The Weinstein Company is facing its first lawsuit in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal. The suit was filed by former Paramount President of Production Brad Weston and producer Michael Menchel, who claim they produced a movie for TWC called "One Chance." The suit claims they accepted a reduced fee for their work in exchange for back end profits. In return, they say TWC company promised the movie would appear on 800 screens,...
- 10/11/2017
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
Primary Wave has acquired Evolution Management and will merge the company into its talent management division, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The combined personnel — which will include film and TV talent and literary managers — will move to expanded offices next year. With the addition of Evolution founder Mark Burg and his fellow managers Michael Menchel, Tiffany Kuzon, Brad Kaplan, Margot Menzel, Ben Press, Stephen Gates, Sekka Scher and Dan Patack, Primary Wave bolsters the expansion of its film and TV business, which includes development, management and production. Primary Wave’s strengths have traditionally been in music — its clients
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- 11/11/2014
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paul Potts movie ‘One Chance’ wins 2013 Starz Denver Film Festival Audience Award (photo: James Corden as ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ hit Paul Potts looking at Brad Pitt photo in ‘One Chance’) Among the winners at the 2013 Starz Denver Film Festival (Sdff), which ran November 6-17, was David Frankel’s One Chance, the story of Paul Potts, a timid shop assistant and amateur opera singer who eventually topped "Britain’s Got Talent." James Corden plays Potts, while Julie Walters and Colm Meaney are his parents. Director Frankel’s best-known movies are The Devil Wears Prada (2006), which earned Meryl Streep a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for playing Anne Hathaway’s style-conscious boss and nemesis, and the sentimental blockbuster Marley & Me (2008), toplining Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. A 2012 reunion with Meryl Streep in Hope Springs, also featuring Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell, did only moderate business. This year’s Starz Denver...
- 11/21/2013
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
I hear actor Charlie Sheen has parted ways with longtime manager Mark Burg. It is unclear if the separation is permanent, but if the duo’s history is any indication, we shouldn’t bet on it. The two have had fallings-out before, most notably during Sheen’s epic spring 2011 meltdown, but they’ve reconciled. Even if Sheen is not a client of Burg’s anymore, the two remain business partners as they both serve as executive producers on Sheen’s FX comedy series Anger Management, which is 40 episodes into its 100-episode (10+90) order. I hear there were no signs of a Sheen-Burg separation on the set of the show this week, and Anger Management producers appeared unaware of any change in the duo’s relationship. Sheen performed his duties on the show until Friday when he left the set due to illness. He is slated to do The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on Wednesday.
- 4/8/2013
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Mark Burg and Michael Menchel’s Evolution Entertainment is expanding its partnership with Lionsgate beyond the Charlie Sheen comedy Anger Management, which the two companies are producing together. Evolution has signed a first-look deal with Lionsgate to develop and produce television programming. The pact marks the launch of Evolution’s new television division, which will be overseen by recently hired Svp Rachel Israel. “We have enjoyed an extraordinary collaboration with Evolution on Anger Management so expanding the scope of our relationship with Mark, Mike and their team made perfect sense,” said Kevin Beggs, president of Lionsgate Television Group. “They embody the kind of creative spirit and entrepreneurial acumen that define and drive the Lionsgate brand and we look forward to developing many more projects together.” As Sheen’s longtime manager, Evolution is a producer of Two and a Half Men and Anger Management, with Burg serving as an executive producer on both series.
- 1/16/2013
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Exclusive: Rob Golenberg, former Gersh Head of TV Literary and Packaging who left the agency in November amid a restructuring, is moving to the management side, joining Evolution Entertainment as a manager and producer. Additionally, Golenberg has teamed with longtime client Alon Aranya to launch a new production company, Scripted World. This season, Golenberg and writer-producer Aranya, who specializes in getting rights to international formats and bringing them to the U.S., sold 5 projects, three of them based on Israeli formats, and two on European ones. Two of them, ABC’s Penoza, based on a Dutch format, and NBC’s Midnight Sun, based on an Israeli series, were recently ordered to pilot with Aranya executive producing. The new company will focus on scripted foreign formats. While the U.K. has been America’s biggest source of scripted formats over the years, Aranya sees the rest of Europe as the next hotbed.
