MUMBAI: Eric Louzil’s Los Angeles-based Echelon Studios has struck a deal to distribute and sell foreign rights to Ifactory in association with Crybaby’s Reasonable Excuse, a pop thriller.
The pop thriller stars Natalie Stewart from six time Grammy nominated Floetry and Brit award winning Shola Ama in a chic film written and directed by Samona Naomi Williams.
Williams previously worked in television producing and directing shows in the US (VH1’s Hip Hop Honours, Jamie Foxx number 1 selling DVD which accompanied his album) UK (Big Brother, GMTV, LION TV). With a stint in PR representing Brit success Ms Dynamite, the tripe threat (writer/producer and director) re-structured her company Crybaby and set up a partnership with Ifactory Films to focus on feature film development and distribution with budgets including a percentage for print and strategic advertising.
“Through our partnership with Echelon Studios, the short will get its well deserved commercial release whilst I carry on writing the feature film of the same name. Natalie has a dedicated international fan base, over a short period of time with no promotion 5,000 people signed up to the Myspace page requesting the film,” Williams said.
The film was shot in and around Canary Wharf with HD post-production at Platform Post in Soho.
“Were a British company focused on making films for a targeted global audience. We know our market, and this deal shows the international cross platform scope to our business whilst simultaneously creating broader distribution opportunities for all our forthcoming quality films,” Ifactory’s Michael Akwesi Djaba said.
As for the future, Samona says, “The short is a taster of what I can do. I’m scripting the feature with me directing, whilst attaching UK and US cast to G Luv which I’ll be producing with Michael directing.”
A deal with Mac cosmetics has been struck to tie in with the release of the DVD and ringtones from the soundtrack will be available from the website.
Ifactory’s forthcoming feature slate includes reasonable Excuse, G Luv (A raw portrayal of a young girls struggle to make it in the urban entertainment industry set in contemporary London), Fly Girls (coming of age story about four girls in South London set in the early 90’s) and ‘working title’ Last Man Standing (a dark psychological thriller set in London and Mexico).
