latest news
Geoffrey Rush Joins Tropfest
The acclaimed actor and newly-crowned Australian of the Year, Geoffrey Rush, will be a key player in 2012’s Tropfest activities.
Naomi Watts To Play Princess Diana
The Aussie actress is set to play the people’s princess in an upcoming film that chronicles the final two years of Diana’s life.
Sullivan Stapleton Signs On To ‘300’ Prequel
The Aussie actor has beat out the competition to land a role in the upcoming blockbuster.
James Cameron Loses Long Time Australian Collaborators
Producer Andrew Wight and cinematographer Mike deGruy lose their lives in a helicopter crash.
search the site
newsletter
Enter your email address below to receive the weekly Filmink newsletter
Kick Starting Talent
M2 Entertainment (M2E) has relaunched as a film finance and production company which aims to nurture emerging and established talent.
M2 Entertainment (M2E) - the company behind the critically-acclaimed Australian film 2:37 - has relaunched as a film production and finance company. Founded in 2005 by Nick Matthews and Murali K. Thalluri (pictured) to produce Thalluri's 2:37, M2E has lain inactive since production on 2:37 was completed.
By forming partnerships with a number of Australian and international companies, Thalluri has secured a multi-million dollar fund for M2E to finance and co-finance two movies annually through to 2014. This allows the company to nurture the talent of the next generation of filmmakers while supporting more established directors in bringing their films to the screen.
M2E aims to provide filmmakers with both funds and support, and this philosophy has attracted a number of film industry stalwarts to the rejuvenated M2E, including renowned sound mixers Leslie Shatz and Chris David. "We know and understand the importance of having the financial backing of a company that respects the filmmaking process, as well as the filmmakers' vision," say Shatz and David.
As well as Shatz and David, M2E's new board of directors includes Nick Matthews and Nick Selth, members of Thalluri's 2:37 production team, as well as a number of film industry stalwarts including Miramax and Weinstein Company veteran Michelle Krumm, Clerks and Good Will Hunting producer Scott Mosier, and Arclight Films' Ian Gibbins. Thalluri has nothing but praise for M2E's "amazing" partners that make the film fund possible. "The possibilities of what we can do are endless," he enthuses.
M2E is currently accepting screenplay submissions through their website, m2e.net.au, and encourage all interested in seeing their scripts come to fruition on the big screen to send in their work. "I know how hard it is to get a film up," says Thalluri, who made 2:37 for $1.1 million in 2006 at the age of 20, and the film was sold to Roadshow Films for Australian distribution alone for close to that amount. Despite this success, Thalluri also understands the difficulties of the film industry: regardless of 2:37 earning three times its production costs, and receiving critical praise, it has taken "four to five years" to secure financing for Thalluri's second project. He is optimistic M2E's film fund will help to alleviate these difficulties for filmmakers: "We hope M2E will be a company that will give the power back to the filmmakers."
Mosier - a long-time colleague of filmmaker Kevin Smith and producer of independent films including Chasing Amy and Zack and Miri Make a Porno - shares Thalluri's enthusiasm for M2E's fund. "I love films. I love filmmakers. And I really love that we live in a day and age where I can support and work on cutting-edge, independent films being made in a country half way around the world."
While the fund aims to give filmmakers their creative freedom, Ian Gibbins - who has assisted in the funding and distribution of films including Wolf Creek and Romulus, My Father in his time at Arclight Films - sees the project as a firm financial investment as well: "We see partnering with M2E as a huge opportunity to make commercial and successful films that audiences will enjoy."
To find out more about M2E, visit the website.