"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms."
—Muriel Rukeyser
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Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel Launch New International Sales and Financing Company




http://www.hollywoodreporter.com



by Pamela McClintock


The Solution Entertainment Group, funded by private equity, will make its debut at Berlin's European Film Market.


Veteran international sales agent Lisa Wilson is teaming with film financier Myles Nestel to form The Solution Entertainment Group, which will shop two films at next month's European Film Market in Berlin, Writers and Hector and the Search for Happiness.

The duo will be partners in the full-service international sales and financing company, which is being funded through private equity. The Solution group will offer filmmakers access to development funding, production and post-production services in additiont to international distribution.

Writers and Hector are the first titles on Solution Group's international sales slate. Directed and written by newcomer Joshua Boone, Writers [follows a year in the life of an acclaimed novelist and his relationship with his ex-wife, college daughter and teenage son. Michael A Simpson and Eric Brenner of Informant Media serve as executive producers.] is produced by Informant Media and Judy Cairo (Crazy Heart, Hysteria). The film is set to start production in the spring.

Peter Chelsom will direct Hector And The Search for Happiness. Chelsom, whose credits include Serendipity and Hannah Montana: The Movie, adapted François Lelord’s bestseller of the same name with Tinker Lindsay. Egoli Tossell Film and Wild Bunch Germany are producing the German-South African project about a young psychiatrist’s global quest for contentment.

Robb Klein at Sheppard Mullin represents The Solution.



Hector, from British director Peter Chelsom (Serendipity, Shall We Dance), is an adaptation of Francois Lelord's bestselling novel of the same name. Chelson and Tinker Lindsay wrote the adapted screenplay, with Chelsom set to start production in the spring. Hector, from Egoli Tossell Films, is a German-South African production. Wild Bunch Germany is co-producing.

Myles has helped finance 75 film and television productions, most recently through his Los-Angeles based Merlina Entertainment. Prior to Merlina, he was with Oceana Media Finance.

He most recently arranged the financing for and executive Robert Rodriguez's 2010 Machete and Marc Forster's Machine Gun Preacher.

"In today's world you have to be more than just a sales agent to be in a position to bring the very best theatrical titles to the buyers and that takes production funding," said Wilson, who most recently was president of international distribution for GK Films, handling films including Angelina Jolie's directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey, Johnny Depp starrer The Rum Diary and Mel Gibson's Edge of Darkness.

While at GK Films, she also formed Parlay Films, an affiliate sales company handling third-party titles. She'll continue to be the international sales agent for all films under the Parlay banner. They include three Sundance Film Festival entries: Red Lights, starring Robert De Niro, Sigourney Weaver and Cillian Murphy, financial thriller Arbitrage, starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Tim Roth, and romantic drama The Words, starring Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons.

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