High risk yields a 'Phat' payoff

Producer goes out on a limb for 'Girlz'

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

'Phat Girlz,' starring comedian Mo'Nique, will be living large on the bigscreen via Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Newmyer

Having produced more than 30 movies, Bobby Newmyer knew the cardinal rule of producing: Never put up your own money.

Newmyer nonetheless broke the rule. He says it cost him everything he had -- even his kids' education fund.

This week he got the last laugh. Fox Searchlight Pictures bought distribution rights for the picture he funded, "Phat Girlz," and will release it next year.

Pic, written and directed by first-time helmer Negest Likke, toplines Mo'Nique.

Newmyer's Outlaw Prods., which produced "Phat Girlz" with Sneak Preview Entertainment, will be paid in the mid-seven figures and see profit participation.

"I think it represents a milestone in that someone was gutsy enough to tell the story of a fat woman and of what they go through in this country," said Steven Imes, Mo'Nique's brother, manager and producing partner.

Pic, which also features Jimmy Jean-Louis, Godfrey and Kendra Johnson, is about a smart-mouthed aspiring fashion designer and another woman who are frustrated and obsessed by their weight. They're thrown a major curveball when they meet the men of their dreams in unexpected ways.

Producers of "Phat" are Newmyer and Sneak Preview's Steven Wolfe. Imes and Mo'Nique are exec producing through their company, 10 Times Greater Prods. Michael Glassman with Outlaw is co-producing.

Newmyer and Likke had both seen Mo'Nique ("Domino," "Soul Plane") in "The Queens of Comedy." Likke subsequently wrote the script with the comedian-actress in mind. Newmyer, who wanted to work with Mo'Nique, quickly bought the screenplay when it came across his desk.

Likke and Newmyer said the film has wide appeal beyond just urban markets, a point with which Fox Searchlight prexy Peter Rice apparently agreed after paying for a test screening.

"It represents plus-size women around the world," Likke said.

Newmyer said shooting was actually suspended last year when he ran out of money, having paid out $1.5 million. Last November and December, he went back to the studios with footage. Again, everyone passed. He liquidated what he could and took out second mortgages on homes in L.A. and Telluride to come up with the $1.5 million he needed to complete production.

"I thought we would find financing partners along the way, but we didn't," Newmyer said. "But I had to finish."

Newmyer certainly is connected. Outlaw ("sex, lies, and videotape," "Training Day") was based on the Warners lot for much of the 1990s and recently concluded a five-year production deal with Intermedia.

Now, working with former investment banker Dominic Ianno, Outlaw has assembled a $120 million private equity fund that it will soon shop around to various studios. Newmyer's goal is to partner with a studio and co-finance a slate of 12 moderately budgeted comedies.

It's been a busy week for Outlaw. Company commenced photography on two studio pics -- "The Santa Clause 3" for Disney and "Breach" for Universal.