Berlin – Exclusive Media’s Nigel Sinclair and Guy East are likely stepping down as co-chairmen of the production, financing and sales company they founded in 2008.
Insiders say Dasym Investment Strategies BV, which has a major stake in Exclusive, is putting pressure on the duo to exit their leadership roles. Dasym invests on behalf of Dutch media tycoon John De Mol.
Sinclair and East could continue to be involved with Exclusive via a producing deal.
“Exclusive Media’s management is engaged in collaborative discussions with our partners from Dasym Investment Strategies BV regarding the forward plan for the company. We will make an announcement regarding the outcome of these discussions at the appropriate time,” Sinclair said in a statement on Friday morning.
Whatever new leadership incarnation the company will take could see someone from the inside picking up the reins, sources say. Exclusive’s top management team boasts a wealth of experience and investment management ties.
Chief Operating Office Mark Shipper and vice chairman Simon Oakes, who is CEO and president of Hammer Films, a division of Exclusive, arrived at Hammer in 2007 after buying the iconic horror label with backing from Cyrte Investments, another multi-billion Dutch investment fund. In 2008, Shipper engineered Hammer’s merger with Spitfire Pictures, which led to the formation of Exclusive.
A spokesman for De Mol said De Mol does not comment on holdings held by Dasym, which manages part of his wealth and controls his stake in reality giant Endemol, the company Del Mol co-founded.
Word of the shake-up comes as Exclusive sells its slate of films at Berlin’s European Film Market, including the resurrected Whitey Bulger pic Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp. Exclusive has become a prolific indie player, including backing Ron Howard‘s recent Formula One movie Rush, which underperformed in the U.S. Exclusive co-financed the film with Brian Oliver‘s Cross Creek Pictures.
Exclusive hits have included horror pic The Woman in Black, from Hammer.