- 2/18/2012
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Exclusive: Evolution Entertainment partners Mark Burg and Oren Koules are splitting after 12 years. Burg has purchased the 50% of the management/production company owned by Koules. Burg has reconstituted the company and named former CAA agent-turned-producer Michael Menchel its new president. This brings to an end a partnership that achieved the dream of every boutique management/production company. When these guys got through Evolution's Gregg Hoffman the script for Saw from Leigh Whannell and James Wan, they put themselves at risk personally to come up with the money to buy it and to cover the $1.2 million budget themselves. They made a licensing deal with Lionsgate but were left owning a film that grossed $103 million worldwide. They continued in that fashion on six sequels, most of which were low budget, with the last costing around $20 million. The cumulative worldwide gross of the series reached $870 million, and Burg and Koules made a fortune.
- 6/23/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
The race to make a movie based on the life of John DeLorean has been a slog, not a sprint. During a span of nearly three decades, there have been books, TV movies, documentaries and a raft of failed feature projects and unproduced screenplays left by the side of the road.
Now producers Steve Lee Jones and David Permut think they have the vehicle that can reach the finish line, one fueled by a screenplay from an Emmy winner, the unearthing of 27-year-old FBI surveillance tapes, consulting agreements with DeLorean's brother Charles and his former lawyer and, perhaps most importantly, the only official involvement of his estate and its executor, DeLorean's fourth and final wife.
For years, the estate had spurned numerous overtures until Jones came calling. He was given an exclusive option in September 2009, according to attorney William Courtney, who represents the estate and executor Sally DeLorean.
Now producers Steve Lee Jones and David Permut think they have the vehicle that can reach the finish line, one fueled by a screenplay from an Emmy winner, the unearthing of 27-year-old FBI surveillance tapes, consulting agreements with DeLorean's brother Charles and his former lawyer and, perhaps most importantly, the only official involvement of his estate and its executor, DeLorean's fourth and final wife.
For years, the estate had spurned numerous overtures until Jones came calling. He was given an exclusive option in September 2009, according to attorney William Courtney, who represents the estate and executor Sally DeLorean.
- 10/15/2010
- by By Alex Ben Block
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Broadway director Kenny Leon ("Fences," "Raisin in the Sun") is set to direct the indie film "Cotton" reports Variety.
The story is based on the memoir "Picking Cotton" by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino who was raped in college and later identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker.
Despite protesting his innocence, Cotton was sentenced to life imprisonment but was freed eleven years later when DNA testing proved his innocence.
Thompson-Cannino and Cotton later met and began working together on the Innocence Project which works to promote understanding of the flaws in the criminal-justice system
David Friendly, Mark Clayman and Michael Menchel are producing. Todd Komarnicki ("Elf") penned the adaptation and filming kicks off early next year.
The story is based on the memoir "Picking Cotton" by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino who was raped in college and later identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker.
Despite protesting his innocence, Cotton was sentenced to life imprisonment but was freed eleven years later when DNA testing proved his innocence.
Thompson-Cannino and Cotton later met and began working together on the Innocence Project which works to promote understanding of the flaws in the criminal-justice system
David Friendly, Mark Clayman and Michael Menchel are producing. Todd Komarnicki ("Elf") penned the adaptation and filming kicks off early next year.
- 9/21/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
"You Don't Know Jack" scribe Adam Mazer and produce Steve Lee Jones are set to re-team in the same capacities on three further projects says The Hollywood Reporter.
Mazer is finishing up the script "DeLorean", an authorized biopic about controversial car mogul John DeLorean. This is Not to be confused with the two other DeLorean biopics in the works, one to be produced by Michael Menchel and the other by Brett Ratner. It is also the only one based on rights from many key players including his last wife, younger brother, former assistant, the DeLorean estate and several lawyers who rep the auto manufacturer.
He will follow that with "Rube" which deals with the late Reuben Sturman, the man in the 50's who introduced girlie mags, Euro-porn and peep shows to America. The billionaire got into business with New York organised crime and died penniless.
Also at an early stage...
