From the humble beginnings of selling discount records from the back of a car, to running the multi-million pound Virgin Megastores franchise, setting up Virgin Trains, Virgin Atlantic airlines, and even a Virgin space program and low-gravity tourist flights, Richard Branson is now venturing in another direction, and setting his sights on Hollywood; by setting up a Los Angeles based film and TV production company.
The packaging and production company (which is titled Virgin Produced) was unveiled on Friday, and is being led by Jason Felts (as C.E.O.) and Justin Berfield (as Chief Creative Officer), both of whom previously worked for J2TV/J2 Pictures, who will be not only developing and producing original films, but co-producing two or three pictures a year with Rogue Pictures.
The co-productions come as part of a deal that Virgin have secured with Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media (who are in charge of Rogue Pictures) to develop, produce, and market films; the first of which will be the latest movie by There’s Something About Mary’s Peter Farrelly.
Branson says that “entertainment has long been a focus of the Virgin brand” and that he is “excited for the chance to further grow in this space”, and Virgin Produced will be attempting to do so in a new way; claiming to be “a new kind of production company that is creative, not controlling” by “providing a collaborative environment that embraces talent so they can best create and inspire.”
