Red Bird Cinema Announces Sugar Ray Leonard Film

Red Bird Cinema Announces Sugar Ray Leonard Film

H.G. 'Buzz' Bissinger To Write Screenplay

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Bird Cinema today announced its plans to produce a feature film based on the life story of boxing legend, Sugar Ray Leonard, and has enlisted Pulitzer Prize winning author H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger to write the screenplay. Bissinger recently wrote the New York Bestseller, Three Nights In August, about baseball and 2006 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinal manager Tony La Russa. Actor/writer Kevin Pollak did the screenplay adaptation, which Red Bird Cinema is also producing.

Founded in 2006, Red Bird Cinema founders are John Loar, producer and managing director, Kevin Pollak, producer and actor/writer/director, and Tony La Russa, producer and the St. Louis Cardinals manager. One of four film ventures under Red Bird Cinema's umbrella, Sugar Ray Leonard's life story is creating a tremendous buzz among the company's financial investors since Ray agreed to sell the rights.

"Ray has been a long time friend and I could not be more excited about the opportunity to work with him and his family on this project," states John Loar, Producer and Managing Director of Red Bird Cinema. "Buzz is simply one of the best writers around at authentically capturing the living, breathing, competitive and often troubled soul of the athlete. We are both thrilled and fortunate that he's agreed to bring Ray's amazing life to the screen."

Boxing Legend, Sugar Ray Leonard, lends the details of his life story both in and out of the ring for this project. One of the most recognizable athletes in the world during the late 1970s and 1980s, Leonard won several WBC and WBA championships, 3 Golden Gloves, two AAU championships and as an amateur won the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. This six time world champion is still to this day one of only two boxers to have won a world champion title in five different weight classes.

Leonard said "I have been approached many times in the past regarding my life story and I believe Red Bird Cinema has the perfect group of collaborators to give my story the right voice."

Putting the great Sugar Ray Leonard's life story to pen is Pulitzer Prize winning author, H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger. Bissinger is perhaps best known for his book Friday Night Lights, selling more than 2 million copies and adapted for a movie in 2004 and an NBC series in 2006. Bissinger has also written A Prayer for the City and is also a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine.

Bissinger's work in Hollywood includes a year as a co-producer and writer for the ABC series "NYPD Blue." He has written screenplays and teleplays for such major studios as Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and HBO, and has worked with such noted directors as Alan Pakula, Gregory Hoblit, Todd Field and Peter Berg.

"The notion of adapting Sugar Ray's life for the screen is so irresistible that I have put other writing projects on hold," said Bissinger. "The arc of his boxing life is incredible, and this is as good as it gets in telling a quintessentially American story."

Red Bird Cinema has partnered with Sandlot Venture Group, a new investment company focused on film production, who will help provide the financing for the project. Sandlot Venture Group is currently launching a $25 million private equity fund with a development and production model intended to provide financing in the entertainment area.

About Red Bird Cinema

Red Bird Cinema is a film production company founded in 2006. The Red Bird Cinema team consists of John Loar, producer and managing director, Kevin Pollak, producer and actor-scribe, and Tony La Russa, producer and the St. Louis Cardinals manager. Red Bird Cinema is currently producing four feature films. Its most recent project is an adaptation of H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger's Three Nights In August, a story about baseball and 2006 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinal manager Tony La Russa. Actor/writer Kevin Pollak did the screenplay adaptation.

About Sandlot Venture Group

Managing Partner Don Herman is "very excited about the prospects of a Silicon Valley style venture fund focused on a small number of very high profile entertainment projects and is putting together an investment group that encompasses technology, entertainment and professional sports into one cohesive vehicle." For more information you may contact don@sandlotventuregroup.com.

Sandlot Venture Group is a new investment company focused on converting unparalleled deal flow into profit-generating movies. Sandlot Venture Group (SVG) is launching a $25 million private equity fund with a development and production model intended to provide financing for a family of movie ventures. SVG has strategically partnered with a key team of recognized individuals with long successful track records structuring movie deals. Additional successful partners include the creative side as well; those accomplished in screenwriting and creating profitable movies.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Red Bird Cinema

CONTACT: Diane Shader Smith, +1-310-386-6803, or Megan MacLeod,
+1-310-854-8315, both of Rogers & Cowan, for Red Bird Cinema

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Profile: International Entertainment