Blowtorch Entertainment

Blowtorch Entertainment is a new media company that was co-founded by Kelly Rodriques and Paul Schiff (producer of "My Cousin Vinny", "Rushmore", and "Date Movie"). In November 2007, multiple Hollywood trades reported that Blowtorch Entertainment had raised significant funding to produce and distribute movies and to build a series of social media tools. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117976114.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 "Blowtorch will ignite films"] , "Variety", 15 November, 2007.] [ [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ifdb433cd9235b856e45f552b7c2bebb7 "Biz Types Fire Up Blowtorch"] , "The Hollywood Reporter", 16 November 2007]

Blowtorch describes itself as "a media and entertainment company that creates, enables and distributes fun, authentic and provocative content. We go where our audience goes: online, theaters, live events and mobile." [ [http://www.blowtorch.com] "Blowtorch.com"]

According to"The Economist", Blowtorch is "making video content for 18- to 24-year-old" and "it will allow audiences to influence movies via the web." [ [http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10723360 "Hollywood and the Internet: Coming Soon"] , "The Economist", 21 February 2008.] In the December 27, 2007 issue of "Fortune", Blowtorch was featured as one of "Six Leaps of Innovation." According to "Fortune", "Schiff is in charge of producing and acquiring a stable of low-budget (under $5 million) feature-length films. Rodriques's job is to build social networks around the movies, inviting 18- to 24-year-old audiences to gather online before, after, and during the film." [ [http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.sixleaps.fortune/6.html "Six Leaps of Innovation"] , "Fortune Magazine", 27 December 2007]

Blowtorch Entertainment owns the rights to the film "Spin", (previously titled "You Are Here") starring Bijou Phillips, and is in post-production on the feature film "Tenure". Tenure is a 2008 American comedy film, written and directed by Mike Million and starring Luke Wilson, Gretchen Mol, and David Koechner. The film was produced by Paul Schiff and is being released by Blowtorch as their first original production. Blowtorch will also be handling the U.S. theatrical release of the film "Young People F***ing", which was initially released in Canada on June 13, 2008 and has received favorable critical reviews. [ [http://www.playbackonline.ca/next25/2008/martingero.html "Playback: Next 25"] ]

Blowtorch is setting up its own theatrical distribution network in the U.S., and the company's home-video distribution is handled by Vivendi Visual Entertainment. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981984.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 "Luke Wilson heats up Blowtorch"] , "Variety", 6 March 2008]

References

External links

* [http://www.blowtorch.com Official website]
* [http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/15/blowtorch-raises-50-million-to-launche-a-new-hollywood-studio/ "Blowtorch Raises $50 Million to Launch a New Hollywood Studio"] , www.TechCrunch.com, 15 November 2007