Distribution and sales veteran Scott Kaplan has joined Gravitas Ventures as senior vice-president of global sales.

Kaplan will be based in New York and report to Gravitas president Michael Murphy, licensing new releases and library titles to international buyers.

“We see traditional international sales as complementary to our global licensing business,” Murphy told Screen. “We want to be able to give our filmmakers the best of both worlds to maximize revenue and exposure.”

Kaplan most recently served as senior vice-president of global sales at Gunpowder & Sky Distribution, and served in the same capacity at FilmBuff, which Gunpowder & Sky acquired last year.

“In addition to having great sales acumen, Scott brings a critical expertise to our team,” Murphy said. “He has a great eye for global acquisitions. In the last few years we’ve seen strong international growth and with the addition of Scott we’re going to step on the gas to further increase global awareness.”

Kaplan added: “Gravitas is a true entrepreneurial success story in the independent film business. I look forward to building out our foreign sales and global licensing in order to truly maximize exposure and revenue for our films and filmmakers.”

At FilmBuff Kaplan sourced and negotiated hundreds of deals for a library of more than 1,000 films including Exit Through The Gift Shop and Senna.  

Prior FilmBuff he negotiated multi-channel acquisition deals for DISH Network. He started out at ICM in Los Angeles.

Topics