Mazer is finishing up the script "DeLorean", an authorized biopic about controversial car mogul John DeLorean. This is Not to be confused with the two other DeLorean biopics in the works, one to be produced by Michael Menchel and the other by Brett Ratner. It is also the only one based on rights from many key players including his last wife, younger brother, former assistant, the DeLorean estate and several lawyers who rep the auto manufacturer.
He will follow that with "Rube" which deals with the late Reuben Sturman, the man in the 50's who introduced girlie mags, Euro-porn and peep shows to America. The billionaire got into business with New York organised crime and died penniless.
Also at an early stage...
- 9/2/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Adam Mazer, hot off his Emmy win for writing the HBO telefilm "You Don't Know Jack," is getting in the fast lane for an authorized biopic about John DeLorean, the controversial automobile mogul whose life was as colorful as his career.
Mazer is in the final stages of writing the DeLorean script for Steve Lee Jones, who served as executive producer of the $18 million production of "You Don't Know Jack," the story of Dr. Jack Kevorkian that starred Al Pacino.
After "DeLorean," Mazer also is attached to write "Rube," a real-life tale about the roots of the porn biz, and "Contingency," about lawyers in the 1970s and '80s who were among the first to advertise. Both projects also are produced by Jones.
Jones said he and Mazer share an interest in projects that tell realistic stories on subjects that are socially relevant. "We believe in trying to tell the tale as truthfully as possible,...
Mazer is in the final stages of writing the DeLorean script for Steve Lee Jones, who served as executive producer of the $18 million production of "You Don't Know Jack," the story of Dr. Jack Kevorkian that starred Al Pacino.
After "DeLorean," Mazer also is attached to write "Rube," a real-life tale about the roots of the porn biz, and "Contingency," about lawyers in the 1970s and '80s who were among the first to advertise. Both projects also are produced by Jones.
Jones said he and Mazer share an interest in projects that tell realistic stories on subjects that are socially relevant. "We believe in trying to tell the tale as truthfully as possible,...
- 9/1/2010
- by By Alex Ben Block
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Who knows just how many projects have gone into development with the intention of telling the story of automaker John DeLorean (the creator of the car that became, arguably, the most famous cinematic time machine ever made) but haven't exactly been active in development. Now it sounds like one might finally get made, as THR reports DeLorean's daughter, Kathryn, is partnering with Nine/8 Entertainment, Evolution Entertainment and agent-turned-producer Michael Menchel to bring a script from Thomas Fenton (Saw IV) to the big screen that, apparently, "is the definitive John DeLorean movie." But sadly, no time travel. Several DeLorean projects have been gestating (even a documentary, Back to the DeLorean, with Kathryn's support on the way) but the surviving daughter of the Dmc-12 legacy says these are the guys to get it right. "Other producers have asked me to back their projects on behalf of the DeLorean estate. We felt...
- 2/25/2010
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Nine/8 Entertainment, Evolution Entertainment and CAA agent-turned-producer Michael Menchel are making a feature about the life of carmaker John DeLorean. Thomas Fenton wrote the screenplay. Producing is DeLorean's daughter Kathryn alongside Andrew Trapani and Brian Gilbert of Nine/8 are producing along with Andrew Wilson and Stephen Gates of Evolution. There are several other DeLorean projects in the works. David Permut ("Youth in Revolt") is developing a project, as is Brett Ratner's Rat Entertainment from a James Toback ("Tyson") screenplay. Xyz Films and Time Inc. Studios are developing a DeLorean biopic with the cooperation of DeLorean's son Zachary. Known as the car in the "Back to the Future" series of films, DeLorean's Dmc-12 stainless-steel, gull-wing-doored vehicle was made in the early 1980s. The car designer known for designing the Pontiac Gto, closed his company after building less than 10,000 cars and was arrested in 1982, charged with smuggling cocaine to raise money.
- 2/25/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
The DeLorean sweepstakes just gained another entrant.
Nine/8 Entertainment, Evolution Entertainment and CAA agent-turned-producer Michael Menchel are moving forward with the development of a feature about the life of carmaker John DeLorean. Thomas Fenton, who is repped by Apa and Evolution, wrote the screenplay.
