Dana O’Keefe to Lead New Nonfiction Studio Double Agent as Joint Venture of Black Bear Pictures and New Regency
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Cinetic Media’s Dana O’Keefe has been named president of Double Agent, a new production company dedicated to creating non-fiction content across all genres.
Double Agent comes as a joint venture between Black Bear Pictures and New Regency, created by New Regency’s Yariv Milchan and Michael Schaefer and Black Bear Pictures’ Teddy Schwarzman. Together, they plan to jump on “the extraordinary growth of the audience for non-fiction and the unprecedented opportunities that now exist in the documentary marketplace.”
O’Keefe previously served as a Partner at Cinetic Media, and was involved in hundreds of films while at the company, including the Oscar-winning documentaries “Summer of Soul,” “Free Solo” and “Amy.”
“We are living in an era that can be rightly described as the renaissance of documentary,” O’Keefe said in a statement. “It is a dynamic and vibrant landscape defined by innovation and a rapidly expanding audience. We will collaborate with the greatest contemporary storytellers to make possible ambitious, daring works that reflect the culture and reality of the 21st Century as it unfolds around us, in all its complexity and diversity. The possibilities are endless.”
O’Keefe was chosen because he is “a seasoned powerhouse in the documentary space with tremendous relationships, an eye for talent, and a keen understanding of content that can reach a global audience,” according to a statement from Schwarzman. “Along with our friends at New Regency, Black Bear is delighted to back Double Agent and Dana with our full resources and couldn’t be more excited to dive head-first into premium unscripted film and television.”
Yariv Milchan, New Regency’s chairman and CEO added: “We pursued this collaboration because we know that Teddy, Dana, and the Black Bear team can uphold our standard for excellence. This is a partnership amongst the best and brightest in the business, with all the tools to become leaders in the non-fiction world.”
The joint venture partnership was negotiated by Black Bear Partner Michael Heimler and head of business affairs Adam Raichilson, David Friedman and Eric Roth on behalf of New Regency, and Jerry Dasti of Sloss Eckhouse Dasti Haynes LawCo on behalf of O’Keefe.
According to Double Agent, the company “will offer filmmakers robust financing capability and high-end creative services for the development and production of non-fiction feature films, series, and emerging formats.”
