Winning Short Films by Aspiring Female Filmmakers to be
Chosen By Star-Studded Award-Winning Female Panelists
Shorts will Premiere Exclusively on Facebook Next
Year
VANCOUVER, British Columbia and
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of
its ongoing effort to enhance its diverse portfolio of premium
content, Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a premier next generation global
content leader, is teaming with Facebook, the prestigious Women In
Film organization, the crowdsourcing platform Tongal and
best-selling Twilight Saga author Stephenie Meyer to create and manage a social
media campaign to develop and produce a series of short films
directed by aspiring female filmmakers. The campaign, called
"The Storytellers – New Creative Voices of The Twilight
Saga," will include films based on a broad spectrum of
characters from the Twilight universe, with guidance
provided by Meyer's encyclopedic The Twilight Saga: Official
Illustrated Guide.
The campaign will center on a multiphase contest culminating in
the selection of at least five aspiring female filmmakers to
direct short films based on characters from the Twilight
universe. The films will be produced and directed with the
mentorship of a blue chip panel of advisors, which will ultimately
select the winning shorts that will premiere exclusively on the
Facebook platform next year. The star-studded group of female
panelists will include Stephenie
Meyer, actress Kristen
Stewart, Academy Award winners Kate
Winslet and Octavia Spencer,
Jennifer Lee, the award-winning
writer and one of the directors of Disney's global blockbuster
Frozen, Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, Emmy Award-winning actress
Julie Bowen, and Women In Film
President Cathy Schulman.
Five winning shorts will be financed through production
advances, and fans will help select a grand prize winning filmmaker
who will receive a cash prize and career opportunities. The
short film development and production process will involve
extensive fan engagement on the Facebook and Tongal platforms.
"More people than ever before are creating, discovering and
engaging with videos on Facebook," said Facebook Vice President of
Partnerships Dan Rose. "This
collaboration with Stephenie Meyer,
Lionsgate and Women In Film is a great opportunity to engage
Twilight's massive global audience on Facebook through an
innovative premium video program."
"We're delighted to expand our longstanding relationship with
Stephenie and confident that her participation in the
Twilight short films campaign will add an exciting new
dimension to the incredible world she has created as an author and
producer," said Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer and Vice Chairman Michael Burns. "Our partnership with Facebook
and Women In Film underscores the opportunities for growing our
franchises in exciting new directions, and we're pleased to
introduce fresh creative talent to the Twilight universe as
part of our commitment to female empowerment in front of and behind
the camera."
"Accessing Hollywood is a momentous challenge, especially for
aspiring female filmmakers, so I'm thrilled that Women In
Film has been invited to join Stephenie
Meyer, Lionsgate and Facebook to empower new storytellers
with diverse voices," said WIF President Cathy Schulman. "Women In Film is
proud to help recruit and mentor female filmmakers as part of a
project that illustrates the power of a beloved book and movie
franchise to lessen the gender gap in our film community and
provide a platform for women's perspectives to be seen and
heard."
"The female voice is something that has become more and more
important to me as I've worked in the film industry," said
Meyer. "I'm honored to be working with Women In Film,
Lionsgate, and Facebook on a project dedicated to giving more women
a chance to be heard creatively."
ABOUT WOMEN IN FILM
Women In Film (WIF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to
promoting equal opportunities for women, encouraging creative
projects by women, and expanding and enhancing portrayals of women
in all forms of global media. Given that women comprise fifty
percent of the population, WIF's ultimate goal is to see the same
gender parity reflected on and off screen: in management positions
as well as in front of and behind the camera. Founded in 1973,
WIF focuses on advocacy and education, provides scholarships,
grants, film finishing funds, mentorships, film and television
shadowing programs, participation in its award-winning PSA program
and access to employment opportunities. WIF also works to preserve
the legacies of all women working in the entertainment community.
For more information visit www.wif.org.
ABOUT THE TWILIGHT SAGA
Meyer's Twilight Saga books have sold more than 120
million copies worldwide and have been translated into at least 38
languages around the globe, winning the 2008 British Book Award for
"Children's Book of The Year" for Breaking Dawn and the 2009
Kid's Choice Award for Favorite Book for the series as a whole. The
five films of The Twilight Saga franchise have grossed more
than $3.3 billion at the global box
office, ranking among the most successful feature film franchises
of all time.
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate, home to The Hunger Games, Twilight and
Divergent franchises, is a premier next generation global
content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion
picture production and distribution, television programming and
syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, new channel
platforms and international distribution and sales. Lionsgate
currently has more than 30 television shows on over 20 different
networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and
syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as
the multiple Emmy Award-winning Mad Men and Nurse
Jackie, the comedy Anger Management, the broadcast
network series Nashville,
the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show and the
critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black.
Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent
successes as the blockbuster first two installments of The
Hunger Games franchise, The Hunger Games and The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the first installment of the
Divergent franchise, Now You See Me, Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain, Warm
Bodies, The Possession, Sinister, Roadside
Attractions' A Most Wanted Man and Pantelion Films' breakout
hit Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing
Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.
Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in
box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rate.
Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of
approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is
an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the
foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The
Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original,
daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.
www.lionsgate.com
For further information, please contact:
Peter D. Wilkes
Lionsgate
310-255-3726
pwilkes@lionsgate.com
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SOURCE Lionsgate