The partnership between the two vastly experienced Britons is backed by private equity and Wall Street and will commence pre-sales in Berlin on Writers and Hector And The Search For Happiness.
The Solution Entertainment Group is the latest in a growing line of savvy companies like Summit, IM Global, Voltage Pictures and Exclusive Media Group to align a sales component with a capital source as a way of creating and controlling underlying property rights.
Wilson, a mainstay of the community for four decades who headed international sales at Nu Image and Hyde Park International, among others, spent the latter portion of 2011 negotiating her exit from Graham King’s GK Films and affiliate Parlay Films.
She will continue to sell all titles on the Parlay slate, which includes the hotly anticipated Sundance trio Red Lights, The Words and Arbitrage. King has not yet found a new sales chief and is expected to announce a replacement in due course.
Nestel is a former investment banker with extensive experience as a principal or arranger of financing. He has put more than $1bn into more than 75 film and TV projects including most recently Machine Gun Preacher, Machete and Conviction.
He co-founded Cobalt Media Group before establishing Oceana Media Finance and Merlina Entertainment and as reported recently on Screendaily was known to be seeking investment for a new fund.
“In today’s world you have to be more than just a sales agent to be in a position to bring the very best theatrical titles to the buyers and that takes production funding,” Wilson said.
“The Solution is a powerful new global entity that not only provides fully supported international distribution but also financing at all levels that allows us to partner with top filmmakers from the very beginning of a film. The Solution is perfectly positioned for current market conditions so I am thrilled to be partnering with Myles on this exciting venture.”
“Having financed a significant number of projects over the course of my career,” Nestel said, “I came to the conclusion that in today’s environment, the best way to protect capital and build a successful brand is to control the underlying sales process.
“As such, I am so happy to be partnering with Lisa, who is amongst the best and most experienced sales executives in the business today.” He added that the goal was to secure greater access to production funds and to this end the partners will announce strategic relationships with producers in due course.
Both of the initial projects are scheduled to commence production in spring. Informant Media and Judy Cairo are producing Writers, which follows a year in the life of an acclaimed novelist and his relationship with his ex-wife, college daughter and teenage son. Michael A Simpson and Eric Brenner of Informant Media serve as executive producers.
Peter Chelsom will direct Hector And The Search for Happiness. Chelsom, whose credits include Serendipity and Hannah Montana: The Movie, adapted François Lelord’s bestseller of the same name with Tinker Lindsay. Egoli Tossell Film and Wild Bunch Germany are producing the German-South African project about a young psychiatrist’s global quest for contentment.
Robb Klein at Sheppard Mullin represents The Solution.
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