US Producers Announced

Roy Lee, the US Producer behind blockbusters such asThe Lego Movie, The Grudgeand The Departed; and Laurie Zaks, President of Mandeville Television, whodeveloped and executive produced Castle for five years and has overseen series such as Veronica Mars and Everybody Loves Raymond,are confirmed to speak at Australia's premier industry gathering for the screen production industry, SCREEN FOREVER 2014, to be held in Melbourne 16 - 19 November. Both speakers will participate in the International Partnership Market, an invitation only event for industry practitioners taking place during SCREEN FOREVER.

Screen Producers Australia Executive Director Matthew Deaner said, We are very excited to have such highly respected producers participating in SCREEN FOREVER. Lee and Zaks both have outstanding experience in developing and overseeing successful productions that have achieved global recognition.

Roy Lee earned his first motion picture producing credit as Executive Producer on Gore Verbinski's 2002 blockbuster The Ring. He went on to produce the 2004 haunted house horror The Grudge, which, upon its 2004 release, broke the record for the biggest opening weekend of all time for a horror film. 2006 saw the release of The Departed, a crime thriller at Warner Bros., directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio, which went on to win four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

A Korean-American born in Brooklyn, Lee founded Vertigo Entertainment in 2001, where he produced such films as The Lake House, The Strangers, Quarantine, and the animated hit How to Train Your Dragon. Currently, Lee maintains a first-look deal with Warner Bros. and continues to produce box-office and critical successes, both in theatres, with films like The Lego Movie, and on television with the acclaimed series Bates Motel. Lee is currently working on several projects including a sequel to The Lego Movie, The Minecraft Movie and The Stand (an adaptation of the Stephen King novel).

Laurie Zaks joined David Hoberman and Todd Liebermans Mandeville Television as president in 2013, which has an exclusive development deal with ABC Studios. Zaks has been at ABC Studios since 2006 when she left the network executive ranks to become president of Armyan Bernstein's Touchstone TV-based Beacon Television. At Beacon, Zaks developed ABC's Castle on which she served as executive producer for five years. Castle, which screens in Australia on Channel 7, is currently in its seventh season, seen in almost 200 countries and successfully sold into syndication

Prior to joining Beacon in July 2006, Zaks was Senior Vice President, Series Programs, UPN, overseeing series programming responsibilities for all comedy and drama series on UPN, including Veronica Mars, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Everybody Hates Chris. Prior to UPN, as Vice President, Current Programs for CBS Television Network, Zaks oversaw highly acclaimed series such as Everybody Loves Raymond and King of Queens.

LINK:	http://screenproducersaustralia.org.au/news/screen-forever-us-producer...
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