DEADLINETHE BRANCHING FILMS

THE BRANCHINGFILMS

the branching films

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MARKET LANDSCAPE Entertainment and Film Industry The Filmmaking Process Distribution Trends Investment Thesis

MANAGING INVESTOR RISK

THE VIRGINIA FILM OFFICE

THE FILM PROJECT The Company (Deadline LLC.) The Team

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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The New World, Shot in Richmond, Virginia

The entertainment sector and particularly the film industry, is experiencing positive growth year-to-year, showing no signs of abating with the recent slow-down in economic growth. In fact, historically speak-ing, the film market flourishes during tough eco-nomic times and often spikes during the sharpest downturns in our economy. The Hollywood System was built during the Great Depression, and that trend of inverse economic growth continues to this day.

Alongside consistent growth, the movie industry has seen an explosion in a niche market and particularly in-dependent films. Technological advancements in digital media and shifts in consumer preferences have made indies, or films produced independently of Hollywood, very successful and relatively inexpensive endeavours.

The Branching (“Company”), a Virginia-based film production company founded by Lucas Krost, will utilize these unique market opportunities to create a potentially high-yield investment opportunity. Our Company will turn Kirk Ellis’s compel-ling script, Deadline, into a feature-length independent film.

Deadline is an old-style newspaper-thriller set in the Internet age that rips its story from tomorrow’s headlines. The story follows an outsider who is thrust into the editor’s position at the Richmond Herald-Chronicle and confronts an insiders’ cor-ruption that threatens the state. Torn between social and political forces, he’s engulfed in a modern-day Watergate that will either bring down the powers-that-be, before they destroy him, or thrust the state into political chaos.

The Company plans for principal photography to commence within six months, upon securing the necessary funds and hir-ing the production team. Principal photography will last approximately __ months, upon which time we will negotiate with a Film Distributor. Our distribution strategy will be multi-fold, consisting of multiple revenue streams, which include both domestic and international theatrical releases, festival screenings, DVD sales and rentals, internet downloads, and televi-sion broadcasts.

The Company is seeking $5-6 million in capital from venture capitalists and private investors to fund the Deadline Project. It is true that films, by their very nature, are considered high risk-high return investments. But with today’s favorable mar-ket landscape for the movie industry, along with the current uncertainty in most other markets, a tantalizing story and very strategic production and distribution plan, can potentially yield high returns.

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Indeed, the entertainment industry, and particu-larly the film market, has historically been unaf-fected or even thrived during economic down-turns. This past year was no different, and for the current year, box office revenue is up 4 per-cent and theater attendance is up 7 percent over last year’s numbers. (Media by the Numbers)

Plus, the costs of going to the movies, with av-erage ticket prices under $7 and a short com-mute to the theater, is perceived as a cheap alternative to other forms of entertainment.

Regardless of the reason, the film industry is enjoy-ing consistent yearly growth. Gross U.S. box office sales in 2007 grew 5.4 percent and 3.5 percent in 2006, and worldwide box office revenue grew by 4.9% in 2007 to $26.7 billion, which is an all-time high.

MARKET LANDSCAPE

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ENTERTAINMENT AND FILM INDUSTRY

Coupled with the recent economic growth, the movie industry in general has witnessed the emergence of the independent film market, which now garners a third of all box office revenues. An independent film, or indie for short, is a film produced outside of the Hollywood studio system, which is dominated by a hand-ful of blockbuster studio companies.

Technological advances have lowered the budgetary barriers of operating beyond this Hollywood bubble, and even the mega-studios themselves have created indie-style branches of their companies in recognition of this opportunity. Disney created Miramax, 20th Century Fox created Fox Searchlight, and Warner Brothers created Warner Independent, to name a few.

These smaller studios, as shown below, present both opportuni-ties and obstacles for independent films:

Actress Sissy Spacek, in the Virginia indenpendent film Lake City.

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Film festivals are exploding in number and in popularity. This gives indepen-dent films more opportunities for exposure and sales, including screenings and marketing in the form of media coverage, reviews, and word of mouth buzz.

