LOS ANGELES – Tuesday 3 November 2015. Freeway Entertainment, a leading revenue sharing and international rights management company, has tapped international film and TV executive Ivar Combrinck to join the company as its North American consultant.
In this new post, Ivar will oversee Freeway’s corporate development activities and assist with Freeway’s existing clients, as well as new relationships. Based in Los Angeles, he will be uniquely situated to represent the company and work closely with Freeway’s extensive North American client base. Ivar will also be responsible for leading the company’s expansion into other industries in the territory.
With more than 13 years of experience in the entertainment industry, he was previously involved in the start-up and growth of SCI, a media financing company that helped finance and launch Stuart Ford’s IM Global, had a stake in Sierra/Affinity, collaborated with William Morris Agency on launching a $100 million film production and financing entity called Incentive Filmed Entertainment, and structured or financed various single picture and slate financing transactions with major studios. As part of the senior management of SCI from its earliest days, he led the firm’s film financing and more recently television efforts.
During the course of his career, Ivar has been a key executive responsible for more than $7 billion in cutting-edge, financing transactions on more than 100 feature films and television series from smaller independent projects to Hollywood tentpoles including Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3, National Treasure 2, Enchanted, Oblivion, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Blood Diamond, Team America, Charlotte’s Web, Rush Hour 3, Hugo, The Road, The Reader, Thor, Iron Man 2, The Bourne Ultimatum and Jurassic World.
Ivar has worked with most major studios and leading independent producers including Walt Disney, Marvel Studios, Warner Bros, New Line, The Weinstein Company, Constantin Film, New Regency and Universal Studios. He has extensive experience with production financing, soft-money maximisation, P&A financing, library acquisitions, as well as the distribution and exploitation of films and TV series.
Whilst working for Freeway, Ivar will also continue to act as principal of Silicate Media, a boutique media advisory firm.
Gadi Wildstrom, Freeway Entertainment Partner and Co-Founder, says, “We are delighted to welcome Ivar Combrinck to Freeway. His extensive experience working with studios and international independent producers, as well as his understanding of international financing, production cost and revenue maximisation, single picture and slate financing, and cross-border regulatory considerations, will be invaluable to Freeway in serving our international clients in a fast-paced evolving financial landscape. We also hope that our North American clients will be especially happy to have someone from Freeway working in one of their own time zones.”
Ivar Combrinck, Freeway’s US consultant says, “During a time when the film and TV industry is facing fundamental changes to its business model, I am very happy to join forces with the team at Freeway Entertainment. They not only bring unparalleled integrity and excellence of service to the table, but Freeway’s wider setup with offices in more territories allows the company to provide better services and revenue maximisation for its clients. It is also a real pleasure to be working with someone whose top priority is to help producers, financiers, rights owners and distributors by making their lives easier and making them more money from their film, TV, intellectual property and other assets.”
Freeway Entertainment is a global rights management company working across film and TV, books, video games, software and online services, sports and other intellectual properties. The firm specialises in revenue sharing solutions such as collection account management (CAM), revenue reconciliation and international licensing. Working as as a neutral third party, Freeway’s CAM services enable worldwide revenues to be disbursed in line with contractually agreed waterfalls to parties reducing the administrative burden on producers, co-producers, financiers, distributors, key talent and other parties, ensuring a smooth process in working with the various stakeholders, including the guilds. Similarly, Freeway’s international licensing and distribution activity reduces costs and administration, maximises revenues, and often results in swifter access to revenues.
With offices in the UK, France, Spain, Hungary and the Netherlands and now a consultant in the US, Freeway has an extensive international network supporting entertainment companies with the worldwide exploitation of their content across the US, Europe, Australasia and Latin America.
Since the company was launched in 2001 it has built strong partnerships with leading media rights holders from around the world and has worked on more than 3,500 productions. The group works with companies representing every link in the revenue chain – including studios, mini-majors, producers, production companies, entertainment lenders, film financing institutions, state funding organisations, equity investors, completion bonds, unions (actors, writers and directors guilds), actors, writers, directors as well as talent management agencies, sales agents, local distributors and broadcasters, entertainment lawyers and consultants.
During the past year, Freeway has branched out into sports rights image and brand management.
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Tina McFarling on +44 (0)7971 421578 / tinamcfarling@outlook.com