2:15 PM – 3:30 PM
Track II:
Understand the Global Terrain - Financing & Packaging – from co-Production, International Financing to Foreign and State Subsidies and Grants
The merry-go-round of global production and financing is a never-ending array of banking networks, production and distribution partnerships, government facilitators, tax incentive experts, technology innovators, ancillary rights experts and new equity partners. There are always sweeping changes in one part of the world or other – China and Korea are emerging as the next production haven. Co-production and investment is many sectors of the world continue to present unusual opportunity. Unpredictably however, entertainment globalization is having a series of contradictory and yet to be resolved effects. International entertainment consumption may be up, but international revenue streams are diminishing. In this session, we will explore the global terrain, trying to understand how the countries, the bankers, the investors and producers continually seek to reinvent the process of global opportunity.
Bhuvan Lall, President, Lall Entertainment, former Executive Director, India Broadcasting Foundation
Brian O'Shea, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Distribution, Media 8 Entertainment
Thomas Augsberger, Eden Rock Media Inc.
Shaun Redick, Agent, ICM International Creative Management
Hal S. Sadoff, Entertainment Finance Consultant/Executive Producer
Thierry Baujard, CEO, Peacefulfish
Peter Hoffman, Seven Arts Pictures
Randolph M. Paul, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Moderator
Randolph M. Paul, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Randolph Paul
represents clients in the entertainment industry including independent motion picture and television production companies, writers, producers and all other talent. He assists clients with the acquisition of rights, all phases of development and production, financing and distribution of their product. Randolph also acts as production counsel, negotiating on behalf of production entities with bond companies, banks, above and below-the-line talent and their agents to secure their services for various film projects. He is also experienced in exploiting ancillary rights, such as soundtracks and interactive games, in such projects. Brian O'Shea, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Distribution, Media 8: Brian O'Shea serves as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Distribution for Media 8. Mr. O'Shea is primarily responsible for all licensing and sales activities on behalf of the company. Previously he served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Overseas Filmgroup Inc. His responsibilities included negotiating and finalizing international and domestic sales agreements and attending domestic and international television and film markets. In his career, he has served as Vice President of Business & Legal Affairs at Concorde-New Horizons where he negotiated and drafted domestic and international distribution contracts. He became VP of International Sales at Concorde in 1996, where he oversaw international marketing campaigns and worked with the distribution and production departments during filming. He received a BS in History from Holy Cross and graduated from the Columbus School of Law in 1994. He was admitted into the California Bar soon after.
Thomas Augsberger has produced/executive produced more than ten feature films during the past 8 years, including STRANGE BEDFELLOWS (directed by Dean Murphy and starring Paul Hogan), INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS (directed by Zak Penn and starring Werner Herzog), and WAITING (directed by Rob McKittrick and starring Ryan Reynolds). He is developing a slate of future film projects, among them BLIND BASTARD’S CLUB, written and to be directed by Ash and starring Lenny Kravitz and the Ted Griffin & Sean Bailey scripted SOLACE which is set up at New Line with Gary Fleder (RUNAWAY JURY) attached to direct. A graduate of Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Augsberger practiced law in Munich, Leipzig, and Dresden. In 1996 Augsberger moved to the United States to become a partner in Los Angeles based Key Entertainment. While at Key, Thomas gained broad exposure to independent feature and television development, production, financing, distribution and the foreign sales business as well as film and television acquisitions and licensing. In 2002 Thomas left Key and founded Eden Rock Media, a Los Angeles based production, financing and consulting business. In addition to his film production business, Augsberger represents Herbert Kloiber’s Munich based Tele München Group in the US and consults other international media companies in all aspects of their US media business on a project by project basis, among them Axel Springer Verlag (Germany), BBC (UK), and Toho Towa (Japan). From September 2002 to September 2003 Thomas served on the board of Lions Gate Entertainment, a Toronto based film production and distribution company. Augsberger is the sole owner of Eden Rock Media and also owns a minority stake in French film distributor La Fabrique de Films.
