Leading Entertainment Industry Producers, Writers and Directors Timothy Scott Bogart, Evan "Kidd" Bogart and Gary A. Randall Launch Boardwalk Entertainment Group

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Veteran entertainment industry producers, writers and directors Timothy Scott Bogart, Evan "Kidd" Bogart and Gary A. Randall have announced the formation of Boardwalk Entertainment Group, a multi-faceted media, content and platform enterprise encompassing Boardwalk Films, Boardwalk Television, Boardwalk Records, Boardwalk Publishing and Boardwalk Technology.

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Backed by private funding, the "mini-studio" was created as an artist and major music-driven operation to harness talent, and foster and exploit creative synergies as it develops and produces projects across the entertainment spectrum.

With feature films in the works, including biopic Spinning Gold, and television projects in production (Majors & Minors premieres on The Hub TV Network September 23 at 8 pm ET) and in development, the real hub of the Boardwalk wheel is music. The company's music division encompasses a record label for new and established acts, a music publishing company for developing writers and producers, and a production house that supplies music for Boardwalk's film and television projects.

In a first for an entertainment and production company, Boardwalk not only has established strategic alliances with some of the top music companies in the world, including Sony's RCA Records, Bug Music, Inc. and BMI, but the company also has engaged its core music partners as active producers in Boardwalk's film and television projects.

Additionally, Boardwalk's technology division is in research and development on new products and business solutions for production and post-production in film, television, music and digital platforms. Instant ADR, the world's first mobile Automated Dialogue Replacement solution, is already in use on TV series for NBC, USA, A&E and Syfy.

The Partners

The partners formed Boardwalk Entertainment Group to combine their unique yet complementary backgrounds, and exploit the distinct pedigrees each has earned over decades of experience in their respective fields. Tim Bogart is an award-winning writer, director and producer of both film and television; brother Evan Bogart is a Grammy-winning songwriter and a multi-platinum music publisher who has written, produced, and discovered some of music's biggest superstars; and Gary A. Randall, the former president of Orion Television and Spelling Television, has developed, produced and directed myriad hit television series and TV movies.

Together, the three entrepreneurs designed Boardwalk Entertainment Group with five tent-pole divisions that operate with the shared goal of identifying, fostering and mentoring talent in all areas of entertainment, and leveraging the resulting brands so they can exist and thrive across multiple platforms.

Founding partner Gary A. Randall said, "Boardwalk Entertainment Group is created very much in the spirit of the original United Artists. Tim, Evan and I, who collectively have backgrounds as writers, producers and directors, joined forces expressly for the purpose of designing a creatively driven company. While the major entertainment studios may strive for synergy across their myriad divisions, the sheer size of the conglomerates, and their vast and often competing agendas can make that goal challenging – and the focus on artists, their vision and potential creative ventures, which actually drive our industry, can get derailed in the process."

Tim Bogart, who is the son of music legend and Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart, added, "When you walk into the Boardwalk offices, which are in the same space as the original Casablanca Records, you know you're in a community where artists are empowered to create – it's the antithesis of a corporate entertainment company. You may run into a Grammy-winning recording star working on a song for one of our TV shows or film projects with a composer signed to our songwriting, production and publishing collective; you may see a young writer we signed for TV or film development working with a seasoned producer to prep a network or studio pitch; or any combination of creative people working at their craft under the mentorship of Gary, Evan and me. For us, it's about finding the most creative people – wherever they are – and giving them the infrastructure we've built so they can be free to create."

Evan Bogart, also Neil's son, is at the top of his game in the music business as a writer/producer/creative executive. Integral in the writing and production of the company's music (for Boardwalk Records and Boardwalk Publishing), and providing unprecedented access and entree to the industry's biggest superstars, Evan said, "Empirically, we develop and grow our talent so their voices can be heard – literally and figuratively – not just for one song or single iteration of a project, but across multiple content and distribution platforms, and various genres. We're about building brands and building fans. This is the mission of Boardwalk Entertainment Group, and it is based on the reverence for the artist and the power of collaboration."

The Projects

Unlike fledgling production companies launched under the banner of traditional studios with projects in the earliest stages of development, Boardwalk Entertainment Group is already ensconced in production on high-profile feature films, television series and recording projects.

