How To Go ‘Straight Up’ With Production
SourceBackstage - May 13, 2014
AuthorBriana Rodriguez

Founded in 2008 by Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen, Straight Up Films has productions starring the likes of Johnny Depp and Natalie Portman, and SUF produced “Manos Sucias,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Fest; the film’s director Josef Wladyka walked away with a best new narrative helmer nod. (more…)

Founded in 2008 by Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen, Straight Up Films has productions starring the likes of Johnny Depp and Natalie Portman, and SUF produced “Manos Sucias,” which premiered at the Tribeca Film Fest; the film's director Josef Wladyka walked away with a best new narrative helmer nod.

“Manos Sucias” was shot in Colombia. What advice do you have about producing outside of the U.S.?
MP: It is vitally important to acquaint oneself with the local film community whenever you are shooting overseas. They are incredibly helpful in making introductions to the best crew, equipment, and locations available. They also understand and will advise on the local cultures and nuances associated with filming in that territory. There are a multitude of tax advantages around the world, and doing the necessary amount of research while choosing a location can help reduce your negative cost and mitigate risk.

What was the biggest challenge about starting a production company?
MP: Finding the right partner and subsequent team members whose collective vision for the company, taste in material, and future goals are aligned. It’s very difficult to grow and be successful in this business when the people you are working with put their own agendas first. Filmmaking is a very collaborative process, and finding the right people to work with is essential.

What advice do you have for women who want to produce or start their own production companies?
MP: Just go out and do it already, and don’t let anyone stop you. It is a humbling and empowering journey being a woman in this industry today, but that being said, none of us have any excuses. The business of making movies is a difficult world for everyone, not just women. We don’t make a habit of thinking of ourselves as “women in the industry.”

What can actors do to make your job easier?
KC: We’ve been so fortunate to work with some of the most capable and professional actors out there. I don’t know if anyone can make the job easy, but they certainly make it rewarding with their incredible talent and dedication to bringing the characters we love to life.

What types of projects do you hope to add to your résumé? Actors you’d love to work on a production with?
MP: Our selection process is extremely filmmaker and story driven, as well as curating commercial projects that reach across several media platforms. We have taken chances with first-time film directors, like Wally Pfister on “Transcendence,” but are also working with more seasoned filmmakers. We would love to work with Steve McQueen, Wes Anderson, David O. Russell, Benh Zeitlin, David Lynch, Tarantino (of course), PTA, Spike Jonze. We would also love to work with more female directors: Sofia Coppola, Kathryn Bigelow, Dee Rees.

We have worked with some fantastic actors. In the future, it would be amazing to work with Rebecca Hall again, as well Cate Blanchett, who also wants to direct. Other actors on our dream list are diverse as well, but some actors that come to mind who continually amaze us with their talent would be Michael Fassbender, Christoph Waltz, Sean Penn, Marion Cotillard, Helen Mirren, Elizabeth Olsen, Kate Winslet, Rooney Mara, Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba… There is a world of talent out there, our list could go on!

What do you have on deck for future projects?
KC: I would love to find a smart psychological thriller to add to our slate, but I’m open to almost all genres. We don’t like limiting ourselves and potentially missing out on something truly amazing.

New Michael Jackson Song Backs Jeep Summer TV Campaign (Watch)
SourceBillboard Biz - May 8, 2014
AuthorAndy Gensler

Today Epic Records and Jeep launched a global brand campaign for the car company’s Altitude Edition in which Michael Jackson’s new single “Love Never Felt So Good” is featured in four 30-second TV commercials. The campaign will air from today (May 8) and run through summer. (more…)

Today Epic Records and Jeep launched a global brand campaign for the car company’s Altitude Edition in which Michael Jackson’s new single “Love Never Felt So Good” is featured in four 30-second TV commercials. The campaign will air from today (May 8) and run through summer.

The track is from Jackson's second posthumous release “Xscape” (out May 13, Epic) and was co-written in 1983 by Michael Jackson in a session with Paul Anka (who played piano on the track) and Kathy Wakefield. Two new versions of the song were recorded: one produced by John McClain co-executor of the Jackson estate (with John Branca) is featured in the new ad; and another helmed by the trio of Timbaland, J-Roc and Justin Timberlake finds JT duetting with Michael and debuted this week at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The campaign's origin came in late-March when Epic chairman and CEO Antonio “LA” Reid played the album for Chrysler CMO Olivier Francois. “I played him almost every song,” Reid says. “When we played 'Love Never Felt So Good' he made the connection and went ‘Bingo! This was what I was looking for!'" Francois, for his part, says that when he first heard the track he got up off the couch in the Epic offices and started dancing and hopes the ad will have the same impact on consumers.

