Jeff Kwatinetz To Relaunch The Firm Management & Production Company
Jeff Kwatinetz is bringing back The Firm, almost seven years after the management and production company folded following his exit as CEO. Kwatinetz, who went on to launch Prospect Park with ex-Walt Disney Studios president Richard Frank, will be relaunching The Firm, which he originally established nearly two decades ago. Like the original incarnation, the Santa Monica-based company will work in music, film and television, and sports.
Kwatinetz made the decision to relaunch after getting feedback from the creative community in recent years. “In the years since we shuttered The Firm, the industry has consolidated to the point where it’s hard to find a top management company that isn’t a division of a larger entertainment conglomerate,” Kwatinetz said. “This consolidation has created an industry rife with conflicts of interest, where the artist often loses. The Firm solves that problem by making creative success the top priority.”
The management operations of Prospect Park will move to The Firm. All existing television projects will remain under Prospect Park, including series Royal Pains and Salem and projects in development in broadcast, cable and digital including Black Heart at ABC, Tough Love (Amazon), Hard Foul (Showtime), A Midsummer’s Nightmare (Lifetime) Relics (Sony International Networks), and the Christina Aguilera co-produced ABC Family dramedy tentatively titled Hearts and Clubs. Moving forward, all film and television projects will be developed under The Firm banner. They will continue to be shepherded by Prospect Park TV partner Josh Barry, who will be a partner at The Firm.
Ice Cube, who has worked with Kwatinetz for the past 18 years, and his production company CubeVision, will now come under the purview of The Firm. CubeVision’s upcoming projects include Universal’s Straight Outta Compton and Ride Along 2 and MGM’s Barbershop 3.
The Firm’s client roster also includes Dead Sara, Five Knives and P.O.D. The newest signing is the National Basketball Players Association, for which the company is developing non-basketball related revenue and marketing opportunities. Last month the company produced the first-ever Players Awards, which was broadcast on BET.
In addition to CEO Kwatinetz, The Firm’s senior management team includes General Manager Jeremy Summers, a 20-year record label veteran who was most recently EVP/Chief Marketing Officer of Interscope/Geffen/A&M, and Angelica Cob-Baehler, who was EVP at EMI and Epic Records.
Kwatinetz and Summers will continue to oversee the Prospect Park Records label. Its roster includes Five Finger Death Punch, whose new record is released September 4.
Prospect Park hit a bump with its online venture, Prospect Park Networks, which filed for Chapter 11 last year after a dispute with ABC over licensing soaps All My Children and One Life to Live.
Related stories
Prospect Park's Jeff Kwatinetz Takes Company To Court Over Non-Compete Clauses
Ice Cube To Star In And Produce Vigilante Drama Project For FX
Prospect Park Sets Up Slew Of TV Projects
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
