EVA Finance GmbH, subsidiary of Entertainment Value Associates GmbH, announced yesterday at the Berlin Film Festival a strategic partnership with the Montreal-based company Media-Max, Inc. for a twelve picture deal. On this picture provided by Roger Frappier, you see Michel Vandewalle, Karine Martin and Roger Frappier.

Each film will be developed by the Media-Max $1 Mio. revolving development fund. This unique primetime film slate consists in the production of a telepic slate with the quality of theatrical movies. Each film will be budgeted around $ 5 Mio. to guarantee a high production value with top cast. Genre wise all telepics will be branded as action-thrillers and, thus, produced for the same target group which will provide constant top ratings.

Media-Max, headed by Karine Martin and Roger Frappier, is a joint venture between Max Films and Mediabiz of Montreal. Karine Martin will exhibit her extensive experience in the financial and legal sector. One of the most prolific and renowned Canadian producers, Roger Frappier, will contribute his decades-long expertise to the creative production of the movies. Media-Max will be advised by Mark Gordon who will act as consultant. Mark Gordon is one of the most important awarded and successful producers in the US will be of great support to the team.

Mark Gordon has produced box office hits and awarded TV series such as “The Patriot”, “The Day After Tomorrow” or “Grey’s Anatomy”.

Media-Max will not only arrange for the physical production of the films but also for the sale of these movies to US and Canadian broadcasters. Co-production partner EVA-Group will take over RoW distribution.

"Most of the theatrical movies are not bringing the audience a commercial TV Station needs to recoup their investment," says Michel J. Vandewalle, Head of Development, “Therefore we decided with Media-Max to produce a slate of theatrical movies (telepics) specially made for TV under one brand. The same genre of movies will enable the TV stations to promote and approach their broad target group easier. With the brand we want them to build an evening slot retaining their audience longer than the common series and keeping the audience for that evening tuned on their channel... just see it as a weekly 90 min prime-time series with theatrical movies specially made for TV. This is the USP for the station. With team´s intelligence and access to top creatives and talent, we will have top scripts that will respond to the demand of quality by the viewer."

Karine Martin, co-president of Media-Max, comments on this auspicious co-production: “We are proud of the strong relationships we have developed with the different parties involved, a synergy based on expertise and high-value networks, allowing us to manage the creative, production and distribution processes with an experienced and cohesive team”. “This triangle between Europe, Canada and the United States will be a space of great creativity and filmmaking. This will challenge us immensely" adds Roger Frappier, co-president of
Media-Max.

"We knew something was in the bush and have been working on this for the last year; finding a new strategy to respond on the coming financial situation in the market", says Kai R. Grueneke, CEO of EVA Finance. “New partnerships and creative models are the way to get through these hard times. We wanted a high international quality product where local actors can fit in for their market and making sure of the financial upside for the stations. It shows the importance we give to the continuity of our international productions. Canada and Germany have proven to produce high quality programs which are sold worldwide. We are happy to be part of this joint venture and looking forwards to the outcome!”

Entertainment Value Associates GmbH was founded in 2006; its place of business is Munich in Germany. Managing Directors are Kai-Roger Grüneke and David Groenewold. In recent years, EVA Group has been involved in approximately 100 international film productions and operates through its subsidiary atlas international Film GmbH an international licensing division, managing about 600 German and international titles across all genre, featuring an impressive array of talent as well as representing about 120 individual producers. EVA’s primary areas of operation include the production, acquisition and distribution of entertainment programmes and to exploit this content in all media environments (home entertainment, mobile entertainment and public entertainment) throughout the world. Furthermore, EVA provides specialized services for media investors.

For further information:

www.eva-film.com
www.atlasfilm.com
www.mediabizinternational.com

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