The Orchard Acquires U.S. Rights To Carly Stone’s “The New Romantic”
May 22, 2018
Stone’s feature debut premiered in competition at SXSW in March
Los Angeles, CA, May 22, 2018 – The Orchard announced today that the company has secured U.S. rights to Carly Stone’s The New Romantic. Jessica Barden (Netflix’s The End of the F***ing World), Hayley Law (Riverdale, Altered Carbon) and Camila Mendes (Riverdale) star in the millennial romantic drama, which won the first time writer-director the Best First Feature jury award at this year’s SXSW. Kyle Mann and Michael Risley of Drive Films produced as well as fin
anced the film. Jonathan Bronfman of JoBro Productions and Jason Jallet of Notario also produced. The Orchard plans a Fall theatrical release launching in New York and Los Angeles.
Blake Conway, aspiring journalist, hopeless romantic and college senior, is terrified of graduating. In order to escape her looming post-graduation fate that includes student debt and zero romantic prospects, she becomes a sugar baby. As she documents the adventure in the hopes of winning a journalism award with a generous cash prize, she sets out on a quest to figure out if society is right to judge these women and if her own self worth comes with a price.
“The New Romantic is a refreshingly bold and complex romantic comedy, helmed by talented writer-director Carly Stone who gives a nod to Nora Ephron with a voice and vision that is truly her own,” said Danielle DiGiacomo, VP of Acquisitions, The Orchard. “We are excited to partner with Carly and her amazing team to bring her debut film to audiences who will surely be entertained and delighted.”
“The Orchard is the perfect home for our film,” said Carly Stone. “They’re passionate, cool and understand how to connect to our target audience.”
“We’re thrilled to be working with The Orchard, a distributor that shares our passion for Carly’s remarkable debut film,” said Kyle Mann. “We can’t wait for an audience to fall in love with this authentic and genuinely funny film.”
The deal was negotiated by The Orchard’s Danielle DiGiacomo with Aqute Media’s Berry Meyerowitz & Jeff Sackman and ICM Partners on behalf of the filmmaker. Stone is represented by ICM Partners and Good Fear.
About The Orchard
The Orchard is a leading independent film, TV and music distribution company operating in over 30 markets worldwide. Founded as a music distributor in 1997, The Orchard is a global innovator in the film and television distribution space, known for cutting-edge technology that provides filmmakers with up-to-the minute trending data and analytics on their projects. Recent film releases include Flower, Outside In, Kings, William Friedkin’s The Devil and Father Amorth, BPM (Beats Per Minute), Thelma, Super Dark Times, Sundance Jury Prize winner Dina, The Work, 11/8/16, Trophy and The Hero. Upcoming releases include American Animals, We The Animals and Under the Eiffel Tower. The company’s film division has enjoyed recent successes as the Academy Award®-nominated documentaries Cartel Land and Life, Animated; Taika Waititi’s The Hunt for the Wilderpeople; Academy Award-winner Morgan Neville’s The Music of Strangers; Alex Lehmann’s Blue Jay; Antonio Campos’ Christine; Pablo Larrain’s critically acclaimed, Golden Globe-nominated Neruda; Oren Moverman’s The Dinner; and Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent. For more information on The Orchard, please visit www.theorchard.com.
ABOUT DRIVE FILMS
DRIVE FILMS is an independent production company headed by veteran producers Kyle Mann (Capote, Wrecked) and Michael Risley (Revolution #9). Drive is focused on discovering visionary filmmakers and producing quality films with global appeal. Since its inception in 2015, Drive has produced Edge of Winter, directed by Rob Connolly and starring Joel Kinnaman (Suicide Squad, Altered Carbon) and Tom Holland (Spiderman Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity Wars), and The New Romantic, directed and written by Carly Stone starring Jessica Barden (The End of the F***ing World, Hayley Law (Altered Carbon) and Camila Mendes (Riverdale)), which won Best First Feature at SXSW. Drive’s next project has them teaming up with Avan Jogia for his feature writing and directorial debut, Door Mouse.
ABOUT AQUTE MEDIA
Founded by industry veterans Jeff Sackman and Berry Meyerowitz, Aqute Media supports independent filmmakers by collaborating with them to develop, finance and then distribute their films in the global marketplace. Over the course of their respective careers, Meyerowitz and Sackman have built and sold six distribution companies and have completed another four M&A transactions. Their recent films include Run This Town, starring Damien Lewis, Ben Platt, Nina Dobrev and Mena Massoud; The New Romantic, the SXSW WINNER of Special Jury Recognition for First Feature, starring Jessica Barden, Hayley Law, Camila Mendes and Avan Jogia; The Padre starring Nick Nolte, Tim Roth and Luis Guzman; and American Hangman, starring Donald Sutherland and Vincent Kartheiser. For more information on Aqute Media, please visit www.aqutemedia.com.