Prolific ‘La La Land’ Producer Automatik Merges With Range Media Partners
20.06.2023 - 21:43
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: The prolific film/TV production company Automatik has completed a merger with Range Media Partners, a deal that will further expand Range’s production capabilities and slate ambitions.
As part of the merger, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger have been named Partners and Co-Presidents of Film & Production at Range. That duo over the past decade has produced over 70 films and television shows, ranging from Academy Award and Emmy winning projects to commercial franchises. They’ve worked with a wide range of top filmmakers including Damien Chazelle, Jeff Nichols, Alma Har’el, James Wan, Leigh Whannell, Karyn Kusama, Nia DaCosta, Gia Coppola, Michael Pearce, and Cory Finley.
Berger was nominated for an Oscar and won Golden Globe, BAFTA, and PGA awards for the Damien Chazelle-directed La La Land, the film that won six Oscars and grossed just short of half a billion dollars worldwide. Kavanaugh-Jones and Berger also won an Emmy for the Cory Finley-directed black comedy Bad Education, which starred Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney and was acquired at Toronto by HBO for a then-record sum.
Automatik had been aligned with Grandview, and Anonymous Content had at one time been in talks to acquire both. Grandview opted to remain separate, and the deal with Automatik wasn’t consummated either. Financial term on this deal were not disclosed.
Kavanaugh-Jones and Berger bring to Range a robust slate of projects including Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, which stars Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy for New Regency, and the Oz Perkins-directed Longlegs, which stars Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe for Neon. Both of those are in post-production, and they are in pre-production on the James Mangold-directed Bob Dylan biopic