CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER is directed by Lee Toland Krieger from a screenplay written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.  Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Elijah Woods, Emma Roberts, Chris Messina and Ari Graynor star in the comedy financed by Envision Media Arts.  The picture was produced by Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd, and Lee Nelson, executive produced by PalmStar’s Kevin Frakes and co-executive produced by PalmStar’s Michael Bassick.

The film follows Celeste (Jones) and Jesse (Samberg) who met in high school, married young, and divorced young.  While dating other people and moving on with their lives, they try to stay best friends.

Sierra / Affinity CEO Nick Meyer described Celeste and Jesse Forever as “a perceptive and amusing film that bucks the romantic comedy formula while still being charming and romantic.”

UTA represented the filmmakers in securing the services of Sierra / Affinity.  PalmStar Media Capital’s financing for the picture was negotiated by Kevin Frakes of PalmStar and Jonathan Gardner of Cohen Gardner llp.

ABOUT SIERRA / AFFINITY LLC

Sierra / Affinity is a leading independent film finance, production, and foreign sales company with the mandate of consistently delivering high-quality, commercially viable feature films for a global audience.  Led by Nick Meyer and Marc Schaberg, Sierra/Affinity capitalizes on the ever-evolving global film marketplace representing sales of third party films and commercial films designed to appeal to both the North American marketplace as well as top markets around the globe.  In addition to representing sales of third party films, the company acts as the exclusive sales agent for films developed and produced by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment, Bold Films and Sierra Pictures and its partner, Incentive Filmed Entertainment.

ABOUT PALMSTAR MEDIA CAPITAL

PalmStar Media Capital is a specialty financial services group focused on motion picture and other media investments. PalmStar  Media Capital  provides financial services to producers and distributors of film and television and other media content. The company also manages a fund that invests senior and mezzanine debt, production equity and distribution funding in motion pictures.

Celeste and Jesse Forever, a romantic dramedy starring Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones, has sold to Sony Pictures Classics. The company acquired all North American, Latin American and Eastern European rights. Sources place the purchase price close to $2 million, with additional foreign rights still subject to heated bids.

The film, directed by Lee Toland Krieger and written by Jones and Will McCormack, premiered to a sold-out Eccles Theatre Friday night. Multiple buyers were in attendance, and the film attracted several bids.

Jones (Parks and Recreation) stars as a career-oriented woman married to her slacker high school sweetheart, Samberg (Saturday Night Live). Frustrated with his lack of ambition, she asks for a divorce, but the couple still spend all their time together. THR‘s critic said the film is “not outrageous or star-powered enough to set the box office ablaze,” but “it could connect with viewers who don’t walk in expecting an extension” of Samberg’s SNL schtick.

Producers are Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd and Lee Nelson. Chris Messina, Ari Graynor, Emma Roberts and Elijah Wood also star.

UTA handled the sale on behalf of the filmmakers.

PalmStar CEO heads new K5 division in LA which starts out with a $30m investment pot

LOS ANGELES – K5 Media Group continues to grow its business with the launch of K5 International LLC in Los Angeles and the appointment of PalmStar Media Capital’s Kevin Frakes as its CEO, it was announced today by K5’s co-founders Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur.  The trio recently secured $30m in equity capital for the new company.

K5 will invest a minimum of $30m in the next two years and will finance films through equity, tax incentives and international sales.  This development enhances the already strong existing relationship between K5 and PalmStar whereby they maintain a first look arrangement and work in conjunction to sell the various distribution rights to the motion pictures they jointly acquire and from which they split the sales commissions.  The two companies will continue to work closely together to finance, develop, produce and distribute films.

PalmStar recently worked with K5 in providing essential finance for Paul Walker starrer Vehicle 19 and Bille August’s upcoming Night Train to Lisbon.  Frakes’ main role with K5 now will be to source investment opportunities and to work with producers and agents in Los Angeles on larger scale productions.

Daniel Baur, partner at K5 says: “Kevin is the best person you can imagine to have in Los Angeles.  He is a brilliant entrepreneur with an in-depth understanding of all aspects of the industry from development and production, to finance and distribution.  He was immediately our first choice to head up K5’s LA operation.”

His founding partner Oliver Simon adds:” As we begin to expand our involvement in the development and production of major feature films, Kevin’s access to and knowledge of the Hollywood talent system will deliver the caliber of cast and producer we’ve grown to expect from our films.”

“I am thrilled to be working with Oliver, Daniel and the whole team of K5,” says Frakes.  “In a very short time they have built the company into a world-class sales agency.  They have amazing taste in their selection of films and are smart about the financing and structuring of the deals.  I didn’t hesitate when they asked me to spearhead their US operation. Together, PalmStar and K5 will operate as a fully-fledged, worldwide sales company with broad reach and deep industry relationships.”

Kevin Frakes created PalmStar Productions in 1999 as a student at NYU’s film school.  In 2004, he raised startup capital and formally co-founded PalmStar Entertainment.  During the past seven years, PalmStar has been involved in dozens of motion picture projects as producer, financier and casting director.

In 2010, Kevin Frakes co-founded PalmStar Media Capital, a specialty financial services company focused on motion picture production and distribution investments, with Peggy Taylor and a group of San Francisco Bay Area financiers.  Michael Bassick and Kevin Frakes serve as current Co-CEOs of the company and Dan Jahns as COO.

K5 has a number of high profile projects currently in production and development including Vehicle 19 starring Paul Walker, Night Train to Lisbon starring Jeremy Irons, Mélanie Laurent, Jack Huston, Vanessa Redgrave, Bruno Ganz and Christopher Lee, and Carey Elwes’ Elvis & Nixon starring Eric Bana and Danny Huston.

Directed by: Kevin Carraway

Written by: Kevin Carraway, Lawrence Sara

Executive producers: Kevin Scott Frakes, Michael Bassick, Terry Hilliard, Aaron Johnson, Tom Reilly, Lise Romanoff

Producers: Eric Fischer, Brianna Lee Johnson, Aymie Majerski, Warren Ostergard, Terry Rindal

Co-Executive producer: Peggy Taylor,

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Cast: Val Kilmer, Ving Rhames and Luke Goss

IMDB Profile

Synopsis

The story centers on a group of strangers brought together when a terrible storm leaves them stranded in a house in the woods where a terrible event transpired exactly 100 years prior. The group seems trapped in a ghostly time warp, and history is repeating itself.

Director:

Writers: Ulrich Herrmann, Greg Latter, Pascal Mercier

Cast: Jeremy Irons, Christopher Lee, Mélanie Laurent, Vanessa Redgrave

Executive Producer: Kevin Scott Frakes, Tom Reilly

Producers: Andreas Knoblauch, Michael Lehmann, Kerstin Ramcke, Peter Reichenbach, Gunther Russ, Benjamin Seikel

Co-Producers: Ana Costa, Paulo Trancoso

Genre: Romance | Thriller

IMDB Profile

Summary

Raimund Gregorius, a Swiss Professor abandons his lectures and buttoned-down, life to embark on a thrilling adventure that will take him on a journey to the very heart of himself.