Andrew Trapani and Brian Gilbert of Nine/8 are producing along with Andrew Wilson and Stephen Gates of Evolution. Menchel will serve as an executive producer on behalf of his Relevant Entertainment shingle.
DeLorean's only daughter, Kathryn, is partnering with the producers on the film.
"Other producers have asked me to back their projects on behalf of the DeLorean estate," Kathryn DeLorean said. "We felt this was the team to tell the right story the right way. This is the definitive John DeLorean movie. We wanted to ensure my father's story was handled properly; the headlines do not begin to tell the tale."
This new project...
Nine/8 Entertainment, Evolution Entertainment and CAA agent-turned-producer Michael Menchel are moving forward with the development of a feature about the life of carmaker John DeLorean. Thomas Fenton, who is repped by Apa and Evolution, wrote the screenplay.
Andrew Trapani and Brian Gilbert of Nine/8 are producing along with Andrew Wilson and Stephen Gates of Evolution. Menchel will serve as an executive producer on behalf of his Relevant Entertainment shingle.
DeLorean's only daughter, Kathryn, is partnering with the producers on the film.
"Other producers have asked me to back their projects on behalf of the DeLorean estate," Kathryn DeLorean said. "We felt this was the team to tell the right story the right way. This is the definitive John DeLorean movie. We wanted to ensure my father's story was handled properly; the headlines do not begin to tell the tale."
This new project...
- 2/24/2010
- by By Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
David Friendly, Mark Clayman and Michael Menchel are set to produce the based on a true story drama "Picking Cotton" reports Variety.
Todd Komarnicki will adapt Jennifer Thompson-Cannino's autobiographical memoir about her time in college when she was raped and later identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker.
Despite protesting his innocence, Cotton was sentenced to life imprisonment but was freed eleven years later when DNA testing proved his innocence.
Thompson-Cannino and Cotton later met and began working together on the Innocence Project which works to promote understanding of the flaws in the criminal-justice system.
Todd Komarnicki will adapt Jennifer Thompson-Cannino's autobiographical memoir about her time in college when she was raped and later identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker.
Despite protesting his innocence, Cotton was sentenced to life imprisonment but was freed eleven years later when DNA testing proved his innocence.
Thompson-Cannino and Cotton later met and began working together on the Innocence Project which works to promote understanding of the flaws in the criminal-justice system.
- 2/22/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Kirk Ellis, who won an Emmy for penning the HBO miniseries "John Adams," has been tapped to write "Escape," to which Katherine Heigl is attached to star for Relevant Entertainment.
"Escape" tells the true story of Carolyn Jessop, who after years of being in a forced polygamous marriage escaped from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints with her eight children. Ellis will be adapting Jessop's book.
Relevant's Michael Menchel is producing along with Heigl and her mother Nancy Heigl via their Abishag shingle.
The project is being independently financed by Catherine Williams and her Como Court Prods. Williams also is acting as a producer.
Ellis, who won another Emmy for "Adams" as co-executive producer, also garnered Emmy nominations for his work on the miniseries "Into the West" and for writing "Anne Frank: The Whole Story." He is repped by CAA and Thruline.
"Escape" tells the true story of Carolyn Jessop, who after years of being in a forced polygamous marriage escaped from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints with her eight children. Ellis will be adapting Jessop's book.
Relevant's Michael Menchel is producing along with Heigl and her mother Nancy Heigl via their Abishag shingle.
The project is being independently financed by Catherine Williams and her Como Court Prods. Williams also is acting as a producer.
Ellis, who won another Emmy for "Adams" as co-executive producer, also garnered Emmy nominations for his work on the miniseries "Into the West" and for writing "Anne Frank: The Whole Story." He is repped by CAA and Thruline.
- 12/8/2008
- by By Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Justin Zackham has been hired to write Once Chance, a film about the life of Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts. The movie will show how Potts, a former mobile phone salesman, made one final attempt to become a professional opera singer by entering the ITV talent contest. Simon Cowell, Michael Menchel and Steve Whitney will act as producers on (more)...
- 6/24/2008
- by By Simon Reynolds
- Digital Spy
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