Hal S. Sadoff, Entertainment Finance Consultant/Executive Producer: Mr. Sadoff is one of the leading financial advisors to the entertainment industry. Over the past eighteen years, he has been involved in numerous financing transactions with independent film producers and production companies, international film sales organizations, banks, international film distributors along with all of the major film studios. He has developed an extensive global network of relationships with the media, entertainment and financial communities, playing an integral role in over 200 film productions and financings totaling more than $2.5 billion. The range of media and entertainment transactions and advisory work that he has been involved in has included single picture project financings, tax/subsidy based film financings, initial public offerings, private placements, corporate lines of credit and acquisition financing. Hal Sadoff was co-founder, partner and head of the Los Angeles office of Cobalt Media Group. Cobalt was formed in October 1999 and soon became one of the leading independent film financing and international sales companies in the industry, with offices in Los Angeles and London. While at Cobalt, Mr. Sadoff was directly involved in over 25 films including: House of Sand and Fog, starring Jennifer Connelly and Sir Ben Kingsley that was released by DreamWorks in December 2003 and earned three Academy Award nominations. Open Range, starring Kevin Costner, Robert Duval and Annette Bening that was released by the Walt Disney Company in August 2003. Timeline, starring Paul Walker, directed by Richard Donner that will be released by Paramount in 2003. Swimfan, starring Jesse Bradford and Erika Christensen that was released by 20th Century Fox in September 2002, and was the number one film in the US box office on its opening weekend. Band of Brothers, a highly acclaimed mini series that aired on HBO. Heartbreakers, starring Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Gene Hackman that was released by MGM. 13 Ghosts and House on Haunted Hill, produced by Joel Silver and released by Warner Bros. Chicken Run, released by DreamWorks. The World is Not Enough, starring Pierce Brosnan and released by MGM. Mr. Sadoff arranged the financing and acted as Executive Producer on Hotel Rwanda, produced by A. Kitman Ho, starring Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte and Joaquin Phoenix, which will be released by MGM in late 2004. Prior to forming Cobalt, Mr. Sadoff was a Senior Vice President and head of the Los Angeles office of London based National Westminster Bank Plc. Mr. Sadoff joined the Bank in their New York office and relocated to Los Angeles, where he spearheaded the building of the Bank’s Los Angeles Media and Entertainment Finance Group. At National Westminster Bank, Mr. Sadoff provided the entertainment industry with a full range of advisory, financing, and investment banking services. He was instrumental in expanding the group to become one of the leading financiers to the entertainment industry in the world and is credited with creating various innovative financing structures including the first ever project financing for an interactive game along with the first film financing backed by the US government owned Exim bank. Films structured and financed include: Wild Things, Lost in Space, In Love and War, Seven Years in Tibet, Les Miserables, Stargate, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, American Werewolf in Paris, Waking Ned Devine, Judge Dredd, Evita, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Much Ado About Nothing and A Bronx Tale.
Thierry Baujard, CEO, Peacefulfish: Thierry Baujard is founder and CEO of peacefulfish which is a unique media consulting company, based in Berlin, specialized in film financing and digital distribution. His experience in film financing includes film projects in the USA with Mandalay Entertainment, Strategic Development for the Studio Babelsberg GmbH in Potsdam, Business Development for Studio Canal-Vivendi. He also worked on business models and content acquisition for different pan European Video On Demand services on the internet, ADSL services and satellite. Further experience in the media sector includes projects for Arte (Franco-German TV station) and for the E-Content program (EU) in Luxembourg. He holds an MBA from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy and from UCLA in Los Angeles, where he specialized in film financing and e-commerce. He is also a regular speaker at different training seminars from the Media program like MEDEA, MEDISCRIPT and MAGICA in Rome. He is developing the company in terms of international network of consultants and new business. His current work includes film financing, business model for new digital distribution channels and the structuring of film funds for production companies and investors.
