International Insiders in the US: production, finance, sales and packaging

November 4, 2019

Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier’s worldwide sales, production and film financing company Highland Film Group (HFG) has scored globally with films in the action, thriller and horror space, so much so that in recent years the Los Angeles-based outfit has made a name for itself as a leading purveyor of high-octane action fare for the independent marketplace.

One such success story was Braven, which saw Fraser and Perrier introduced to Jason Momoa and his company Pride of Gypsies through the Aquaman star’s manager. HFG signed on to finance and produce the film, which was done by reverse-engineering the finance plan, utilising pre-sales, gap and tax credits — a strategy the company had previously taken on Nicolas Cage thriller The Trust.

After Momoa and producing partner Brian Andrew Mendoza joined HFG in Toronto to meet with buyers, Braven shot in Newfoundland, securing Canadian federal and provincial financial incentives, enabling Highland to close a full finance plan using debt only.

The company’s slate now includes John Krokidas’s Tunnels starring Susan Sarandon; Vaughn Stein’s Inheritance starring Lily Collins and Simon Pegg; Dimitri Logothetis’s Jiu Jitsu starring Cage; and Neil Marshall’s 17th-century witch-hunt horror The Reckoning. Ahead of Toronto, the company added action project Panama, set to star Morgan Freeman and Frank Grillo. The latter plays a decorated ex-marine sent on an undercover mission by his former commander (Freeman).

By Jeremy Kay: Michael Rosser: John Hazelton and Liza Foreman: Screen Daily