"Hazel & Rose"
PRESS RELEASE:
Pacific Island Films Announces The Launch Of A New Film Division, Sweetwater Films, Slated To Produce Latter-day Saint-Themed Movies
By: Pacific Island Films
Date: 17 September 2001
[Excerpts from the press release which relate to "Hazel & Rose" are reproduced below:]
Los Angeles - September 17, 2001
Stubbs explained that while SWF was producing The Long Walk Of Patience Loader for release in late 2002 or in 2003, it would go ahead and "greenlight" a movie called Hazel & Rose. Stubbs said, "Hazel & Rose is an intimate, contemporary film, with a small cast, easy to produce, so we can get it into the market right away and start the ball rolling. I mean, we're so committed to making the Patience Loader project the highest quality movie that it can be -- its such an amazing script and story -- so we won't rush it into production until everything is ready. But while we're doing that, we'd like to do a great little feel-good film first."
Hazel & Rose is a relationship drama about how an act of service changes lives and sparks a friendship between two unusual people: a teenage girl and a house-bound woman. The film will be shot entirely on location in Provo, Utah this Fall or early Spring. The film has already been cast, $60,000 of the proposed $350,000 budget has been raised, and pre-production has commenced. Shooting will start as soon as financing is complete. The film will star two award-winning professionals: well-known Utah-based character actress, Barta Heiner (Testaments, Brigham City, The Donner Party); and New York-based Irene Ryan Competition winner for Best Actress, Mireille Enos, fresh from a run on Broadway in the Tony-winning play, The Invention Of Love, and appearing opposite Richard Dreyfuss in an episode of The Education Of Max Bickford. An outstanding supporting cast has also been retained.
"With films like Hazel & Rose, Patience Loader, Adam Alone, Little Man, Sweetwater Ford, The Ben Thompson Story, Glenna's Graduation, The Downey's Under, The Sugar Beets, and many others currently in development, we hope to see Sweetwater Films become a major force in the faith-related markets and a recognized brand name for quality, humanity-affirming entertainment which is so lacking in today's Hollywood," affirmed Stubbs. "As a spiritually sensitive Catholic and a father of young children, I'm proud to be associated with the films we have in development under Sweetwater Films. It's a real family affair."
It is indeed. Stubbs and Enos often involve their children in development meetings. In fact, Stubbs' wife, Janet, a member of the Church, came up with the original concept which became Hazel & Rose. Both she and Enos' wife, Santia, comprise an integral part of Pacific Island's Story Development Department and fulfill other duties at the small and growing company -- as much as their duties as full-time at-home mothers ("Our first priority!" the women said) will permit.
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Sweetwater Films has set up limited partnerships in order to offer qualified investors the opportunity to join with the company in producing its first two films and share in the profits therefrom. The Hazel & Rose Production Partnership, Ltd. is offering up to 35 shares of $10,000 each. Interested parties should contact the company directly:
Steve Stubbs, (310) 384-FILM e-mail: starz@filmandtv.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
ENOS ENTERTAINMENT INC.
CELEBRATES CORPORATE LAUNCH
Grass Valley, CA -- March 21, 2003
Enos Entertainment Inc. (EEI), a newly-formed California corporation, formally announced its official launch of business today immediately following the first meeting of its Shareholders and Board of Directors.
Founded by Jongiorgi Enos, who will also act as the company's CEO, and his wife, Santia Enos, who will serve as corporation Vice President, the fledgling "Inc." was established as an independent film production company. EEI will also invest significant energies in the development and exploitation of intellectual properties in the form of movie and theater scripts and fiction and non-fiction books.
Divisions of EEI include Enos' long-standing concern, Karraff Building Press (KBP), a copyright holdings company and small independent publishing house. KBP and its related imprint "Sunflower Pocket Books," publish several titles a year under limited circulation. KBP is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of EEI. Other divisions include Jongiorgifilms Epicture, and a "loan-out" company for Mr. Enos' services to third-parties.
Previously, on February 1, the company held an informal reception and dinner party in Grass Valley, California, to celebrate moving into its new corporate headquarters. The date was significant for company founders, as it marked both the start of EEI's fiscal year, as well as the Chinese New Year. "We've chosen dates with particularly propitious symbolism for new beginnings," noted Enos, only partially tongue-in-cheek. "We had a public announcement on Chinese New Year and then had our initial meeting of the Board on the first day of spring!"
While in the planning stages for some time, EEI formally sprang into existence on February 13, when Articles of Incorporation were filed with Kevin Shelley, Secretary of State of California, to create a privately-held Class-C profit corporation. It took another month to clear California's busy records-checking procedure, and Articles were certified on March 12.
