Joel Silver Partners With Canadian Financier for Silver Pictures Entertainment

Veteran producer Joel Silver has hooked up with Canadian financier Daryl Katz to independently finance a slate of feature films, television and digital projects. Longtime finance and packaging agent Hal Sadoff, who left ICM in 2012, will serve as CEO of the newly formed Silver Pictures Entertainment.

A representative for Silver declined to disclose how much Katz would be investing in the new venture.

Silver Pictures previously required studio backing to fund and develop its films. With the new partnership, Silver will have the freedom to do projects both inside and outside the studio system.

Sadoff and Silver have a longstanding relationship, having collaborated on “Gothika,” “Thirteen Ghosts” and “House on Haunted Hill.”

Katz is the founder and chairman of the Katz Group, one of Canada’s largest privately owned enterprises, with operations in pharmaceuticals, sports and entertainment and real estate.

Silver is currently developing a handful of pictures at Warners, including sequels to “Project X” and “Sherlock Holmes” as well as “Logan’s Run” and “Nice Guys,” which is currently in production and slated for a 2016 release. Silver currently does not have a first-look deal at any studio.

“Warner Bros. has successfully partnered with Joel Silver on a range of memorable pictures over the years. We’re happy to expand this relationship,” said Greg Silverman, Warner Bros. Pictures president of creative development and worldwide production.

Silver intends to move into a new headquarters in 2016 at a historic Venice post office that he has been rebuilding since fall 2012. The producer had originally pledged to complete the work and move into the building in 18 months, but the project is now more than a year behind schedule. Several contractors filed liens against the property, claiming their bills had not been paid, though all but one of those actions have now been settled.

(Pictured: Joel Silver, left, and Daryl Katz)

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