I will quote Variety Magazine's article on RPIX as the preliminary introduction to this undiscovered yet potentially highly lucrative cinematic company:
By Andrew Paxman for the Variety Magazine, November 16, 1998 issue
Miami in the boldest move yet by an indie outfit based in South Florida, Royal Pictures has unveiled a slate of four pictures backed by financing of $24 million. With Chicago Studios founder Robert Brent and L.A.-based producer Arlyne Rothberg as executive producers, Royal intends to shoot all four pics using local cast and crew.
The films, the first of two of them set to roll in January, range from "Neon Dreams," a biopic of Miami-based pop group No Mercy, to an adaptation of Peter Mathiessen's novel "Men's Lives."
In tandem with Royal CEO David Olinsky, Brent has spent the last three years raising coin from private investors in South Florida -- who are notoriously showbiz-shy, preferring real estate- the optioning rights to properties.
Priciest of the pics is the $10 million "Mens Lives," set in the Hamptons on Long Island and slated for a fall 1999 shoot. Royal is in final talks with Alec Baldwin to star and co-produce, while Billy Joel has confirmed interest in composing the score.
First before the cameras will be the $4.5 million "Call Ocho," to be simultaneously shot in English and Spanish for a dual theatrical release. Named for the main drag in Miami's Little Havana, "Ocho" tells of a Cuban musician torn between love and ambition. Joey Giannone ("Madman") will direct from his own
script.
Following a deal with No Mercy frontman Marty Cintron, the $5 million "Neon Dreams" will also start shooting early next year from Debra Greenspan script, and the band will compose the soundtrack.
Fourth pic is "Stray Kids." From a Sundance Institute-honored script by Robert Clem about an estranged elderly couple living in the South, its budgeted at $7 million.
"South Florida is the right place. It's a right-to-work state, the unions are flexible, there are the water views and the quality of the light. The only thing we lack is California believing we have the crews," Brent says. Rothberg ("Crimes of the Heart") is Royal's L.A. liaison, and may produce on or more of its pictures.
Royal Pictures, Inc. is both a multi-dimensional and a multi-faceted independent film production Company, that plans to develop and produce motion pictures for the big screen. All three stages of motion
picture production will be performed or arranged by Royal Pictures, including funding, production, and distribution of the completed film. For more information please visit the Company's website at
royalpictures.net |
