American Film Market Dailies

ROCKET SCIENCE EXPANDS TEAM WITH KEY HIRES

Rocket Science, the newly-launched multi-faceted venture from Thorsten Schumacher, has today announced dual appointment of key executives in its London headquarters, as the company continues to expand its UK offering.

Claire Taylor and Chiara Gelardin will be heading International Sales of all titles on the company’s slate, with future plans to work across production, development and financing on both the film and TV side, as the business expands and its departments evolve. Implementing an integrated vision for the company, the hires have been made without title structure, as a strategic move to build the company around individual specialisms and centrality of its business needs.

The announcement comes as Rocket Science makes its market debut at this year’s AFM, with titles including Nick Hornby adaptation, Juliet,Naked; Saoirse Ronan-starrer On Chesil Beach; and Old Man And The Gun starring Robert Redford and Casey Affleck.

Thorsten Schumacher, Founder of Rocket Science, said: “I have been privileged to work with Chiara and Claire for a long time, and the team feels dynamic and efficient, fitting perfectly into the company’s collaborative nature. With her strong legal and business expertise Chiara will naturally be across all areas of the business with me. Claire’s broad creative and curatorial skills with filmmakers also make her a natural fit to take a central role across our film and TV ventures. It goes without saying that they both are extremely well liked and respected in the industry and their deep relationships have always impressed me. I couldn’t be happier to have them on board.”

Claire Taylor and Chiara Gelardin bring a wealth of experience to Rocket Science having previously acted as Director of Sales and Distribution, and Director of International sales at HanWay Films. While there, they worked across titles including Steve McQueen’s Shame and Academy Award nominees Brooklyn, Carol and Anomalisa. Prior to this, Taylor was part of the London sales arm at Pathé, working across financing and international distribution, while Gelardin assumed the role of Business Affairs Executive at Recorded Picture Company.

Recently launched by Thorsten Schumacher as a multi-faceted venture engineered for production, finance, sales and distribution, Rocket Science’s current sales projects include Dominic Cooke’s film adaption On Chesil Beach and Nick Hornby adaptation, Juliet, Naked, with Ethan Hawke, Rose Byrne and Chris O’Dowd in talks to star.