Greg Williams, CEO of Lot 47Films, is to join John Vanco as a partner in Cowboy Pictures. He brings VickiLoughery and Rick Thiedig with him from Lot 47.

Williams will retain thelabel of Lot 47 Films and continue to exploit its library's ancillary rights.Williams and his team are in the process of moving into Cowboy's Tribecaoffices.

"I couldn't be more bepleased that Greg and his talented staff will be working with us at Cowboy,"said Vanco in a statement. "It's become clear to me that the team that Greg hasworked with to realize the tremendous success of The Fast Runner over the past year provides exactly the kind ofvision, savvy and experience that I've been looking for to mature Cowboy,expand its infrastructure and take the company to the next level."

"I have come to know John assomeone with impeccable taste, true integrity and passion for film - a rarecombination in this business," said Williams. "What makes Cowboy'saccomplishments particularly impressive is that the company has never relied onoutside capital. John and I believe that our complementary skills and sharedlove of cinema provide a promising foundation to build on what's already beenachieved at Cowboy."

Cowboy, which was co-foundedby Vanco and Noah Cowan in 1997, will continue to release new films and exploitits film library while undergoing a 90-day period of restructuring andadjustment.

"I've always felt that ourprimary responsibility is to the producers that have entrusted us with theirfilms," continued Vanco. "Having Greg and his team at Cowboy, along with theother changes we have planned, will enable us to better exploit our library andserve our most significant licensors - Janus Films/Home Vision Entertainment,Pennebaker-Hegedus Films and Code Red."

Cowboy's credits include TheLife And Times Of Hank Greenberg, George Washington, Fat Girl, The Endurance:Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, Morvern Callar and Promises.

Cowboy, which now has alibrary of nearly 400 films including most of the key titles of Akira Kurosawa,DA Pennebaker and Ingmar Bergman, The company's next release is musicdocumentary Gigantic (A Tale Of Two Johns) in association with Plexifilm on May 23 and the 50thanniversary re-release of The Wages Of Fear in July in association with Janus Films/Home VisionEntertainment.

Williams is a former seniorexecutive at JPMorgan, Salomon Brothers and Deutsche Bank.