American Film Market Dailies

FIRST TITLE GREENLIT UNDER PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN COVERT MEDIA AND BROKEN ROAD PRODUCTIONS

Visual Effects master Paul Franklin (Inception, Interstellar) has come on to direct the action thriller Resurface, it was announced today by Covert Media’s CEO Paul Hanson (District 9, W.) who is producing the film alongside Broken Road Productions’ Todd Garner (Knight and Day, True Memoirs of an International Assassin).

Written by Pete Bridges, writer of the upcoming Amblin Entertainment project The Fall, the film tracks a scientist and an engineer trapped 35,000 feet underwater after an earthquake separates them from their crew. The first project announced out of the two-year first look deal between Covert and Broken Road, the film is currently in pre-production.

Covert’s Elissa Friedman (Ophelia), Media Content Capital’s Sasha Shapiro (Fading Gigolo, Ophelia) and Anton Lessine (Fading Gigolo, Fury) and Broken Road’s Sean Robins (Into the Storm, Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse) and Jeremy Stein (Into the Storm, The Photographer) serve as executive producers.

Paul Franklin is a two-time Academy Award winner best known for the Visual Effects behind Interstellar, Inception, and the Christopher Nolan directed Batman franchise through the award winning VFX Company Double Negative.  Paul is now vigorously pursuing his filmmaking career and has recently completed production of his short film entitled The Escape, which was financed by Creative England.  The Escape is a science fiction drama written and directed by Paul and based on the short story by Robert Sheckley.  The producers are Jessica Malick and Jessica Parker, and it stars Julian Sands and Art Malick.  Paul Franklin’s career in cinema began over twenty-five years ago when he started making short films with university friends. Beginning as an editor, Paul gravitated towards the newly-emerging field of digital visual effects which lead to work in video games, television advertising and broadcast drama, creating animations, title sequences and visual effects.  In 1998 Paul co-founded Double Negative Visual Effects, the London-based studio which has since grown to be one of the world’s largest providers of feature film VFX.  With over 30 feature film credits Paul’s work in VFX ranges from low-budget indie films to summer tentpole action movies.  

Resurface is being fully financed by Covert Media who will handle worldwide sales on the film.

“We are excited to announce the first film in in our partnership with Covert Media,” said Garner. “With his award winning background in visual effects and experience in creating unknown worlds, Paul Franklin is the perfect director to immerse audiences in this ambitious and unique underwater adventure.”

“Resurface is the perfect example of the elevated commercial material that we aim to produce with visionary talent like Paul Franklin,” stated Hanson. “Our partnership with Broken Road and Todd Garner has been extremely productive from day one and we are ready to see our hard work behind the scenes come to life.”

Franklin is represented by David Gersh of The Gersh Agency. The deal was negotiated by Covert’s Chet Devaskar, EVP of Legal and Business Affairs and David Gersh on behalf of Franklin.

ABOUT BROKEN ROAD PRODUCTIONS

Founded in 2005 by veteran producer Todd Garner, Broken Road Productions has produced sixteen feature films in the past eleven years including box office hits Knight And Day, Into The Storm and the Paul Blart films starring Kevin James. Upcoming projects for Broken Road Productions include Naked starring Marlon Wayne and Regina Hall for Netflix, Cadaver starring Shay Mitchell for Screen Gems, Tag for New Line, and Bad Romance for New Line starring Rebel Wilson.

ABOUT COVERT MEDIA

Launched in August 2015, Covert Media is an independent production, financing, and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, a partnership between global private equity fund Media Content Capital (MCC) and veteran film executive Paul Hanson. Covert Media focuses on high-quality, commercial content for worldwide audiences in the feature film, television, and digital marketplace by fostering meaningful relationships with filmmakers and creative artists.

Along with Covert’s own production slate and sales, including the upcoming Ophelia starring Naomi Watts and Daisy Ridley and Forty-Six directed by Alik Sakharov, the company services and supports the library and upcoming projects for MCC-owned QED. Covert Media recently launched Lexica Films, an international label set to champion 5 – 10 foreign language feature film titles per year for the worldwide marketplace.