Additionally, movie theaters are increasingly keen on showing independent films, be-cause of the high customer demand. Large-scale films typically require large budgets, which minimizes profit margins and often requires a film to enjoy big box office success to yield significant returns for its investors. Independent films, however, cost much less to make, and therefore even small gain can garner high yields. In short, with lower production costs and revenues trending upward for independent films, the risk is min-imized and profit margins have potential to grow exponentially for independent films.

THEATRICAL RELEASE/OPPORTUNITIES

OBSTACLES

People have caught on and we are beginning to see the mar-ket shift resources to meet the consumer demand for indepen-dent films. The impressive success enjoyed by the independent film industry has resulted in more independent films fight-ing for limited space in theaters. As a result, box-office rev-enue for films from indie distributors and specialty divisions dropped from $1.32 billion in 2006 to $1.16 billion in 2007, while the number of indies in theaters increased from 501 to 530 (The Hollywood Reporter). Yet, as a billion dollar mar-ket, theatrical release remains a very viable distribution path.

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THE FILMMAKING PROCESS

FILM DEVELOPMENT

PREPRODUCTION

T H E F I V E S T E P S T O F I L M P R O D U C T I O N

In the development phase, underlying literary material for a mo-tion picture project is acquired, either outright through an op-tion to acquire such rights, or by engaging a writer to create an original screenplay. The producers put together an initial bud-get and begin to piece together the production “package,” i.e., the screenplay, director, and principal actors and crew.

During the preproduction phase, the production company secures the necessary financing, finalizes the budget and production pack-age, creates a filming schedule, secures locations, and hires the re-maining members of the crew. The production company will some-times try to pre-sell distribution rights during this period, as well.

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PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY

POST PRODUCTION

FILM DISTRIBUTION

Principal photography (production) is the process of shooting the film. Principal photography typically takes from two to eight weeks to complete, although inclement weather, the illness of a cast or crewmember, disputes with local authorities, locations or labor unions, and many other factors may lengthen the schedule.

Postproduction is the period when the film finally comes together as a finished product. During the postproduction phase, the editing of the raw footage, scoring of the music, and the ultimate mixing of dialogue, music and sound-effects take place. Special optical and digital effects are also created and finished during this period. Postproduction may or may not encompass the delivery period, during which audio/visual materials and legal documents are prepared for distribution.

The distribution phase encompasses all exploitation and sales of the final film product. Theatrical release, home video sales and rentals, internet rights, the various television venues, soundtrack/book/merchandise sales, and all other revenue sources constitute a film’s distribution. Thanks to changing technology and media consumption habits, the avenues for creating revenue from a single media property have exploded in the past few years. Revenue sources deserving individual treatment are included below:

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DISTRIBUTION TRENDS

Film festivals and box offices are far from the only distribution platforms available. In an age of converging media sources, multiple distribution streams can – and should – be utilized for one film. By extension, this means multiple and diverse revenue streams, which increases the opportunities to capture audiences and drive up profits.

DVD sales and rentals tend to generate the largest earnings for all but the largest, block-buster films (due to their wider theatrical releases), and two advances have made DVDs even more lucrative. These included technological improvements, like HD and Blue Ray, which have markedly improved the visual quality of DVDs, narrowing the gap between theaterand home movie experiences; and the enormous popularity of home delivery DVD rentals (pio-neered by Netflix), which has created an exponentially larger demand for DVDs.

Additionally, video on demand, television pay-per-view, web download to own, and television broadcasting offer a variety of leveraged sales opportunities, which are continuing to grow each year.

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NORTH AMERICAN THEATRICAL

For 2008, that group included

Principal photography (production) is the process of shooting the film. Principal photography typically takes from two to eight weeks to complete, although inclement weather, the illness of a cast or crewmember, disputes with local authorities, locations or labor unions, and many other factors may lengthen the schedule.

