Natural Nylon Films, the New York production company that describes itself as the sister company to London's star-laden Natural Nylon Entertainment, has reinvented itself as a digital entertainment studio with its own 5,000 sq.ft. production facility in the heart of Manhattan's Silicon Alley.

The New York branch of Natural Nylon is run by president Richard Burns, a producer-director who first teamed up with rising British superstar Jude Law (currently up for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in The Talented Mr. Ripley) and UK producer Damon Bryant in 1996. The original Nylon name was derived from a combination of NY- (for New York) and -LON (for London)

The two sides of this transatlantic partnership have now gone on separate tangents, while keeping the Natural Nylon moniker and "amicable" business ties. Law and Bryant formed Natural Nylon Entertainment, teaming up with actors Ewan McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller, Sean Pertwee and Sadie Frost to primarily develop feature film projects that are now being made under a recently extended production financing deal with Canada's Alliance Atlantis. All the while, Burns has been building a full-service digital production company for feature and commercial projects under the umbrella of Natural Nylon Films.

Burns says that he continues to solicit and develop film projects for the London outfit, which has a production deal with Alliance, but that most of his efforts are now directed towards establishing a "synchronised film community" in the Flatiron district that is home to New York's proliferating Internet businesses. Natural Nylon Films already houses a variety of producers, animators, editors and software programmers serving five autonomous and yet interacting divisions: Nylon-Films, Nylon-Net, Nylon-TV, Nylon-Post and Nylon-Spots.

"There is still a lot of good will on both sides of Atlantic [between the two Natural Nylons]," explained Burns. "But digital broadband entertainment has not developed as fast in the UK. Here it is really going to explode. We are equipped to be a leading content provider for the new generation that will be driven by a certain look and attitude. And we are well-financed, because money talks, bullshit walks."

Natural Nylon Films has its own separate feature film-making arm, Nylon-Films, which brought on producers Isen Robbins and Aimee Schoof. The division was involved in this year's Sundance competition-entry Beyond The Ocean and has several others in development including Sergio Castilla's sixth feature Te Amo in Chile.

Nylon-Films will also become associated with the production of Austin Chick's XX/XY, starring Mark Ruffalo, the actor who won good notices for his role as Laura Linney's brother in the Sundance Grand Jury prize winner You Can Count On Me. Nylon-Films is providing all the post-production and sound editing facilities on Chick's debut film.

Meanwhile, the UK's Natural Nylon Entertainment has been busy developing its own slate. About to enter pre-production is Marlowe, a $20m period drama about the 16th century playwright Christopher Marlowe, that will be directed Love Is The Devil's John Maybury from a script by John Brownlow. Other projects in the works include Disturbia, to be directed by Jake Scott, and Psychoville, to be directed by Sara Sugarman. The Britpack's renewed deal with Alliance Atlantis will also cover TV development and production.

Topics