Conley Entertainment Group to Ramp Up Production in 2024

This story was created in paid partnership with CEG.

According to CEO Brian M. Conley, CEG will focus on three distinct types of films: elevated horror thrillers, action movies and award-caliber dramas.

To date, Conley has produced five feature films, including 2018’s The Basement, starring Jackson Davis and Mischa Barton, which won numerous festival awards before Netflix acquired foreign and domestic distribution rights, and 2023’s Last Night on Earth, written and directed by Marcos Efron and starring Leven Rambin, Jake McLaughlin, Shane West and Dee Wallace, which will make its debut in the Cannes Market Place this month.

Conley is the founder and CEO of Cardinal Energy Company (CardinalEnergy.net) and, along with partners Dane Scism and Brett Patterson, plans to be the primary source of funding for the slate. Jay Cohen, of The Gersh Agency, will represent the films.

“For the past five years, we’ve been learning the industry,” says Conley. “Now we’re ready to commit to bigger films with bigger budgets featuring actors who can elevate the material.”

Before founding Cardinal Energy, Conley moved to Los Angeles in the late ’90s to become a screenwriter.“I can’t say I had much success at the time. I did end up publishing a novel, which received terrific reviews but made little money. Then life intervened in the way of a wife and children, so I had to make a living.”

Conley credits his love of “all things movie” for his return to film, but stresses that CEG (ConleyEntertainmentGroup.com) is also focused on producing a number of television series.

“We have a half-dozen scripted dramatic series and one reality show in development that we are very excited about,” says Richie Walls, CEG’s Emmy Award-winning head of television. “We also just wrapped a comedy special featuring Jason Collings that we will be taking to market this spring.”

Stephen Israel (Swimming With Sharks, Swan Song) and John T. Black, (Last Night on Earth), will serve as producers on CEG’s film and television projects.

Prior to kicking off its 2024 film campaign, CEG plans to produce Traction, a horror thriller written by Bennett Yellin and James Robert Johnston, this fall. Udo Kier and Max Reeves are attached to star.