and selling for a profit, then dived into the film business in 2003 via his acquisition of Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures library.
"He is used to going in, buying something that's normally four cents for two cents and then saying to everyone, 'It's a distressed asset. I'm only going to pay you half of what you deserve,' " said a veteran talent manager and producer who has worked with Bergstein. "It's just a whole mindset that is antithetical to the movie business."
Bergstein acknowledged he's had problems paying such creditors as PR companies and production services, but he said those issues were caused by the move of ThinkFilm's headquarters from Canada to the U.S., which required new accounting and tracking systems.
A spokesman for Investment bank Db Zwirn & Co. says it has about $100 million in loans to ThinkFilm’s umbrella company. Zwirn was forced to liquidate a hedge fund this year but Bergstein said he has been able to find additional funds from Comerica Bank and others.
He said he has brought ThinkFilm’s debts from $30 million to $8 million and is pumping in another $25 million to market ThinkFilm releases on top of a total investment of $400 million for all his entertainment businesses, which include a postproduction facility and music publisher in London. He declined to say where that new money will come from.
Bergstein said he has image problems because nobody in Hollywood really knows him. He grew up in New York and attended Polytechnic Institute (now part of New York University), studying engineering and pre-med. In the late 1970s he became an investment banker, seeking undervalued stocks.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1983 and worked for a mortgage broker, then began buying real estate. He operated Metropolis Publishing for a time and acquired Express Inc., an online DVD seller that had gone bankrupt in 2001, losing a reported $240 million.
Bergstein and Tutor, a friend who headed two major construction companies that merged this year in a deal valued at $862 million, began investing in Los Angeles restaurants, including Le Dome. There they met Samaha, who was flying high with Franchise Pictures. When Franchise began struggling, Bergstein and Tutor loaned Samaha $14 million, secured by Franchise's film library. When Franchise went under, Bergstein ended up with most of the library.
Armed with product, Bergstein and Tutor acquired ThinkFilm in November 2006 for a reported $18 million in cash and $5 million in debt. The distributor, founded in September 2001 by veteran execs Jeff Sackman, Randy Manis and Marc Hirshberg, as well as Mark Urman from Lionsgate, fielded a string of such Oscar-worthy films as "Half Nelson," which earned Ryan Gosling a best actor nod in 2007, and "Born Into Brothels," 2005's winner for best documentary.
Bergstein said ThinkFilm was insolvent when he bought it. Sackman, who quit the company in anger in April, said it was profitable for four of its first five years but looked for a buyer two years ago when art-house attendance dipped.
"We were very cooperative at first," Sackman said of Bergstein.
At Bergstein's urging they went on a buying spree, acquiring films like "In the Shadow of the Moon," which ThinkFilm bought for $2.5 million at Sundance in 2007 but which grossed only $1.1 million in theaters that November.
Indeed, only four films out of more than 30 releases during the past two years have grossed more than $1 million, including Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," which grossed $7 million last fall, and Helen Hunt's "Then She Found Me," which grossed $3.6 million in April despite advertising money being pulled, sources said.
Many planned ThinkFilm releases are now in limbo. The dark comic drama "Momma's Man" was announced in March as a ThinkFilm acquisition and August release. But the deal never happened and it went to Kino International instead.
"Battle in Seattle," "A Stone's Throw" and "A Happy Death" have been taken off the calendar and the drama "Blue Valentine" was never made because the promised funding fell through.
ThinkFilm doesn't list "The Last Confederate: The Story of Robert Adams" as having been released but producer Julian Adams said it was released briefly last August. Since then he said he has been unable to get a financial statement from Bergstein. "I can't even describe the heartache," Adams said. "I'm beyond frustrated with it."
Bergstein's highest-profile production is the $30 million "Nailed," directed by David O. Russell, which was shut down by SAG, the DGA and Iatse four times this summer over money woes.
Bergstein said the guild problems have been resolved and that the movie only needs two days of pickup shots; others said scenes crucial to the film are missing. In any case, additional days were funded and the film will apparently arrive on schedule in early 2009.
Producer-director Taylor Hackford, who is finishing postproduction on ThinkFilm's "Love Ranch," starring his wife Helen Mirren, said funding came through "just in time."
"The fact is he stayed with us," Hackford said of Bergstein. "We never shut down for a day. Everybody got paid."
Other Bergstein-backed movies nearing completion include the road comedy "Five Dollars a Day," the romantic comedy "My Sexiest Year" and the $30 million crime drama "Black Water Transit."
It's unclear what effect, if any, ThinkFilm's apparent money woes will have on Bergstein's current productions. But his credibility, per various sources, is at an all-time low.
One agent said he feels sorry for Urman, who must field calls from angry filmmakers and skeptical reporters. "(Bergstein) over-committed," the agent said. "He didn't care about the budgets of movies. He just did them. It was like almost a three-card Monte game. Monies were moving in all different places to meet the latest fire drill, and at some point the cards stop and there is no money."
Urman declined repeated requests for an interview, but Bergstein angrily denied rumors that the company is firing employees, withholding paychecks and stiffing profit participants.
When he bought ThinkFilm, he said, he agreed with Canadian regulators to close its Toronto office, which resulted in layoffs. He also put pressure on Urman and Sackman to trim the staff, and he outsourced home video to Image Entertainment, which Bergstein was to acquire. The Image deal later fell apart, with Bergstein blaming Image for backing out and Image claiming Bergstein did not come through with funding. A separate deal to acquire Im Global as a second sales agent also unraveled, and Bergstein recently divested his majority interest in the company.
Bergstein dismissed as "complete nonsense" allegations that he has not paid DVD royalties. "We're the same as any other studio," he said. "We recoup what we're due. We get our distribution fee and the rest goes out. Sometimes reporting by ThinkFilm was in fact late, just like studios report to me late sometimes."
Bergstein said his plans for ThinkFilm are much larger than anyone realizes. Theatrical distribution and foreign sales platforms are only a means in which to gather content before the industry transitions to selling directly to consumers digitally. Then the key will be to own the most content, so despite all the naysayers, he plans to acquire even more movie and TV libraries.
In the meantime, Bergstein said ThinkFilm's finances are solid and it will continue to release films.
But Sackman said what has happened at the company he co-founded breaks his heart.
"I am very proud of what we built and accomplished at ThinkFilm," Sackman said. "And very sad to see how in the past 16 months the company and its reputation have been diminished."...
- 8/6/2008
- by By Alex Ben Block
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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