Angel Baby Entertainment, Maverick Red & Slamdance Announce Acquisition & Pre-Production of Winner's Horror Screenplay

Los Angeles, Calif. (PRWeb) March 8, 2007 -- Gregory Segal, principal of Angel Baby Entertainment; Mark Morgan, CEO of Maverick; and Peter Baxter, co-founder and president of Slamdance, announced the acquisition and pre-production of Slaughter, the 2007 Slamdance Horror Screenplay Competition winner.

Slaughter will be produced by Angel Baby Entertainment and Maverick Red, in association with Slamdance and is expected to premiere at Slamdance 2008. This is the first time the festival has accepted screenplays for production purposes. Previous Slamdance screenplay winners include Joshua Marston's Maria Full of Grace and Nicole Kassell and Stephen Fetcher's The Woodsman.

Baxter explained that as Slamdance continues to grow and evolve, it is necessary to provide writers with greater production opportunities. "This industry is highly competitive, and it's necessary for our organization to seek new production avenues for aspiring writers," he said.

For screenplay winners Bobby Darby, age 25, and Nathan Brookes, age 23, this is a dream come true. "This is the first time that a screenplay we have written will be produced," said Brookes. "It's an amazing opportunity."

The writing partners flew from Midlands, United Kingdom, where they live, to Park City, Utah, on a moment's notice to accept their Sparky Award at the Slamdance Awards Ceremony, January 22, 2007. The two writers have collaborated on a number of scripts, but this represents their first foray into the horror genre. Horror enthusiasts can anticipate that Slaughter will pay homage to underground Japanese horror films.

Segal and John Andrew Gallagher of Angel Baby Entertainment and Mark Morgan and Guy Oseary of Maverick Red will produce the film. Cheri Wozniak and Michael Malagiero of Maverick Red will executive produce. A director has not yet been announced.

Angel Baby Entertainment is a partnership between Gregory Segal, producer, and John Andrew Gallagher, writer/director/producer, (The Deli, Blue Moon). The company has produced six features and two short films over the past two-and-a-half years and has numerous projects in development.

Segal's most recent credits include My Brother, starring Vanessa Williams and Sundance entry, The Ten, starring Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd, Winona Ryder, Famke Jansen, Gretchen Mol, Oliver Platt, Ron Silver, Liev Schrieber, Rob Corddry, Justin Theroux and Adam Brody. My Brother has won numerous awards throughout the film circuit and is set for March theatrical release in AMC theatres from Code Black and Universal. The Ten was acquired at Sundance for North American distribution by ThinkFilm. Additionally, Segal, Gallagher and Angel Baby Entertainment are in post-production for Hot Baby, written and directed by Jeff Roenning, a Slamdance Screenplay competitor from past years.

Maverick Films, a Los Angeles-based production company founded by Madonna and Guy Oseary, recently announced the launch of its new division, Maverick Red. While Maverick Red will focus on the horror genre, the production company is not new to making horror films. Oseary, co-chairman and founding partner, executive produced Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects.

Maverick has a number of films in development including the horror-thriller The Stepfather for Sony - Screen Gems, the remake of the Asian horror film, The Phone; Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief for Fox 2000; and the serial-killer thriller Labyrinth, for Summit Entertainment, written by Russel Gewertz (The Inside Man), starring Hilary Swank. Films in production include a remake of the Korean box-office hit My Sassy Girl with Vertigo and Gold Circle Films, and The Stanford Prison Experiment, to be directed by Chris McQuarrie.

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