Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Motion picture |
Founded | 2011 |
Founder | Ben Nearn Tom Rice |
Headquarters | |
Key people | Ben Nearn Tom Rice |
Products | Film production |
Website | sycamorepictures.com |
Sycamore Pictures is an American production company founded by producers Ben Nearn and Tom Rice.
The company was formed in 2011 with a focus on producing films with a "more redemptive tone" [1] suitable for families. Nearn, formerly an investment banker who moved on to become COO and a minority investor in Cross Creek Pictures, maintains the company's Memphis offices; Rice, an independent film producer and writer, maintains the Los Angeles office. [1] The startup funds for Sycamore were raised by Nearn from investors both from the Memphis area and elsewhere, with a business model based on profit participation by actors, directors and creative personnel. [1]
The company's first production, The Way Way Back , had its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013, where distribution rights were purchased for US$9.75 million, [2] reportedly the largest distribution deal made at the festival that year. [3]
Begin Again (2014) has been described as "an old-fashioned, let’s-put-on-a-show movie musical disguised as an indie relationship drama" and as "that real rarity, a feel-good story of friendship — not sexual love — between a man and woman." [4]
Merry Friggin' Christmas , scheduled for release in late 2014, features Robin Williams in the last movie he made before his death in 2014. [5]