Bieber, Tarr join up in prod, ad venture
Firm may also manage talent
Silo will consist principally of Rick Bieber Prods. and Tarr's commercials company Ace and video production company Squeak Pictures. Silo has merged with Outpost Management, a company headed by Sandy Passman, and Tami Lynn Management, which is the largest Hollywood firm for kids and teens.
Moving Image pact
In other business, Bieber has formed a joint venture with Moving Image, a bilingual production company formed three years ago by directors Orlando Leal and Luis Aira, who later teamed with exec producer Jay Sisson, and helmers Francisco Pugliese and Pavel Cantu. Moving Image is an award-winning commercials company for the Latino market that has produced bilingual blurbs for such national advertisers as Burger King, McDonald's, Toyota and Lincoln Mercury, among others.
Aside from linking already profitable businesses, Bieber said the overall goal of the projects will be to hatch talent for features and TV, much the way Propaganda has used the mediums to cross-polinate.
"As a producer who wanted to stay entrepreneurial and independent, I've found it increasingly more difficult if you stay confined to one particular area and felt that the more diversified and integrated you are, the better you'll be," said Bieber, who formed Stonebridge Entertainment with Michael Douglas, and whose producing credits include "Flatliners," "Radio Flyer" and a slew of telepics.
"Pam is one of the first women to successfully operate a commercial and video company, which we thought would provide a fertile source of directing talent for TV and movies," Bieber said of Tarr.
Music venture
Beiber plans to start a music company as well, and expects to sign arrangements with a studio and foreign sales outfit for features.
These features will be generated through his own development slate of about 25 films that include "The Man That God Forgot," which will star Applegate in a film about a man unable to age or die who falls in love with a terminally ill woman. The script is by Alexander and the film will be produced by Applegate's manager Tami Lynn.
Beiber also is developing "First Strange Thing," to be produced by Jennifer Ryan and Jason Cohen. Pic is a David Hubbard-scripted drama about a teenage brother and sister whose relationship is ruined by a young woman who moves to town. Mark Forester ("Loungers") will direct.
Bieber's also working on "Standing in the Shadows," an adaptation of the Alan Slutsky book about the formation of the Funk Brothers, who provided the musical backing on almost all of Motown's biggest records during the 1960s. Sandy Passman and Paul Justman will produce.
