Editor

Acclaimed producer Greg Shapiro has joined vibrant independent studio IM Global as President of Feature Film Production it was announced today by IM Global Founder and CEO and Stuart Ford.

Shapiro was a Best Picture Academy Award® Winner for Kathryn Bigelow's 2008 drama The Hurt Locker, which won a total of six Oscars. He was also executive producer on Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, which received five Academy Award® nominations.  Most recently, Shapiro produced Child 44 starring Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace, and James Gray’s The Immigrant, starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner, which premiered at the 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival as part the Official Competition.

Shapiro will oversee all feature film production and financing activity at one of the industry's most active financing and production platforms. The prolific indie studio is a partner on forthcoming awards contenders Hacksaw Ridge from director Mel Gibson, and Martin Scorsese's Silence.  Also slated for a nationwide December release is Blumhouse co-production Incarnate starring Aaron Eckhart.  The company was a financing partner on Gary Ross's Free State of Jones and produced and financed Julia Roberts starrer Secret In Their Eyes directed by Billy Ray, both released earlier this year.  Currently on nationwide release in the US is IM Global's critically acclaimed Barack and Michelle Obama's first date drama Southside with You.  Meanwhile IM Global-financed supernatural thriller The Autopsy of Jane Doe with Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox had its World Premiere in Toronto Film Festival's Midnight Madness section.  Slated to start production for the company in early 2017 is black comedy Jackpot from director Will Gluck and starring Mila Kunis.  The company is a similarly active player in UK production.  Its political drama The ‎Journey starring Timothy Spall officially debuted at both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, and Eon Productions' UK set drama Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool from Paul McGuigan starring Annette Benning, Jamie Bell and Julie Walters recently wrapped principal photography.

Said Ford, "It’s a tremendous boost for our already vibrant film production and financing operation to have such a highly respected and commercially successful heavyweight as Greg join to head the team. We have an exciting slate of filmmaker-driven productions in the pipeline for 2017 and we hope Greg's arrival will give us even greater momentum as we end 2016 on a high note."

Said Shapiro, "Stuart Ford has built an impressive company that has consistently evolved and thrived amidst an ever changing landscape of film and television production.  Equal to his success as a content creator is the collaborative culture that he has fostered at IM Global, and I look forward to joining forces with not just Stuart, but his entire team." 

Shapiro's other producing credits include The Conspirator, directed by Robert Redford, Detachment, directed by Tony Kaye, The Rum Diary, directed by Bruce Robinson starring Johnny Depp, The Rules of Attraction directed by Roger Avary, and the popular Harold & Kumar franchise. Upcoming projects include the Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Project, currently filming in Boston, Weightless, directed by Jaron Albertin, starring Alessandro Nivola, Julianne Nicholson and Johnny Knoxville, and the television show Graves, starring Nick Nolte and Sela Ward, produced with Lionsgate TV, which premieres on Epix in October 2016.

Earlier this year, Los Angeles-based Tang Media Partners assumed a controlling ownership position in IM Global to help accelerate the company’s growth initiatives.  Simultaneously, TMP arranged a new, expanded television production joint venture, IM Global Television, among IM Global, TMP and Tencent Holdings, which includes an innovative first-of-its kind programming investment fund also arranged by TMP.  In addition, last month, IM Global launched a new PR and marketing unit GO Global, which is focused on representing Chinese media companies, brands and talent in the international festival arena. 

Shapiro was represented in the negotiation by attorney Darren Trattner from Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein and Chief Operating Officer Chris Bosco negotiated on behalf of IM Global.