Feature Film "Spinning Gold"

From Boardwalk Films comes Spinning Gold, written by Tim Bogart. A movie four decades in the making, Spinning Gold is based on the life of music legend Neil Bogart (the late father of Tim and Evan) who founded Casablanca Records in 1974 and is credited with discovering, launching and nurturing the careers of a generation of music superstars – and the "disco" craze that would define pop culture – including KISS, Parliament, Donna Summer, and The Village People, among many others. Boardwalk Records is also producing the album in conjunction with the movie, including classic hits reimagined by today's biggest artists.

Television Series include Majors & Minors on The Hub TV Network; Scripted and Unscripted Series also in Development, including Mid: Life for ABC

Boardwalk Television has commenced production for The Hub (a joint venture of Discovery Communications and Hasbro, Inc.) on the groundbreaking series Majors & Minors, premiering September 23 at 8 pm ET. The show follows 12 gifted young performers as they are mentored by some of music's biggest stars, including Brandy, who also serves as a producer on the series, Avril Lavigne, Will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Leona Lewis, Mike Posner, OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, Sean Kingston, Adam Lambert, Colbie Caillat, and Claude Kelly, among others. While there are no talent eliminations in Majors & Minors, only one star-in-the-making will claim the prize of a recording contract, a songwriting publishing deal and an opportunity to be featured on a cross-country tour. All of the performer-participants featured on Majors & Minors have the opportunity to sign with Boardwalk Records and Publishing through Boardwalk's innovative joint ventures with Sony's RCA Records and Bug Music, as well as the opportunity to work with Boardwalk on developing their careers in film and television.

Boardwalk is also in development on the high-concept family drama Mid: Life for ABC, with ABC Studios, co-created by Tim Bogart and Gary Randall, who also executive-produce, with Bogart writing the pilot script. Boardwalk also has a robust slate of scripted and unscripted series in development at ABC, Starz, Showtime, FOX, NBC, and other networks.

New and Established Artists Record for the Boardwalk Records Label and Publishing Company

In addition to the talent featured in Boardwalk's music-oriented TV series, who may be signed to Boardwalk Records as part of their overall deals with the company, Boardwalk's music divisions are continuing the Bogart legacy by discovering, developing and breaking new artists whose voices and personas connect with today's diverse audiences.

On July 26, Boardwalk Records, in association with MTV and HYPE MUSIC, released the anthemic #STUPiDFACEDD EP from Bay Area sensation Wallpaper., the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist songwriter, producer and artist Eric Frederic (aka "Ricky Reed"), a self-described "viral media hustler and disco ball-busting crowd destroyer." The release features eight original songs, including the single and title track #STUPiDFACEDD; the LP is due out from Boardwalk Records in spring 2012. Whether crafting his own electro-steeped future beats or cleverly skewering pop culture via his remixes, Wallpaper. effortlessly fuses a long personal history of music making with bold showmanship and a love for truck-rattling thump. Frederic is also signed as a songwriter to Boardwalk Music Publishing, and is a featured artist for this season's "Jersey Shore" on MTV.

Artist ZZ Ward is a singer-songwriter whose artistry spins on a luminous axis of voice and soul. Fusing the blues sensibilities of old school masters like Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters with contemporary dirty beats and rhythmic elements, ZZ has often been described as "America's answer to Adele, with a touch of The Black Keys and KT Tunstall." She is currently writing, recording and touring the country. Her debut release also is due out on Boardwalk Records in spring 2012.

In 2012, Boardwalk also will release the debut albums of 15-year-old hip-hop phenom Kiowa "KO" Tucker, and the theatrically charged, classical-inspired electropop project, Caroline and the Red Orchestra.

Boardwalk Technology Offers Instant ADR – Automated Dialogue Replacement and Voice-Over Solutions for Film and Television

Instant ADR, Boardwalk Technology's "made for the trade" invention, is the world's first mobile ADR solution, taking the costly, time-consuming process of Automatic Dialogue Replacement – the technique through which actors re-voice their lines when on-set or on-location production failed to capture them cleanly – out of the studio and into the hands of actors and editors anywhere, anytime. An industry game-changer, Instant ADR is created for the iPad and able to connect an actor with a post-production facility anywhere around the world within seconds, either via cellphone connection or WiFi access. Instant ADR has been deployed on series including USA's Burn Notice, Suits and Covert Affairs, A&E's The Glades, Syfy's Haven, and The Chase and The Cape on NBC.

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SOURCE Boardwalk Entertainment Group