A former music producer and publisher, Francois is credited with rejuvenating Chrysler's music branding strategy with an impressive string of ads featuring major music placements. This includes Eminem’s two-minute Super Bowl ad for Chrysler; the new Fiat spot with Sean “Ciroc" Combs at a desert party while Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” blares; and a previous ad for Jeep with Lenny Kravitz. Jackson, however, provides Francois a greater opportunity to take his work global.

When asked how big the spend would be on the new campaign Francois wouldn’t give an exact figure but said it would be bigger than the Diddy Fiat spot. According to Kantar Media, Fiat spent $17 million on measured U.S. media in the first three months of 2014, when the still-active Diddy campaign was just starting to roll out.

Jeep also hired multicultural ad agency GlobalHuefor the creative who gave the commercial a summer-y outdoor feel. One ad is shot primarily at the beach, another is more World-Cup-friendly and shows celebratory Latin American soccer fans while another focuses on basketball and features Cleveland Cavalier point guard Kyrie Irving. That campaign was co-sponsored by USA Basketball, which holds global b-ball tournaments throughout summer.

Nearly five years since Michael Jackson's unexpected passing, his brand shows little sign of flagging. Since his death on June 25, 2009, Jackson's albums have sold 12.8 million in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. His “This Is It” concert film grossed $261 million worldwide while "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour," a partnership between the Jackson estate and Cirque du Soleil, last year became the ninth-top-grossing tour of all time with earnings of $325.1 million from 407 shows drawing nearly 3 million concertgoers. A second Cirque du Soleil show, "One," began a residency at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas last year.

Music from "Xscape," according to Reid, will also be featured in ads by Xperia, a line smartphones and tablets by Sony, Epic’s parent company. The label chair said the ads will air outside of the U.S. He also confirmed that Pepsi, which has had a long-standing relationship with Jackson, has no immediate plans for a tie-in with this album. A video currently being filmed for the Timberlake version of “Love,” however, will feature one rather large product placement: a Jeep Altitude.

Conversations About ‘Away from Here’
SourceScreen Comment - May 6, 2014
AuthorSam Weisberg

The Johnny Depp science fiction film “Transcendence” has been kicking around theaters for the past two weeks, but there’s a smaller gem of a movie—independently co-written and co-produced by Kate Cohen, one of “Transcendence’s” producers that’s only available for streaming.  (more…)

The Johnny Depp science fiction film “Transcendence” has been kicking around theaters for the past two weeks, but there’s a smaller gem of a movie—independently co-written and co-produced by Kate Cohen, one of “Transcendence’s” producers that’s only available for streaming. 

It’s called “Away from Here,” and like “The Woodsman,” it treats a normally sensational subject, adult sex with minors, with refreshing sensitivity. Directed by Bruce Van Dusen, it’s a raw, sweet-natured film, brilliantly-acted by leads Nick Stahl and Alicia Witt, and it deserves wider attention.

Unlike in “The Woodsman” in which Kevin Bacon’s character, a pedophile just released from jail who tries his hand at adult romance for the first time, the protagonist’s past actions aren’t all that reprehensible. Stahl’s James has just served six years in prison for statutory rape, but the age difference wasn’t so jarring.

As a twenty year-old youth minister he was avidly pursued by Jessica (Mary Regency Boies), a rebellious fifteen year-old churchgoer who just happened to be the preacher’s (“Twin Peaks’s” Ray Wise) daughter, and eventually the two struck up a consensual romance. Now feared and loathed by his former friends and family, James, post-release, is living a lonely existence as a restaurant line cook where he catches the eye of bitter, wounded waitress Lily (Witt). Gradually, they break down each other’s forced stoicism, but as they begin to slip into a normal relationship, Jessica shows up, firmly breaking the code of her family’s restraining order, to make uninvited amends.

Kate Cohen, co-founder of Straight Up Films, based part of “Away from Here” on her own adolescent scandal/tragedy.

“I was fifteen and was really in love with a twenty-eight year-old guy, and he ended up going to jail,” Cohen said. “It was absolutely horrible and devastating. It was sort of healing for me to write this movie.”

Cohen developed the script with Timothy Michael Cooper and Bradley Lawrence. The latter writer, who remained uncredited, had an evangelical past and introduced that angle to the story.

Despite the controversial subject matter, neither Cohen, Witt nor Stahl worried about potential audience vitriol.

“When we did screenings for the film, a lot of guys I spoke to afterwards said they felt so conflicted,” Cohen recalled. “They said, ‘If my sister was fifteen and with someone in their twenties, I’d never forgive them.’ But somehow in this movie, it comes off like they really did love each other and weren’t so far apart in age. Plus, there’s something about Nick that’s so sweet, you just feel for him anyway.”

“I think it would have been a different story if James had been thirty-five, but he’s twenty and Jessica’s fifteen,” said Witt. “I’m not saying what he did was right, obviously the timing was wrong and the right thing would have been to wait a few years. But she wasn’t really victimized. I didn’t see James as someone that deserved to be put away and never come out again, which is how I feel about child molesters.”

