Film Production
STX Entertainment, Universal Pictures sign home entertainment deal
MUMBAI: Motion picture and television studio STX Entertainment and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment have entered into a multi-year partnership in which Universal will handle all marketing, sales and distribution services for Blu-ray, DVD, Electronic Sell-Through and TVOD platforms of STX Entertainment’s theatrical titles across North America.
STX Entertainment, which handles its own production, marketing and distribution of its theatrical projects, is ramping up quickly and recently revealed it will release 12-15 major motion pictures a year beginning in 2016.
STX Entertainment Motion Picture Group chairman Adam Fogelson said, “Universal has one of the most aggressive and inventive home entertainment teams in the industry. Their philosophy of being platform agnostic and allowing for growth in new and emerging areas of delivery is very exciting. We could not have more confidence in their ability to represent STX Entertainment’s new catalogue of motion pictures in the home entertainment marketplace.”
Universal Pictures president and chief distribution officer Peter Levinsohn added, “STX will be an excellent complement to Universal’s exceptional portfolio of diverse home entertainment distribution partners. Robert Simonds is one of the most innovative and accomplished professionals in the film business and we are thrilled to join forces with him and his veteran team of talented executives in what we expect will be a long and successful collaboration.”
This Universal agreement marks the second partnership announced by STX Entertainment, who in January of this year closed a multi-year output agreement with Showtime Networks to bring motion pictures distributed theatrically by STX exclusively to Showtime Networks during the premium television window. The deal covers the studio’s theatrical releases through 2019.
STX has been ramping up production on its film slate and recently announced the first four motion pictures it will release theatrically. On 31 July, 2015, the studio will debut The Gift, a contemporary psychological thriller from Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, directed by Joel Edgerton and starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Edgerton. Secret in Their Eyes will be released on 23 October, 2015. The thriller is written and directed by Billy Ray and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts. On 22 January, 2016, STX will release The Boy, a horror film from director William Brent Bell, written by Stacey Menear and starring Lauren Cohan. And 11 March, 2016, brings the release of the epic action-drama The Free State of Jones, starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell and Mahershala Ali from writer-director and four-time Academy Award nominee Gary Ross.
Film Production
Priyanka Kaur Dhillon joins SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution
A seasoned content dealmaker with 16 years in digital and satellite media joins the Bengali entertainment powerhouse as it pushes into the pan-India music market
Mumbai: Priyanka Kaur Dhillon has made her move. The content acquisitions and commercials veteran, most recently commercial manager at Sony Pictures Networks India, has joined SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution, stepping into one of the more interesting briefs in regional entertainment right now.
SVF is no ordinary regional label. Over 30 years it has built a formidable legacy in Bengali cinema and music, driven by culturally resonant storytelling and a catalogue that consistently punches above its weight. Its recent success with Chiraiya underlines the point. But the Kolkata-based powerhouse now has its sights firmly set beyond Bengal, most visibly through Legacy, a rap reality series produced in collaboration with hip-hop label Kalamkaar that signals a deliberate push into the pan-India music ecosystem.
Dhillon brings precisely the kind of muscle SVF needs for that expansion. At Sony Pictures Networks India, she led film acquisition and commercials and handled music licensing across the entire satellite network. Before that, she spent nearly 15 years at Hungama, rising to assistant general manager and leading strategic content licensing for the platform’s digital entertainment business, with a particular focus on international markets. Her label relationships span the full roster: Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music, Believe International, Tunecore, The Orchard and a clutch of smaller aggregators. She has negotiated and closed deals with Hollywood studios, Bollywood production houses and regional content players alike, building pricing models and deal structures off data analysis rather than instinct.
Announcing the appointment, Dhillon said she was “thrilled to begin this journey with an iconic Bengali music label and content powerhouse,” adding that SVF’s “constant drive to push boundaries” was what drew her to the role.
SVF has spent three decades proving that regional does not mean limited. With a sharp commercial operator now steering its music distribution, its bid to go national just got a good deal more serious.