Atonement (30m budget, 50.9m box office) Quarantine (12m budget, 31.7m box office) Street Kings (20m budget, 26.4m box office)The Wrestler (6m budget, 25.6m box office)

Advances in broadband video capability and increasing affordability mean that more people around the world are watching movies, not just through theaters or cable networks, but also on mobile phones and personal computers. The cur-rent explosion is similar to that in the late 70’s when home video first became popular, i.e., suddenly a film company could sell the same product, not only in theaters, but to consumers for home use a few months later. Home video and DVD sales and rentals created a massive revenue boost for media companies that has just plateaued in the past few years. The new frontier for major media com-panies is internet content, and particularly video downloads. While this market has yet to stabilize enough to produce a standard revenue model, media com-panies expect internet sales to drive growth over the next decade and beyond.

The largest single source for film revenues is the worldwide home video market. DVD rights are typically licensed to a distributor who already has deals in place with retailers, which then rent or sell to consumers for home viewing. The distri-bution company takes a percentage of sales, as well as recoups P&A (prints and advertising) expenses. Eighty percent of home video revenue is typically made in the first year a film is available on DVD. The home video market represents more than two-thirds of motion picture industry revenue, much of it made by films that had little or no theatrical release. The introduction of high-definition Blu-Ray discs into the marketplace has created another growth segment for this market.

INTERNET VIDEO/ON DEMAND/MOBILE

HOME VIDEO/DVD

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TELEVISIONThe explosion of new cable networks in the last decade has made cable television one of the most important outlets for feature films. Dozens of channels rely heavily on new feature films for broadcast rotation. Pay-per-view and pay-television also al-low subscribers to pay for individual films and view premium channels that exhibit films for a fee. Typical television licensing deals involve the broadcaster paying an upfront fee to the film’s distributor.

Film festivals and box offices are far from the only distribution platforms available. In an age of converging media sources, multiple distribution streams can – and should – be utilized for one film. By extension, this means multiple and diverse revenue streams, which increases the opportunities to capture audiences and drive up profits.

DVD sales and rentals tend to generate the largest earnings for all but the largest, blockbuster films (due to their wider theatrical releases), and two advances have made DVDs even more lucrative. These included technological improvements, like HD and Blue Ray, which have markedly improved the visual quality of DVDs, nar-rowing the gap between theater and home movie experiences; and the enormous popularity of home delivery DVD rentals (pioneered by Netflix), which has created an exponentially larger demand for DVDs.

Additionally, video on demand, television pay-per-view, web download-to-own, and television broadcasting offer a variety of leveraged sales opportunities, which are continuing to grow each year.

SUMMARY

Commander in Chief shot in Richmond, VA

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INVESTMENT THESISInvesting in media projects can be a risky proposition. For this reason, the managers of Deadline Pictures LLP have structured this project, from concept to distri-bution plan, to minimize this risk, while maximizing possible returns. We plan to use the follow strategy.

Unique Product: The Deadline Project will take advan-tage of new technologies to create a unique and highly-stylized final product. The use of green-screen back-drops and 3-D computer animation will produce a dis-tinct look that appeals directly to our target demograph-ic. Other recent films to use these techniques include Sin City and 300, both of which were greatly successful.

Growing Market: Theatrical distribution is often a crapshoot for an independent film, as these films have flooded market and many have received flat box office sales, due to lack of advertising. Because of its low costs, Deadline Pictures LLP can, if necessary, afford to bypass the North American theatrical market and achieve profitability by concentrating on the fastest growing segments of the entertainment market: internet and video distribution. As outlined in the distribution plan, with internet advertising dollars skyrocketing the need for professionally produced video content has grown expo-nentially in past two years. North American box office receipts are faltering, but the entertainment industry is still grow-ing at a 7% clip. Deadline Pictures LLP plans to fill a gap in a growing market rather than add product to a saturated one.

Experienced Team: From the company managers down to the production staff, Deadline LLC has put together a team of experienced professionals, each with a track record of work in film, television, and commercial productions.

Multiple Revenue Streams: New production and distribution methods allow for a single product to be reconstituted for multiple formats and markets. Therefore the finished project can be sold as five minute episodes on distribution websites, twenty minute episodes through an online video store or for television, and as a feature-length film for home video. Each variation creates a new revenue stream for the company, making it less reliant on a particular avenue to create returns.

