Women in Film President Cathy Schulman is working on yet another project. According to TheWrap, Schulman just launched Welle Entertainment, a production and finance company.
Schulman, who stepped down from her post as STX President of Production in September, is also “entering a co-venture with Primary Wave Entertainment,” TheWrap reports. She is set to partner with the company, who will “provide development funds and initial production financing.”
Welle Entertainment’s first film is a comedy about “one of the hardest stages in mothering: the empty nest,” the source writes. The movie, also from Mandalay Pictures, will be directed by Cindy Chupack (“Sex and the City”). In addition, Welle is currently in development on limited series “Firelight” and series “Evolution’s Captain.”
Under this new deal, Jeff’s Gaspin’s Gaspin Media — recently acquired by Primary Wave — will “closely align” with Schulman’s Welle Entertainment. Speaking about the new co-venture, Gaspin said, “We are thrilled to have Cathy add her considerable talent and great taste as we build our content businesses.”
“When it comes to producing great storytelling, we are focused on quality and diversity,” Primary Wave CEOs David Guillod and Lawrence Mestel added in a statement. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to have a highly respected and commercially successful producer like Cathy boost our original scripted content business with an exciting slate of female-facing productions already in the pipeline for 2017.”
As TheWrap reports, before Schulman left STX she was “instrumental” in the success of “Bad Moms,” the company’s biggest box office hit. The female-led comedy grossed nearly $180 million on a budget of $20 million. Schulman, who has been President of Women in Film since 2011, has produced films such as “The Edge of Seventeen,” “Dark Places,” “The Voices,” and “The Illusionist.” She took home an Oscar in 2006 for producing Best Picture winner “Crash.”