Producers Blye Faust & Cori Shepherd Stern Launch Based On Media
EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winning Spotlight producer Blye Faust and Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning producer Cori Shepherd Stern (Bending the Arc, Warm Bodies) are launching the film, TV, and new media production company Based on Media.
In line with their previous work, Based On will focus on powerful, elevated entertainment that is both commercially and socially relevant – with a strong emphasis on series development and production. Current Based On project partners include Fox Searchlight, Participant Media, Focus Features, and FX, among others.
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Based On is also committed to amplifying riveting investigative journalism through scripted series, films, and podcasts – and counts a range of Pulitzer-Prize winning journalists as sources and project partners. Notable announced projects include geopolitical thriller feature Trading in Starvation with Smokehouse, Rocklin Entertainment and Focus Features, based on reporting from The Center for Investigative Reporting.
The company is also currently in production on several documentaries directed by such filmmakers as Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Blackfish) and Erika Cohn (The Judge, In Football We Trust).
Based on Media also plans to acquire, and develop material based on books, articles, life rights, podcasts and other intellectual property featuring contemporary stories and diverse characters. Recent acquisitions include Standing Strong: An Unlikely Sisterhood and the Court Case that Made History by Diane Reeve and an original television series project from New York Times bestselling author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon (The Dressmaker of Khair Kana, Ashley’s War).
Longtime Faust collaborator, Nathan Zolezzi, will join the company as development executive.
Faust is a member of the SFFILM Mentor Advisory Board and the Advisory Committee for the Mill Valley Film Festival’s Mind the Gap: Women|Film|Tech initiative, and her board memberships also include The Center for Investigative Reporting.
Shepherd Stern’s projects include the $116M-global grossing Lionsgate release Warm Bodies; and Open Heart, the2013 Oscar nominated documentary that premiered on HBO. She is also an Executive Producer of the vr film, Collisions, a 2016 Emmy winner that premiered at Sundance. Her most recent film, Bending the Arc, a feature documentary, premiered at Sundance 2017. Shepherd Stern began her career as a television development executive and executive producer of over 200 episodes of scripted, reality, and music programming. Additionally, she is a noted story impact and social change strategist who has worked with theSkoll Foundation and the Sundance Documentary Film Program.
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