While the corporate identity for EEI is new, the company founders have a long record of accomplishments in the entertainment industry which they hope to bring to bear profitably under the new banner. Enos has been a professional actor on stage and screen for over 26 years, with over 100 credits. As an award-winning writer, Enos has more than two dozen plays and screenplays to his credit, with many more in active development. As a producer, Enos has been closely involved with the production of several feature films and now has multiple projects in various stages of development.
From 2000 to 2002, Enos was prominently associated with another local production company, Pacific Island Films (PIF), a fledgling mini-studio founded by Australian actor-turned-entrepreneur, Steve Stubbs, who also headquarters his company in the area. Enos and Stubbs developed several projects together before going their separate ways to pursue individual opportunities.
While the details of Enos' separation with PIF remain private, Enos was quick to make two points. The first is that EEI has retained the rights to Sweetwater Films (SWF), an LDS niche-market division previously announced in a press release of September 2001. Sweetwater Films, previously a division of PIF, is now wholly-owned and absorbed by EEI. Several of the big projects previously announced by PIF in the LDS market will continue to be developed by EEI, including the historical epic, The Long Walk Of Patience Loader. Secondly, Enos' feature film script, Hazel & Rose, developed while at Pacific Island, was recently sold via PIF to a Los Angeles production team. While Stubbs will oversee that production later this year, EEI retains a financial stake in the project.
Outside of Hazel & Rose, EEI starts its life with a number of active production and writing deals. EEI has signed a substantial contract to develop a feature film for LA-based producer, Rich Raddon, in association with award-winning screenwriter, David Howard (Galaxy Quest). That film, provisionally entitled, The Trek, has already secured the interest of actor Rick Schroeder, and is slated for production towards the end of the year.
Other EEI projects include providing the narrative text for a proposed documentary about patriotism in America since the 9-11 disaster, to be produced by another Northern California company, Neptune Motion Pictures. EEI has provisionally agreed to provide writing services on a whole series of planned Neptune documentary films, as well. Famous child actor, Johnnie Whitaker (Family Affair, Tom Sawyer) will act as host and narrator for the series, which is being considered by the PAX cable television network.
While still tentative, EEI is also slated to work with Utah-based Zion Films on one or more motion picture projects currently in development. Zion Films helmer, Richard Dutcher, is the successful producer-writer-director of such break-out indie successes as God's Army and Brigham City. Enos, while secretive about any joint Zion-EEI projects, said that they would be mainstream films, and would probably not happen until after Dutcher's sequel to God's Army, States Of Grace. As producers, Enos and Dutcher have not worked together since Dutcher's romantic comedy, Girl Crazy, which sold to HBO and Cinemax cable networks in 1993.
Furthermore, Enos plans to continue his ongoing relationship, under the new EEI banner, with Park City-based film distribution and development company, Koan, Inc. Enos and Koan have jointly developed film and television projects for Animal Planet and others in the past, and will continue to do so, with two projects currently in active development, one of which will probably be independently produced in a joint venture between the companies.
In addition to its various joint venture activates, EEI plans to develop an extensive list of spec projects in film and theatre, as well as adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction.
EEI owns exclusive interest in close to 100 intellectual properties, including true-life stories, historical research projects and registered fiction ideas of all sorts, all of which have income-bearing potential for the new company.
"Copyright holding and intellectual property development are primary activities for us," Enos said. "While less attractive, its probably more important to the company, long-term, than our more high-profile production activities. It is the meat and potatoes of EEI."
Having said that, however, Enos was quick to point out that EEI has two productions slated to be shot under its own banner in the early part of this year. "We have an LDS-themed short film, Headstone, and a mainstream indie feature, tentatively titled Community Theatre, both on the fast-track, with which we hope to inaugurate our production arm."
Enos summed up by saying: "We have a very busy, but very exciting future ahead of us. EEI begins its new year, and its new life, with a great deal to look forward to."
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Enos Entertainment Inc., a closely-held California corporation, produces entertainment and educational media properties of all kinds. EEI is based in the historic California Gold Rush region of the Sierra Nevada, adjacent to the famous Donner Pass and Lake Tahoe, an area well known for its beauty, outdoor recreation, high tech industries and arts and media activities. Contact EEI at 13668 Meadow View Drive, Grass Valley, CA 95945, (530) 477-#### office, (561) 679-#### fax. Web site: www.enosentertainment.com
Webpage created 17 September 2001.