The financier and filmmaker Bobby Paunescu and former Comerica Entertainment senior executive Jared Underwood have partnered on the feature production venture with producer Kearie Peak and business affairs and acquisitions expert Christopher Taylor.

As principal investors in the company, Paunescu and Underwood (pictured) will serve as general partners. Peak and Taylor will serve as co-CEOs with Peak overseeing production and Taylor business and corporate affairs. 

Solar will finance and produce four to five commercial films a year for the international marketplace.  Titles will range from small features to mid-size action films with budgets rising to $30m.

A key investor includes Edward Lawson Johnston, founder of the London-based merchant bank LJ Group, which has more than $5bn of assets under management. Johnston previously set up the British and World Luxury Council in London, Dubai, Mumbai and Delhi with Prince Michael of Kent and previously served as advisor to the London School Of Business & Finance 

Attorney Bryan Wolf of Ziffren Brittenham structured the deal and represents the company. 

Paunescu is an industrialist who produced 2005 Un Certain Regard winner The Death Of Mr Lazarescu and opened a studio in Romania in 2010 in cooperation with Italy’s Fandango. Its first feature Diaz screened at Berlin last month. He has four features in post including Closer To The Moon starring Vera Farmiga and Mark Strong.

Until his departure last week, Underwood had served as svp and group manager at Comerica for the past 18 years. During his tenure the group provided close to $10bn in financing for among other transactions more than 800 films including the Twilight films, Iron Man, The Grey, District 9 and The Woman In Black.

Peak partnered with Dean Devlin in Electric Entertainment from 2003-2012 and prior to that established K2 Productions and served as president of The Steve Tisch Company where she oversaw day-to-day operations of the company’s feature film division and played a pivotal role in developing and producing American History X and The Long Kiss Goodnight, among others.

Taylor is most widely known for his many years at JVC Entertainment, Inc., first as general counsel of its interactive entertainment/music group and then as head of acquisitions and business affairs of its film group, Largo Entertainment.

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