By Carolyn Giardina
LONDON --U.K.-based Rank Group, the publicly traded gaming and entertainment company that owns entities including Hard Rock and Deluxe, has acknowledged that it is looking to divest itself of Deluxe, which includes the stateside and international Deluxe Media and Deluxe Film operations. This would allow Rank to focus on its gaming and related services.
Meanwhile, Modern VideoFilm, a privately held Burbank-headquartered post house that caters to digital intermediate and postproduction services for feature, TV and commercial production, identified itself as a party to negotiations involving Deluxe.
Modern president Moshe Barkat told SHOOT, “We [Modern and its financial backers] made our interest in the company [Deluxe] known through a formal presentation to Rank’s representatives.” He added that the meeting took place a few weeks ago, but he did not have a timetable as far as what happens from here.
Although he declined to offer further details of the presentation, reliable sources say a cash offer has been made by Modern to buy Deluxe.
Deluxe Film includes film replication, distribution and associated services, and also includes Hollywood-based postproduction and digital intermediate services provider E-FILM. Deluxe Media includes DVD replication, distribution and associated services.
“The competitive scene has changed significantly in our business in the last few years,” Barkat explained. “You have to grow in size and scope of services to remain competitive.”
Adding lab services and replication to its repertoire, as well as expanding its postproduction services, would give Modern a boost in the film industry. For now, it’s wait and see.
Barkat concluded, “The ownership of Deluxe is in the hands of very smart business people, and I’m sure they will evaluate their options.”After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More