Stahl said he was immediately drawn to the role because of its moral complexity.

“He’s trying to shed the past as much as he can, wrestling with his own shame,” he explained. “I thought the script did a great job at capturing that.”

Both Witt and Stahl were captivated by the story’s central romance from the get-go, particularly the notion of both characters’ fear at becoming intimate with one another.

“I think Lily is only willing to open up to someone equally wounded,” said Witt. “And if you’re not two eighteen year-olds just starting out, you’re going to have a history, and there are things in all of our pasts that we’re embarrassed by and don’t want to ever reveal, things that a potential partner might be repulsed by and want to close the door on.”

Interestingly, the original script contained a subplot that painted Lily in a more sordid manner than what we see on the screen (in the final film, her sadness stems mostly from her Alzheimer’s-stricken mother and general bad luck with men).

“There was a scene where Lily says her first sexual experience was when she was sixteen and it was with someone much older,” Witt remembered. “It would have been so fascinating if she’s had a similar experience [to James] yet still gets so angry [when she discovers his past]. I think [that hypocrisy] is within many people. If someone cuts you off in traffic, you get angrier about it if you’re the type of person that does that. If you’re not, and somebody does that to you, you just kind of shake your head and say, ‘Oh, hope you get there in time!’”

Cohen did not elaborate on why that scene was cut, saying only, “It just didn’t work.” Another initial idea that was eventually deemed “too dark” by Cohen involved Wise’s preacher plotting to murder James, resulting in the accidental death of his daughter.

Witt and Stahl’s searing chemistry is the fundamental reason to see “Away from Here.”

“There could not have been a better Lily in my mind,” Stahl said.

“Neither of us had acting school experience, yet we’ve both been acting since we were little,” Witt added. “We’re not into massive amounts of rehearsal or running lines until they’re beaten to death. Also, I don’t really like to know where the camera is. I like long lenses, or cameras moving around. I’ve always been resistant to finding my light, or unblocking myself when there are actors in front of me.”

Cohen, who raised the money herself for the film, which cost just over $1 million and was shot in twenty-four days, with Queens and Brooklyn filling in for St. Louis, maintained that she has no regrets about not seeking a theatrical release for “Away from Here.”

“I do work on big studio movies and this is such a small one,” she said. “I love the film, but I just know the kind of money you need to spend to have a successful theatrical release, and we just couldn’t get the kind of marketing behind it that would warrant that. I felt we’d have a really good reach in the VOD market.”

Witt is also content with the film’s online-only status.

“I don’t think it’s any indication of whether something is worth liking,” she said.

‘Transcendence’ Producers Nab Rights to Sci-Fi Novel ‘Thirteen’ (Exclusive)
SourceThe Hollywood Reporter - May 6, 2014
AuthorTatiana Siegel

Kenny Golde is adapting the film, which is being produced by Straight-Up Films’ Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvino along with Vinson Films’ Tripp Vinson.

Transcendence producers Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvinoare heading back to the future.

The Straight-Up Films duo, who developed and produced the Johnny Depp vehicle, have acquired the rights to the futuristic noir thriller Thirteen.

(more…)

Kenny Golde is adapting the film, which is being produced by Straight-Up Films' Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvino along with Vinson Films' Tripp Vinson.

Transcendence producers Kate Cohen and Marisa Polvinoare heading back to the future.

The Straight-Up Films duo, who developed and produced the Johnny Depp vehicle, have acquired the rights to the futuristic noir thriller Thirteen.

Written by Richard K. Morgan, the novel was first published 2008 and won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction literature. Morgan previously won the Philip K. Dick Award for distinguished science fiction writing.

Kenny Golde will write the screenplay. He most recently adapted Isaac Asimov’s sci-fi thriller End of Eternity for New Regency and is the writer of Forsaken, which is set up with Hyde Park and Parkes/MacDonald with Jean-Luc Herbulot attached to direct. Golde also penned the indie World War II film Walking With the Enemy, which is currently in theaters.

Cohen and Polvino are producing Thirteen alongside Tripp Vinson through his Vinson Films. Vinson brought the novel to Cohen and Polvino. Lisa Zambri will executive produce.

Cohen also wrote and produced the Nick Stahl/Alicia Witt drama Away From Here, which Polvino executive produced. Polvino previously produced The Education of Charlie Banks and Brooklyn Rules.

Vinson has several projects in varying stages of production including Solace, starring Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins and Abbie Cornish in post-production; the Dwayne Johnson actioner San Andreas, which is currently filming; and is beginning production this week on the thriller Eloise, featuring the directorial debut of Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Robert Legato (Titanic, Hugo). On the television side, Vinson executive produces the hit CBS series Intelligence.

Golde is repped by APA, manager Jon Karas and attorney Darren Trattner.

Morgan was handled by Alan Nevins of Renaissance Literary & Talent.