Heading into AFM former AGC Studios and Hello Sunshine executives Wifreddy Chiang and Anant Tamirisa have launched advisory and executive services firm Baseline Media targeting independent producers, production companies, and financiers.
Baseline offers CFO, COO and business and legal affairs capabilities to assist with strategic leadership and hands-on execution across corporate operations, project financing, and transactions.
The advisory service will work with clients on a retainer basis and collaborate on individual projects. Clients include The Brutalist financier and producer Brookstreet Pictures, Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s production company Felix Culpa, and Ketchup Entertainment.
Individual project engagements include The Journeyman starring Patrick Schwarzenegger, which AGC International is selling at AFM this week; Kaplan Morrison’s They Follow, David Robert Mitchell’s sequel to It Follows; and Parallel 42’s Homewrecker starring Allison Williams, Michelle Randolph and Simu Liu.
Chiang, whose experience includes finance and operations for Candle Media’s production company portfolio including Hello Sunshine and worked on AGC Studios’ financial infrastructure, and Tamirisa, formerly EVP of business and legal affairs at AGC Studios, have structured and closed nearly $2bn in film and television transactions combined.
“Now more than ever, companies in the media and entertainment industry are in need of sophisticated finance and business affairs expertise, but most can’t justify or afford bringing it in-house,” said Chiang. Tamirisa added, “Rather than working with multiple advisors operating in silos, our clients have a partner who understands the full picture, from structuring and closing individual transactions to building the infrastructure needed to sustain and grow their businesses.”
Supporting the founders are Danice Woodley, a former senior executive at Participant who brings entertainment law and business operations expertise; Ryan Scharwath, who led financial planning and analysis, business development and studio operations at 20th Century Fox, Amazon MGM Studios and Hello Sunshine; Tamar Sarkissian and Sharon Yeh who bring controller and corporate accounting expertise from Hello Sunshine, Warner Bros, Disney and Ernst & Young; and Colleen Castle, a former account director at Ogilvy.
Baseline will operate with a presence in Los Angeles and New York.
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