Bhuvan Lall, President, Lall Entertainment, former Executive Director, India Broadcasting Foundation: Globally known Media Entrepreneur from India, Mr. Bhuvan Lall is also an award winning documentary filmmaker, an international journalist and soon to be published novelist. Bhuvan Lall launched LALL Entertainment at the Cannes Film Festival 2003 with eighteen years of global experience. LALL Entertainment is a privately held Indian Company with major interests in International Production and Distribution of Animation, Broadcasting and Cinema content. The mission of LALL Entertainment is "To bring the World closer using the power of Entertainment." Prior to founding LALL Entertainment, in 2003, at 34, Mr. Lall was named Executive Director of the "Indian Broadcasting Foundation" (IBF), the trade organization of TV and radio broadcasters in India a position he held for three years (2000-2003). At IBF, Mr. Lall pioneered a number of regulatory initiatives and promoted the interests of Indian broadcasting industry nationally and globally. Mr. Lall was appointed a Member of the Planning Commission’s working group for Indian Government's 10th five year plan (2002-2007), on Information & Broadcasting. In May 2002, Mr. Lall had a vision for a trade body for the booming Indian Animation and founded the "Animation Producers Association of India" (APAI). Earlier Mr. Lall founded and managed "Empire Entertainment Pvt. Ltd", a strategic advisory company specializing in the Indian convergence and entertainment industries for four years (1996 &Mac246; 2000). At 29, Mr. Lall served as the Senior Vice President of a publicly listed Indian media company - Srishti Videocorp. As SVP he oversaw the launch of Discovery Channel India and set up the first digital TV channel in Asia &Mac246; YES (Youth Entertainment Service). At 22, Mr. Lall launched his first enterprise as an entrepreneur - "Dream Factory International", an international documentary film production company (1988 &Mac246; 1995). Mr. Lall produced and directed, 35 Documentary and Short films on Indian subjects including "The Coal War", and "Moving Pictures", for International as well as Indian TV networks. Lall’s other work "The Song of the Earth" was screened in 22 International TV and Film Festivals. A prolific writer and columnist on entertainment industry issues Mr. Lall, has written for London based trade magazine Screen International for over a decade as their Indian Correspondent. Mr. Lall contributes a column for the Hindustan Times titled "Hollywood Calling" and a monthly column for Business Standard titled "Hollywood Reel". Mr. Lall’s has been invited to speak at all major International conferences including Banff TV Festival, CASBAA, Digital Hollywood, Kagan World Media, MIP Asia, Media Summit, Montreal Film Festival, NATPE, Rose D’ Or Festival and World Education Market. Mr. Lall was elected Member of the International Television Academy (Emmy Awards Council) and is the longest serving member from India. He has also been the Indian Representative of NATPE the world’s largest television trade body continuously since 1997. Mr. Lall sits on the Board of Maya Entertainment Ltd., a television, animation and visual fx company in India owned by renowned filmmaker Ketan Mehta and actress Deepa Sahi. Mr. Lall is the Founder Director and Treasurer of "Eco India Association" a not for profit organization he set up in India to promote Environmental causes along with Hollywood based Earth Communications Office. A professionally trained film director and scriptwriter, Mr. Lall is a recipient of a Masters Degree in Mass Communication (Film, TV & Radio Production) from the Mass Communication Research Center, (Jamia - York University project), New Delhi. Bhuvan Lall’s video docudrama "A Ticket To The Future" won the Desmond Doig Award for the best graduation film in the year 1988. Lall’s science fiction short film, "Killing A Sunrise On A Full Moon Night" was awarded the highest marks in direction and scriptwriting at the Mass Communication Research Center. On graduating, Mr. Lall was appointed a faculty member at his film school. Mr. Lall also earned a Bachelors Degree in Sociology from the University of Delhi. A native of New Delhi, Mr. Lall is absorbed in spiritual studies, landscape photography, poetry and the opera. Mr. Lall's wife, Arti Mathur teaches English Literature at the University of Delhi and writes for Variety, a Hollywood trade publication. They travel the world with their 27 months old son Satyajit Lall.