Cannes Market Dailies

Justin Chu Cary and Charlie Weber Join Dustin Hoffman, Candice Bergen, Simon Helberg and Dianna Agron in  Mayim Bialik’s As Sick As They Made Us 

Screen Media Acquires International Rights

Film Mode Launches Sales at Cannes 

Screen Media Ventures, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment company, Clay Epstein’s Film Mode Entertainment (FME), producer Anne Clements (Stage Mother, Quinceañera) and Yale Productions are pleased to announce that Justin Chu Cary (Netflix series BLACK SUMMER, starring alongside Jamie King, which recently had its second season premiere, BLINDSPOTTING) and Charlie Weber (How To Get Away with Murder, After We Collided, Panama) have joined the cast of writer/director Mayim Balik’s As Sick As They Made Us. Justin and Charlie join previously announced cast members, two-time Academy Award-winner Dustin Hoffman, Academy Award nominee and five-time Emmy Award winner Candice Bergen, Simon Helberg and Dianna Agron.  Principal photography began on June 7th in New Jersey. FME will launch international sales on the comedy-drama at the Cannes Film Festival.  

"This experience has been thus far the dreamiest trippiest thing I have experienced in my career. Seeing these actors bringing my words to life and seeing their creativity soar is an experience I never imagined could bring so much satisfaction. Being a director means also seeing images which evoke meaning; these actors are elevating every image I imagined exponentially. I come home every night exhausted and spent and simultaneously energized and starving for more,” said writer/director Mayim Bialik. 

Screen Media Ventures President David Fannon stated, “We are excited for Film Mode Entertainment to launch sales on Mayim Bialik’s all-star, multigenerational dramatic comedy. We have no doubt this film will be highly sought after by our partners.” 

A new romance with Jay (Justin Chu Cary) for recently divorced Abigail (Dianna Agron), who has just split from her husband (Charlie Webb), arrives right in the midst of her parents’ (Dustin Hoffman and Candice Bergen) chaotic antics. After a lifetime of dysfunctional hilarity, the family, accompanied by an estranged brother (Simon Helberg) find it within themselves to embrace for one final goodbye. As Sick As They Made Us is written and directed by multiple award-winner and nominee Mayim Bialik a two-time winner of the Critic’s Choice Television Award for best supporting actress for The Big Bang Theory, a 5-time Emmy-nominee and a 3-time SAG award-nominee. 

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Screen Media on this amazing film, and equally excited with the addition of Charlie and Justin to our outstanding cast. We’ve been such fans of this project and Mayim for a long time, and we’re thrilled with how the production is going. This will also be our second time working with Charlie, who we previously collaborated with on our film, PANAMA, starring Cole Hauser and Mel Gibson, and we know he’ll be a great addition to the team,” said Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Productions.

Justin Chu Cary is a lead on the Netflix series BLACK SUMMER starring alongside Jamie King, which recently had its second season premiere. Cary had a strong supporting role in the Sundance darling BLINDSPOTTING, starring Daveed Diggs, and is reprising the role on the Starz television reboot. Other television credits include S.W.A.T., LUCIFER, REVIEW, and MAJOR CRIMES. An accomplished theater actor, Cary has starred in productions including Tartuffe, Cinderella, Carmen Jones, Angels in America, and The Laramie Project, among numerous others, as well as winning an NAACP Theater Award for Best Ensemble for his work in The Meeting. He is also an NBC Showcase fellow. 

Justin Chu Cary grew up in Oakland, California and went to the University of California, Davis where he competed for track and field and ran the 800M and 4x400M relays after being a 3-sport athlete at Berkeley High School, before starting his professional acting career. Cary is repped by Luber Roklin and APA.

Charlie Weber notably starred as Viola Davis’s fixer 'Frank Delfino' in the Emmy nominated Shonda Rhimes produced hit ABC drama How to Get Away With Murder. He recently starred in the feature film After We Collided, the sequel to After, which grossed nearly $50 million worldwide during the pandemic. Weber recently completed filming the action thriller Panama opposite Mel Gibson and Cole Hauser, directed by Mark Neveldine. Charlie Weber is represented by APA, BMK-ENT and The Initiative Group. 

As Sick As They Made Us is produced by Anne Clements, Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman of Yale Productions, Ash Christian, and Mark Maxey of Rolling Pictures. Seth Needle and David Fannon of Screen Media, David Nagelberg, and Clay Epstein of Film Mode Entertainment are executive producing. Additional executive producers include Cory Anderson, Johnathan Benefiel, Ori Eisen, Barry Germansky, Larry Greenberg, Matthew Helderman, Theodore Lodato, Berry Meyerowitz, Bradley Pilz, Jeff Sackman, Philip W. Shaltz, Luke Taylor and John Wollman. 

About Film Mode Entertainment

Film Mode Entertainment is a leading worldwide sales agent, production entity and distribution company, focusing on commercially driven feature films of all genres and budget sizes. Film Mode represents projects at all stages of the filmmaking process, often as Executive Producer, with the aim of helping producers and distributors achieve maximum exposure for their films. Film Mode’s recent titles include CRYPTO starring Kurt Russell, Luke Hemsworth and Alexis Bledel, HOOKING UP starring Brittany Snow, Sam Richardson and Vivica A. Fox, STAGE MOTHER starring Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver, Lucy Liu and Adrian Grenier, and DREAMKATCHER starring Radha Mitchell, Lin Shaye, and Henry Thomas. Previous releases include SUGAR MOUNTAIN starring Jason Momoa, and THE GOOD NEIGHBOR starring Academy Award nominee James Caan. Film Mode accelerated their growth and expanded their capabilities by entering into a partnership with SCREEN MEDIA, representing their catalogue of more than 600 titles, including WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE starring Leonardo DiCaprio, who was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his performance, and MONSTER, starring Charlize Theron who won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress for the film. The company also has its own distribution arm, as well as a documentary label, DocMode. Film Mode is based in Beverly Hills, CA. For more information, visit www.filmmodeentertainment.com

About Screen Media Ventures, LLC                                                            

Screen Media Ventures, LLC, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE) company, acquires the rights to high quality, independent television series and feature films. Screen Media Ventures acquires worldwide rights for distribution through theatrical, home video, pay-per-view, free, cable and pay television, video-on-demand, and new digital media platforms. The company acquires AVOD rights for third party networks and is the main supplier of content for Crackle Plus and other Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. properties. With a library of over 1,500 television series and motion pictures, Screen Media Ventures is one of the largest independent suppliers of high-quality tv series and motion pictures to U.S. and international broadcast markets, cable networks, home video outlets and new media venues. For more information, visit www.screenmedia.net.

About Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE) operates streaming video-on-demand networks (VOD). The company owns Crackle Plus, which owns and operates a variety of ad-supported and subscription-based VOD networks including Crackle, Popcornflix, Popcornflix Kids, Truli, Pivotshare, Españolflix and FrightPix. The company also acquires and distributes video content through its Screen Media subsidiary and produces original long and short-form content through Landmark Studio Group, Chicken Soup for the Soul Unscripted, APlus.com and Halcyon Television. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is a subsidiary of Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC, which publishes the famous book