Attractive Deal Terms: Class A shareholders receive first dollar out, with a potential return of 2-4 times invested capital over a five year period.

Visual FX shot in Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr.

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MANAGING INVESTOR RISKAs investor’s it is important to see that the project you are invest-ing in is not only interested in your ROI, but more importantly ishow we as entrepreneurs strategize to protect your money. This principal is extremely important to Deadline LLC. One tool that we are planning to use is Section 181 of the Tax Code.

You’ve heard of farming subsidies. A few years back savvy film lob-byists created subsidies for the film industry. As they outlined the dangers of runaway production to Canada, Eastern Europe and Australia, Congress passed legislation that resulted in Section 181 of the IRS Code. Put simply, Section 181 states that investment in a motion picture shot in the US is 100% tax deductible for the investor.

100%. I wish I could write that in neon.

Section 181 guarantees that as our investor you cannot lose your entire stake in this project.Here are some of the broad strokes of Section 181: 75% of the motion picture must be shot in the U.S. to qualify for Section 181. There is a 15 to 20 million dollar budget cap. There is no minimum. TV pilots, TV episodes, short films, music videos and feature films all qualify for Section 181. Section 181 can be applied to regular income or capital gains, depending on your corporate structure and how your investors are involved with the company.

Section 181 is retroactive. If you finished a project in the past couple of years you and your investors may be able to redo your taxes and recapture some of your expenses as a tax rebate.

The motion picture’s corporation will need to issue Schedule K-1’s to the investors so that they can take advantage of Section 181.

War of the worlds, shot in Virginia.

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RISK CONTINUEDInvesting in our project includes a level of safety investors haven’t experienced before in the entertainment in-dustry. We’ve taken the time to research recent tax legislation, and we’ve hired a consultant who can explain how your investment is 100% tax deductable. We’ve gone through the steps to make sure the IRS will recog-nize your deduction. Therefore, you’re risking approximately 60 cents on the dollar. How many investments, in this market and in this economy, can promise that a significant portion of your money is completely protected?

The film industry is an inherently risky business. Each film is a unique product, with its revenue poten-tial formed largely by two factors, including consumer interest and reaction, which are impossible to pre-dict with any accuracy until the film has been financed and produced. With that being said, the producer’s job is to employ every available tool to reduce investor risk. While the surest method is to make a great film on time and under budget, a good producer finds ways to create value for investors before the film is even sold.

For example, nearly every state now has some form of tax incentive or rebate package available to film productions. In Virginia, the Governor’s Motion Picture Opportunity Fund (GMPOF) provides a rebate on both sales tax and pro-duction dollars spent, meaning that the production should recoup 5-10% of its capital straight from government funding. The state also provides a wide range of free services and locations, potentially saving thousands of dollars.

Another source of so-called “soft money” is product or brand placement. Product integration deals (such as the characters in “24” only driving Ford cars) have become far more prevalent in the past decade, and there are now companies that exist solely to broker deals between brand managers and production executives. These deals can range from several thousand to several million dollars in value, depending on the expected au-dience for the film. Like incentives, placement deals normally pay off after production has been completed.

Whereas tax incentives and product placement generally contribute directly to the recoupment of funds, producers also create extra value by exchanging like-kind services or relying on pre-ex-isting relationships. Production and post-production staff and equipment take up a large portion of any film’s budget, usually coming in second only to big-name actors. Independent producers who can lever-age pre-existing relationships into free services can therefore shift budget dollars into another category, rais-ing the picture’s quality without an accompanying spike in the budget. For example, free access to an audio re-cording suite will save a film tens of thousands of dollars in post-production. Hiring a cinematographer with his own camera package can shave another couple thousand from the production budget. Dead-line LLC expects to use its partners’ relationships to create major budget savings, lowering the amount of capital needed, while simultaneously adding to the marketing and talent budgets.

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VIRGINIA FILM OFFICE

The VFO have been immensely supportive of this project and have offered up many of their resources both financial and logistical to get this project done. They have estimated their con-tributions to this project being upward of 1,000,000 Please see the appendix for letter of en-dorsement. In addition to this they are also providing a myriad of locations to us free of charge.

