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ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- New Sky Communications (OTC
Bulletin Board: NSKY), in conjunction with its producing partner Owasco
Entertainment, announced today that Leonard Shapiro has agreed to serve
as Co-Executive Producer of The Hell Candidate, a theatrical motion
picture project currently being developed by New Sky and Owasco.
The Hell Candidate is based on a novel by Graham Masterton, a
well-known British writer of horror and suspense who has written 25
novels.
New Sky and Owasco have obtained an exclusive option on The Hell
Candidate, which tells the story of a U.S. Senator possessed by Satan
who is elected President of the United States. New Sky's objective is
to obtain financing and produce the film for release around the time of
the Presidential election in the year 2000.
Additionally New Sky and Owasco also announced that Leonard Shapiro has
been named its worldwide marketing and distribution consultant for all
of its projects, including Freak Talks About Sex, starring Steve Zahn
and Josh Hamilton which was filmed in 1997 and which is now near
completion.
Leonard Shapiro has had extensive experience in the motion picture
industry. He is currently an independent production, marketing and
acquisition consultant who most recently served as Producer's
Representative on Meet Wally Sparks (starring Rodney Dangerfield) and
Executive Producer of Trigger Happy (starring Richard Dreyfus and Jeff
Goldblum).
From 1982 to 1996 Mr. Shapiro was President/CEO of Shapiro Glickenhaus
Entertainment (SGE) an independent company with its own foreign sales
department an all exclusive arrangement with MCA/Universal Home Video
for domestic distribution of SGE's films. Mr. Shapiro supervised
production, marketing and distribution of SGE's 14 in-house productions
as well as the acquisition and distribution of over 100 motion pictures
from outside producer.
For 13 years prior to forming SGE, Mr. Shapiro was Vice-President of
Film Acquisitions and Marketing Services of Avco Embassy Pictures. Mr.
Shapiro was responsible for the negotiation and acquisition of films
for theatrical distribution by the company, and he assisted and advised
with respect to theatrical marketing plans. While at Avco Embassy, Mr.
Shapiro was responsible for the acquisition of such films as Time
Bandits, Prom Night, The Exterminator, Scanners and Phantasm. He was
also involved in the marketing and distribution of over 25 films,
including Escape From New York, Take This Job And Shove It, The Howling
and The Fog.
Mr. Shapiro, 57 years old, has been a faculty member of UCLA Extension
for the past 10 years and teaches a class on independent film
production and distribution. For 5 years Mr. Shapiro was a member of
the Board of Directors of the American Film Market (AFM), an
association of over 100 international companies including ABC, NBC,
Miramax, New Line Cinema and LIVE Entertainment.
Carl R. Reynolds, President of New Sky Communications, also said that
Mr. Shapiro will be actively seeking additional projects in which New
Sky may be involved.
"For over 30 years Leonard Shapiro has been in the mainstream of
independent motion picture production and marketing," said Carl
Reynolds. "We are very pleased to have a person of his experience
involved with New Sky as we continue to develop and produce independent
motion pictures."
Leonard said that "The Hell Candidate is an extremely timely project
and we all view this film as a potential 'event' movie for the year
2000."
SOURCE New Sky Communications, Inc.
-0- 08/26/98 /CONTACT: Colleen Tiffany,
I.R., of The Logan Consulting Group, 716-244-7660, for New Sky
Communications/
(NSKY)
CO: New Sky Communications, Inc.; Owasco Entertainment ST: New York
IN: ENT PUB SU: PER
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