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Warner follows Universal’s lead in pursuing artist-based film projects
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 7 August 2015
Universal Music big cheese Lucian Grainge recently confirmed to Bloomberg that his company – having led on the recent Amy Winehouse biopic ‘Amy’ – now had ambitions to step up its movie and TV activities, creating other productions based around artists signed to and records release by the major. Productions which may or may not wind up the families of the artists they feature. That approach certainly guarantees extra press.
Anyway, now Warner Music has announced an alliance with a film financing and production company, London-based Catalyst Global Media, via which similar biopics and documentaries based around its artists will be developed. “Catalyst will develop and finance the projects and oversee worldwide distribution”, says the film firm, as part of a multi-territory, multi-picture deal.
Catalyst co-founder Al Hardiman, who also heads up the company’s music division, will work with Rich Robinson and Jen Moss in Warner Music’s sync team to seek out source materials for film projects from the Warner Music archives. The new partnership builds on a past alliance between the two companies, where Warner provided music supervision services on Catalyst film and TV projects.
Confirming the new tie up, Hardiman told reporters: “Music is a key part of the DNA here at Catalyst, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Warner Music to bring a selection of compelling stories to the screen based on musical legends past and present. The power of music to capture the human spirit and to speak to audiences across the world is unrivalled and this co-venture provides a wonderful opportunity in film to explore these artists, their lives and their work in a very inspiring way”.
Of course, both Universal and Warner were once sister companies to movie studios, but both have since been spun off from their Hollywood counterparts, so that the film and music companies using the Universal and Warner names are not in common ownership. Having two Universals and two Warners now making movies, that won’t be at all confusing.