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THE FILM PROJECT(Deadline Synopsis)

Rick Jewell rides into Richmond to take the no-win position as editor-in-chief of the city’s largest newspaper, a job that has sunk a succession of predecessors. As an outdated muckraker in the age of the tabloid, Jewell is a fish out of water. He is also dangerously unfamiliar with the treacherous political and social quagmires that lurk beneath the surface of modern-day Virginia.

But Jewell needs the job, and quite simply he needs to get up to speed with the new media technology. He’s been on a professional downslide and also suffers from a failed family life. It may be his last chance at resurrecting his career and re-connecting with his family who also live in the area. Jewel’s ex-wife is a professor of cultural anthropol-ogy at the University of Virginia and his teenage daughter is every bit the rebel he once was.

Unfamiliar with Virginia’s power structure, and challenged by the downsizing of his paper, Jewell steps on all the wrong toes from the start. His straightforward style clashes with his publisher’s old Southern sensibility and her quest for social prominence, and more dangerously he steps into the line of fire of the state’s most illustrious citi-zen, Duke Starrett, a powerful special-interest charmer who works both sides of the fence.

Jewell’s hard-headed integrity sets him on a perilous course. Caught in the midst of explosive contemporary issues, including casino gambling, tourism, recession, and American Indian recognition, Jewell is trapped between conflict-ing forces and goals: reporting the news, keeping his job, and winning back his family. And his most difficult foe is his own self-destructive ways -- Jewell must re-invent himself or perish along with his story.

Inspired by a brash young reporter, who reminds Jewell of his himself during his gonzo years, Jewell struggles to re-gain his glory-days. Forging further into the corrupt land of Virginia politics and big-business, Jewell finds that he’s been setup as a pawn to abet a billion-dollar gambling and land scam, and the costs are now personal…and deadly.

Once again, Jewell has charged to the front by scooping a major story, and once again, he is the target of special-interest forces – but this time he’s not alone. He has his family and his young partner, for which he is responsible.

With his life and career in danger, Jewell must sort out a conspiracy that traces back to 1607. He must unravel a treacherous story that began when John Smith and the early settlers launched their incursion against the indig-enous Powhatan Indians, taking their land and destroying their rights. Jewell must get today’s story, before it be-comes the final chapter in a history of destruction. Jewell is dead set against history repeating itself, and will not give up – even on himself.

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The Branching / Shadow Catcher

Director/Producer Lucas Krost Owner: The Branching

THE COMPANY (DEADLINE LLC.)

THE TEAM

Big Apple Films is a full service production and post production resource. They provide the very best equipment and expertise needed to support anything from mid-budget indie films to elaborate Hollywood films. Big Apple is committed to offering the latest technology in Digital Cinema workflows. They utilize only industry standard equipment such as ARRI, ZEISS, ANGINEUX, and provide a full line of RED ONE digital cinema cameras configured with industry standard support and the latest accessories that professionals demand. They specialize in custom tailoring digital workflows that suit specific needs. They have the rela-tionships, the experience, and the vision to help our customers get from concept to completion. They are providing Deadline with camera packages and color correct for the Deadline Project.

A veteran of the production teams that made The New World, Evan Almighty, War of Worlds, and the HBO series John Adams and The Wire, Lucas Krost founded his own film production company The Branching in Richmond, Virginia, in 2006. Never afraid to take on difficult subjects, Krost is an award-winning writer, director, and producer of short and feature films. His short documentary One Nation Under Guard, which was filmed onsite in one of Virginia’s highest security prisons, was the grand-prize winner of Current TV and Al Gore’s Seeds of Tolerance Contest. Gore congratulated him personally and presented him with the $100,000 check, which became the seed of The Branching production com-pany. In addition, Krost’s short film Feels Like Drowning addressing the issue of the torture of Iraqis by U.S. soldiers. It was selected for screening at Filma-palooza and Cannes Film Festival. Krost is a graduate of the Virginia Common-wealth University Department of Film. Most recently he completed his first fea-ture Border Town, which recently signed a distribution deal with Maverick Films.

