Producers Maryann Garger & Michael Becker Partner To Launch Imprint Family Entertainment

Matt Grobar
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Producers Maryann Garger (If Anything Happens, I Love You) and Michael Becker (Primal, Worth) have partnered to launch Imprint Family Entertainment.

The new division of Becker’s Imprint Entertainment will focus on creating, developing and producing family content across all media, including film, TV and podcasts.

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Its first project is Groove Tails, an animated feature starring Jamie Foxx, which is currently in production. Bob Logan (The Lego Ninjago Movie) is directing, from an original script by Johnny Mack (Dad Stop Embarassing Me!). Foxx is also producing, alongside Garger and Becker.

“We are thrilled to be working with Bob Logan and the entire talented team of filmmakers for this first feature from IFE,” said Garger. “We couldn’t ask for a better way to launch our company in this market.”

“After working with Maryann for a number of years, we felt this was a great time to expand into the family market by launching this company. The family market has developed over the past several years and is now more than just entertainment for kids. We are aiming to push that bar even further and develop exciting family content for all ages,” added Becker.

Garger is a veteran of the animation industry who spent over 20 years at DreamWorks Animation. There, she worked on such beloved titles as Madagascar, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and The Prince of Egypt. She began her career at Walt Disney Feature Animation, on the animated feature Pocahontas.

Garger also produced Jackie Chan starrer The Lego Ninjago Movie for Warner Bros. Studios, as well as adventure-comedy Flushed Away, which David Bowers and Sam Fell directed for DreamWorks and Aardman Animation. That feature earned five Annie Awards and three additional nominations in 2006, also claiming a BAFTA nomination in the category of Best Animated Feature. Garger reunited with Bowers when she produced his 2009 pic Astro Boy for Imagi and Summit Entertainment. She most recently produced Netflix’s If Anything Happens, I Love You, which claimed the Oscar this year for Best Animated Short.

Becker began his career as a talent agent and manager. In 2008, he segued into producing, as a founding member of Imprint Entertainment, where he currently serves as CEO. The company’s early credits included Summit Entertainment’s Twilight Saga and Sony Pictures’ The Stepfather with Amber Heard.

Becker most recently exec produced Primal with Nicholas Cage and the upcoming film Worth, starring Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci, which was picked up by Netflix and Barack & Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground.

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