Ed Pressman and JohnSchmidt's New York-based production and distribution outfit ContentFilmhas teamed up with rapper-actor DMX's Bloodline Films for the thriller NeverDie Alone. Based on a novel by thecult 1970s writer Donald Goines, the story centres on an aspiring journalistwho witnesses the murder of a rapper and learns why he was killed when he readsthe gangster's journal. DMX will play the gangster, while David Arquette,whose credits include the Screamseries and Never Been Kissed,plays the reporter. Never Die Alonewill be directed by Ernest Dickerson, who directed the 1992 drama Juice and worked as Spike Lee's cinematographer onseven pictures. Production is due to begin in Los Angeles on Feb 13.

In a prepared statementtoday (Feb 12), ContentFilm chairman Pressman and president Schmidt said:'Naturally we are thrilled to be working with DMX, David Arquette andErnest Dickerson, but we are particularly proud to be bringing the vibrantcharacters created by Donald Goines to the big screen.'

DMX's credits include ExitWounds and Romeo Must Die and the upcoming Warner Bros thriller Cradle 2The Grave opposite Jet Li. This willbe Bloodline Films' first production.

ContentFilm was formed byveteran producer Pressman and Schmidt, a former partner in October Films, in2001. The company aims to finance and produce 12-15 titles each year and recentproductions include Anne Nelson's 9/11 drama The Guys, starring Sigourney Weaver and Anthony LaPaglia andthe dark romance The Cooler,which stars William H Macy and Alec Baldwin and was picked up by Lions GateFilms after its Sundance Film Festival world premiere last month.