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Producer/Writer - Kirk Ellis Owner: Shadow Catcher FilmsSanta Fe-based writer and producer Kirk Ellis won two Emmys and the Humanitas Prize as the screenwriter of John Adams starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, and produced by Tom Hanks. Ellis wrote and co-executive produced the seven-part HBO miniseries, which is based on David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography. The miniseries scored a record 23 nominations, second only to Roots, and won a record breaking 13 Emmys in all. Ellis also received a Writers Guild of America nomination for his script, and the series won a total of four Golden Globe Awards. Ellis will continue his association with McCullough and the American Revolution on his next project for HBO 1776. Like John Adams the series will be produced by Tom Hanks. In addition Ellis is adapting the James Ellroy’s novel American Tabloid as a potential series for Playtone and HBO.

For the big screen, Ellis is working on the feature project Blood and Thunder, an epic drama of Kit Carson and the Navajo Wars, and Escape, the true story of Carolyn Jessop, who escaped from a plural marriage in a fundamentalist Mormon compound under the leadership of Warren Jeffs. Katherine Heigl is starring and will produce along with Michael Menschel of Relevant Entertainment. Ellis’ collaboration with Steven Spielberg brought Ellis the Western Writers of America’s Golden Spur Award for Best Dra-ma Script for Hell on Wheels, an episode of Into the West on which Ellis served as the supervising producer and writer. He also received the Wrangler Award for Best Television Feature from the National Western Heritage Museum for his work on the miniseries. Previously Ellis received an Emmy nomination and won the Writers Guild of America and the Humanitas Prize for the ABC miniseries Anne Frank, which he wrote and co-produced. Additional credits include writing the award-winning ABC mini-series The Beach Boys: An American Family, co-executive producing Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which earned a Critics’ Choice Award, and writing The Three Stooges telefilm. Ellis made his feature film debut writing and co-producing The Grass Harp based on the coming-of-age novel by Truman Capote. He has also collaborated on projects with Francis Ford Coppola, Roland Joffe, and William Friedkin. Ellis studied film production and history at the University of Southern California. He began his career as a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter and at the age of 24 became the paper’s international editor. Ellis was later named Editor in Chief of Moving Pictures magazine, and simultaneously formed Shadow Catcher Productions, an independent film production company.

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Producer - Bennett FidlowBennett Fidlow has been in the entertainment industry for almost 30 years. He began his career as a theatre producer and eventually became an entertainment attorney in 1988, specializing in negotiating deals and handling production issues in the film, television, home entertainment, theatre and Internet markets. He has been involved at all levels of the entertain-ment industry; from major studio and network projects to low-budget indie film financing and production. He has worked on many international co-productions, handled numerous rights acquisition deals, represented high-profile talent, and pro-vided business and legal advice on over 50 productions, including Memento, The Score, Evan Almighty, John Singleton’s Illegal Tender and Hustle & Flow (Sundance), and The Final Season (Tribeca). A complete list of Mr. Fidlow’s productions can be found on IMDB at www.imdb.com/name/nm0275778.

Mr. Fidlow began practicing law at Los Angeles’ preeminent entertainment firm, Bloom, Dekom & Hergott, where he han-dled film and television deals for the firm’s A-list clients (such as George Lucas, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joel Silver, Reggie Hud-lin, and Keenan Ivory Wayans). Later Mr. Fidlow joined MGM/United Artists, where he headed up the Home Entertainment division’s Business & Legal Affairs Department. More recently, he was involved in Sony’s acquisition of MGM and NBC’s merger with Vivendi/Universal. Mr. Fidlow’s production and management training also includes degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and Columbia University as well as work with The Shubert Organization, Circle in the Square, and The Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Mr. Fidlow’s clients have included Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, MGM, United Artists, Screen Gems, Newmarket Entertainment, Franchise Pictures, Mandalay Pictures, Warner Bros TV, Fox Family, USA Cable, Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment, Universal Home Entertainment, Sony Worldwide Marketing, Playboy Entertainment, Clear Channel Communications, Metropolitan Talent Agency, Dave Matthews’ ATO Pictures, John Singleton, Vidal Sassoon, Cloris Leachman, Peter Fonda, and many other individual executives, producers, writers and actors. His name was even used for the attorney in the film Pacific Heights as an inside joke with the film’s writer client. Mr. Fidlow has developed an extensive network of friends and contacts in the industry.

