Veteran producers and financiers Gianni Nunnari and Simon Horsman have partnered to launch Euro Gang Entertainment to develop, finance and produce projects.
The company will work across feature films, scripted and unscripted television series, stage productions and other live events. It already has over 30 projects in active development across most genres, formats and budget ranges, including a Broadway play, sub-$10 million independent features and tent-pole studio films.
Euro Gang will have offices in London, Rome and Madrid, while keeping a base in Los Angelees. It is affiliated with Hollywood Gang Productions, which will continue to develop and service projects with the major Hollywood studios.
The new company recently executed a co-development agreement with the film and television arm of Warner Music Group, headed by Charlie Cohen, in which the companies will co-develop nine scripted projects that include original ideas, remakes of European films and book adaptations. Five of the projects will be shot in either Italian, French or Spanish.
Nunnari, whose cumulative box office record exceeds $1.2 billion and whose producing credits include the 300 films, Se7en, Shutter Island and The Departed, is currently in production in Rome on the $150 million-plus budgeted gladiator-set series, Those About to Die, directed by Roland Emmerich, which was independently financed.
Horsman, a U.K.- and California-qualified lawyer, previously co-founded the Los Angeles Film Fund and ran it for ten years as co-CEO. He is an Emmy, Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer, whose credits include many documentaries, including the ten-part Hulu series Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers, co-produced with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and directed by Antoine Fuqua. His credits also span feature films, including the upcoming Magazine Dreams, directed by Elijah Bynum and starring Jonathan Majors, which has been acquired by Searchlight, and the upcoming Rob Peace, directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor and starring Ejiofor, Mary J. Blythe, Camila Cabello and Jay Will, which was acquired for streaming by CBS.
As their first collaboration, Nunnari and Horsman are currently producing a documentary series on chef, restaurateur and hotelier Nobu Matsuhisa, directed by Matt Tyrnauer (Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons, Valentino: The Last Emperor) and co-produced with Altimeter Films, WMG Productions, Los Angeles Media Fund, and AGC Studios.
“As the name suggests, Euro Gang has a broad European and international focus with aspirations to grow quickly into a mini-major studio bridging Europe and Hollywood,” Nunnari said. “With the right relationships and track record, there’s the ability to develop projects at a much lower upfront cost and on an accelerated timeline out of Europe, and the depth of writing, directing and acting talent is unquestioned. Coupling these attributes with the fact that there are some of the very best production incentives in a number of key territories in Europe, including, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and the UK, we are confident that, after more than a few collective decades in the business, Simon and I will continue to be successful at producing compelling and commercial content for the international marketplace.”
Horsman added, “Gianni and I share the same work ethic and philosophy towards the entertainment industry and our skill sets are complementary. Gianni is incredibly skilled at divining commercial material and producing projects on an ambitious scale, which has been proven many times over. The fact that we are launching the company with 30 plus projects already in our slate is testament to his qualities as a producer. As our first co-development partner out of the gate, we are tremendously appreciative of Warner Music Group’s belief in us as team and look forward to collaborating on the initial projects we will be developing together, and hopefully more to come in the future.”
