Plans are underway for a billion dollar spending frenzy by the Global Road entertainment division. The investment in the production of films will bring the world even more entertainment, according to Rob Friedman, the CEO of the company’s entertainment sector. Although the press has not yet been clued in on the mass investment, here is what has been confirmed so far.
Donald Tang’s vision and 3 year plan
The senior executive team at Global Road met with international buyers and distributors at the European Film Market. The Berlin International Film Festival to get the ball rolling on the ambitions of the company. This was a necessary preparatory step, and it also launched the massive boost campaign which will ultimately result in an increase in the number of films produced within the period. Tang plans to break the project down into segments, producing fifteen films per year. Pouring money into the budget for production will finance some films that are in the mid-budget range, as well as “mini-tentpoles.” All the necessary players were at the table including Jack Pan, the current president of worldwide marketing, buyers, distributors and the event was hosted by Rodolphe Buet, the incoming president of international for the company.
Preparatory work
The project has really been in the works for the last two years. Donald Tang has seen to it that the company has been making the necessary acquisitions and assembling their assets. With Friedman on board, Tang is confident that they’ll hit their projected goals with no issues. Tang founded the company in 2015, and by the middle of 2016, Global Road purchased a major stake in the foreign sales of Stuart Ford. A production fund for TV was launched at this time as well as secured funding for IM Global as a production outfit for television and film. The ambitious endeavor only cost a mere $200 million. Global Road established its headquarters in Los Angeles, California, but it also has affiliate offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China.
Backers in place
Global Road has secured financial backing from a team of investors including China Media Capital, China Everbright Limited, Tencent and Neil Shen of Sequoia Capital. With funding in place, Global Road has plans to work on several films in the Chinese language. Tang is playing his cards close to the vest and news of the three year booster plans are just beginning to surface publicly.
Shrouded in secrecy
The tremendous ambition of Donald Tang was starting to become obvious in August when he achieved the takeover of Open Road, a North American distributor. There were rumors that this acquisition would take place, but no confirmations were made. In fact, when asked about the event, a Global Road spokesperson refused to discuss the plans with media. It is believed that there will be some type of official announcement of the upcoming projects soon.This could happen as early as this May, while the Cannes Film Festival in underway. An infusion of the massive projected one billion dollars will certainly give producers something to work with.
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