Mr. Fidlow also has had the honor of having his writing cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and several other courts in con-nection with leading Copyright Law decisions. His articles have been published in the Hastings Communications/Enter-tainment Law Journal and the Entertainment, Publishing and Arts Law Handbook and have been recognized by ASCAP in its Nathan Burkan Copyright Writing Competition. He is a Martindale-Hubbell rated attorney and listed in Virginia Super Lawyers in the field of Entertainment & Sports.

Mr. Fidlow is admitted to the California and Virginia State Bars, has been a member of the Beverly Hills Bar Association’s Entertainment Section since 1988 and was on the Executive Committee of its Intellectual Property, Internet and New Media Section from 2000-2003. He has served on the boards of the Central Virginia Film Office and Barksdale Theatre as well as on committees for the Virginia Film Festival and the DC Independent Film Festival. Mr. Fidlow has taught Entertain-ment Law at the University of Richmond School of Law for the past 4 years, is a frequent speaker at universities and en-tertainment seminars, and is participating in Leadership Metro Richmond 2010.

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Producer - Ivan Bess

Writer/Co-Producer - Duane Byrge

A native New Yorker and graduate of Brown University’s Art Semiotics program, Ivan Bess worked on various New York productions includ-ing Jim McKay’s Our Song, until joining forces with The Shooting Gallery. While at The Shooting Gallery, Bess worked as Production Coordi-nator on Bruce Sinofsky’s American Masters documentary Good Rockin’ Tonight, and various other projects.

Bess later joined forces with Producer Sarah Green and assisted on Miramax’s Frida, which was nominated for six Academy Awards and won two. After Frida, Bess continued his work with Green in developing the Miramax/Artisan co-production Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Follow-ing the release, Bess became Director of Development for Green’s production company in New York.

In 2004, Green produced Terrence Malick’s fourth film The New World, with Bess serving as Associate Producer. Released by New Line Cin-ema in 2005, this film was nominated for an Academy Award for cinematography. Bess also produced the documentary for The New World entitled Making the New World, which was directed by Austin Lynch and appears on the DVD.

Following The New World, Green and Bess developed Malick’s fifth film The Tree of Life, which stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Bess again served as Associate Producer. The project is in post-production and will be released in 2009.

Bess is currently working as an independent producer on numerous projects including one with the Academy Award winner actress Marion Cotillard of LaVie En Rose (the Edith Piaf story), which will be Co-Produced by her production company. Filming is slated for 2009, to be filmed in New York, France, and Spain.

A veteran journalist for The Hollywood Reporter who has served as news editor, senior film critic, and box-office reporter/analyst for the trade publication. He has written more than 2,500 film reviews for the paper. His acumen in prognosticating commercial box-office, assess-ing quality and recommending festival films for potential distribution has been highly regarded by the motion-picture industry. His opinions are sought out by the heads of production and distribution companies.

An 18-year member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Byrge has appeared as a critic and box-office analyst on numerous national news networks and programs, including E! Entertainment, Fox TV, and NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw.

In addition, Byrge has served an adjunct faculty member at the American Film Institute, where he moderated the Directors on Directing course, interviewing more than 100 feature film directors on stage.

Byrge holds a Ph.D. in Cinema from the University of Southern California. His doctoral dissertation was the basis for the book The Screwball Comedy Films, which he co-authored. Byrge edited and compiled a series of star interviews for the American Film Institute, Private Screen-ings, which was published by Turner Publishing.

In other writing capacities, Byrge has also worked as associate editor of the Writers Guild of America magazine Fade In and has written primetime television dramas for Aaron Spelling Prods. He also served as senior editor of ShowbizDATA.com.

Byrge has participated as a festival jury member for the Chicago International Film Festival, the Montreux Film Festival, and the Chiba City (Tokyo) Film Festival. Byrge currently teaches journalism and film at Virginia State University.

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