Capital Arts Entertainment is a Los Angeles based film and television production, finance and distribution and company founded in 1995 by three Roger Corman alums, Mike Elliott, Rob Kerchner and Joe Genier. In the last fifteen years, Elliott, Kerchner and Genier have produced seventy feature and television films, and dozens of television episodes, in every genre, for such diverse companies as 20th
Century Fox, MTV, Warner Bros., Showtime, Columbia/Tri-Star, HBO, Lionsgate, vh1, The Weinstein Company Paramount, MGM, USA, and Universal. Their films have appeared in many major festivals, including Tribeca, London, New York, Tokyo, Berlin, Telluride, Slamdance, Milan, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto, and Sundance. The team’s recent feature credits include the mega-hit series of Tyler Perry comedies, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Why Did I Get Married? Why Did I Get Married Too?, For Colored Girls, Meet the Browns, The Family that Preys, Madea Goes To Jail, and Madea’s Big Happy Family. Other film credits include the romantic comedy, My Best Friend's Girl, starring Kate Hudson and Dane Cook, The Eye, starring Jessica Alba, The Perfect Holiday, starring Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard, Gabrielle Union and Morris Chestnut, War, starring Jet Li and Jason Statham, Peaceful Warrior, starring Nick Nolte and Amy Smart, Akeelah and the Bee, starring Lawrence Fishburn and Angela Basset, The Devil’s Rejects, directed by Rob Zombie, Pride, starring Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac, and Happy Endings, starring Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Lara Dern, which opened the Sundance Film Festival, and was presented with the Spirit of Sundance Award. Past features include the two Toronto Film Festival premieres, All I Want, starring Elijah Wood, Franka Potente and Mandy Moore, and Attraction, starring Gretchen Mol and Tom Everett Scott, as well as The Prince & Me, starring Julia Stiles, Comic Book Villains which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, Skipped Parts, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Drew Barrymore, and Ernest Hemingway’s After the Storm, which starred Benjamin Bratt and won top honors at multiple festivals including New York and City of Angels. Capital Arts Entertainment has long been a leader in the market for television movies and series. The team’s series credits include the current MTV hit, Teen Wolf, now in it’s second season, as well as the comedy series Instant Comedy with The Groundlings, which ran for sixty five episodes on F/X. Their television movie credits include Au Pair, which is the highest rated original movie in the twenty-eight year history of the ABC Family Channel. Their other number one rated television movies include The Michael Jordan Story, The Cowboy and the Movie Star, Home for Christmas, The Elian Gonzalez Story, and Au Pair II. has recently been picked up for production. Capital Arts has been dominant in the market for branded home entertainment since 1996 when Elliott, Kerchner and Genier produced Casper: A Spirited Beginning, which became and remains the best-selling non-Disney video of all time, and was honored as the VSDA’s Video of the Year. Capital Arts has developed and produced sequels for most major studios, including top selling sequels to the films Addams Family, Richie Rich, Timecop, Beethoven, Turbulence, and American Pie. Their first sequel to American Pie is the number one selling non-family direct to dvd title of all time. The Prince and Me sequel was honored at this year's VSDA as both Family Title of the Year, and Rental Title of the Year. They have recently produced new sequels to American Pie Smokin’ Aces, Death Race, Blue Crush and The Wolfman. In 2005 Capital Arts created its independent film distribution company, Push. Now in it’s seventh successful year, the Los Angeles-based company that handles some of Capital Arts'product, and also acquires and sells independent features worldwide. All three Capital Arts partners began their careers working for Roger Corman, at Concorde/New Horizons Corp. (formerly New World Pictures), which was then the industry’s leading independent production and distribution company. They started their tenures there as unpaid interns, but were soon running the various departments at the company. Elliott ran production and marketing, while Genier oversaw the studio. Kerchner ran the development and advertising departments. While working at Corman, the team was credited with helping to modernize the company and transition it from a failing theatrical releasing company, to one that profitably penetrated worldwide television and video markets. They also concentrated on creating international coproduction partnerships and multi-picture output agreements, which resulted in the highest sales figures for the company since its inception. Additionally, they built a label dedicated to the development and production of family films and participated in the creation and structuring of the successful domestic home video distribution company, New Horizons Video. The Capital Arts team has produced pictures in every region of the United States and in many other countries, including Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, Cuba, Belize, Peru, Canada, South Africa, Philippines, Japan, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Czech Republic. They are expert in the application of strategic financing through the use of international co-productions and tax credits and government film incentives. Elliott, Genier and Kerchner are members of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America, and the Screen Actors Guild. They have served as members of the board of directors of the Independent Producers Association, the production arm of the International Film and Television Producers Association, and the Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles. Together they carry legal work status in the USA, Canada and the EU. Mike Elliott and Joe Genier are graduates of Cornell University. Rob Kerchner is a graduate of Stanford University and the Peter Stark Program at the University of Southern California. All three partners live with their respective wives and children in Los Angeles, California.
