Whit Richardson, President of Turner Latin America
WarnerMedia’s Turner Latin America launched their original movie banner Particular Crowd earlier today during a breakfast presentation in the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach at NATPE Miami 2020. Particular Crowd was presented to an audience of 300 industry executives and opinion leaders. Whit Richardson, President of Turner Latin America, spoke about the company’s transformation into a leading Latin American intellectual property hub, and introduced Tomás Yankelevich, EVP & Chief Content Officer, General Entertainment at Turner Latin America; and Peter Bevan, VP of Particular Crowd, to share the specifics around Particular Crowd’s launch and portfolio.
“The power of movies as part of our experience of the world is undeniable, and movies have always been the driving force behind our channels’ success. It was a natural progression to start producing our own original movies in order to best serve our audiences and deliver unique added value. That was how Particular Crowd came about,” Yankelevich said. He continued: “We completed 30 movies in 2019, and we’ll add 60 more titles in 2020. Our large-scale ambition, however, goes hand in hand with our firm commitment to producing high-quality stories. At this stage, we are happy that both elements have come together in our film catalog”.
Particular Crowd movies will be available on a multiplatform basis, including linear premieres on TNT and SPACE, and theatrical releases via a partnership with Latin America’s theater chain Cinépolis. Also, in recognition of the new habits of content consumption, select movies will also be available in serialized episodic format (“snackable content”) across an array of social media platforms.
Designed to appeal to a global audience, Particular Crowd movies present original stories within the most popular genres: comedy, rom-com, horror, thriller, teen and family. Some of the titles to be made available include the comedy “Vicious Fun,” starring David Koechner; high-octane action film “Guns Akimbo,” starring Daniel Radcliffe; and the animated feature “Stardog and Turbocat”.
“Particular Crowd is a scale-ambitious, content-driven, talent discovery-focused, multiplatform movie production initiative that will reach audiences wherever they choose to consume content,” stated Bevan when introducing the new division’s production and content generation strategy.
Particular Crowd’s large production scale is being built with the help of development, co-financing and co-production partnerships with important players, such as MarVista Entertainment, Defiant Studios, Kodiak Pictures, Sony Pictures Television/Blumhouse Television, Teashop Film, Signature Entertainment, and Breakthrough Entertainment. Turner Latin America’s film division is also committed to the discovery of new, emerging and diverse talent, and has closed a partnership with Wattpad, the global multiplatform entertainment company for original stories, in order to source engaging and popular stories for movie adaptation.
It was a natural progression to start producing our own original movies in order to best serve our audiences and deliver unique added value” Tomás Yankelevich EVP & Chief Content Officer, General Entertainment at Turner Latin America