Movie press release

Constantin Film and Impact Pictures are putting out the following press release. This is only the first step along a long road to seeing a film made of my book '28 Minutes', but I think this is going to happen--the people involved just seem too interested and serious about this for it not to happen. I'll keep people here posted over the next several years as developments occur, and hopefully Small Crimes will be next...

Constantin and Impact Get Outsourced

LOS ANGELES (March 18, 2009) – Constantin Film has acquired the feature film adaptation rights to 28 Minutes, the forthcoming crime novel from acclaimed writer Dave Zeltserman (Small Crimes). The film version, which will bear the title Outsourced, will be produced by Constantin Film’s Robert Kulzer and Impact Pictures’ Paul W. S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt. John Tomko will also produce. Travis Milloy has been tapped to write the screenplay.

Outsourced is the latest collaborative producing effort by Kulzer, Anderson and Bolt, the producers behind the hugely successful Resident Evil films. The project also marks the second time that the producing trio teams with screenwriter Milloy, who penned their upcoming horror-action film Pandorum, due out later this year via Overture Films.

A hard-hitting crime thriller mixed with black humor and fast-paced action, Outsourced follows a group of desperate out-of-work software engineers who come up with a brilliant plan to rob a bank, only to see things go awry and finding themselves mixed up with deadly Russian mobsters and the Boston mafia.

Said Kulzer: “We are big fans of Dave Zeltserman’s novels, so it’s very exciting to turn one of them into a film. It’s great to see a producer of John Tomko’s caliber at work and to reunite with Travis Milloy, who did such a fantastic job for us on Pandorum.”

Added Zeltserman: “I am thrilled that this project has found a home at Constantin Film and Impact Pictures and I am especially happy to have John Tomko as producer. I am a big fan of John’s films Falling Down and Ocean’s Eleven and feel that he has the right vision for Outsourced.”

Zeltserman’s 2008 novel Small Crimes was named one of the Top Five Crime and Mystery Novels of 2008 by NPR, who praised it as “a thing of beauty: spare but ingeniously twisted and imbued with a glossy coating of black humor.” His other works include the recently released Pariah, and the upcoming Killer (2010) and Caretaker of Lorne Field. 28 Minutes will be published by Serpent’s Tail.

Tomko recently joined Rain Management Group (RMG) as a producer and manager. Among the clients he works with are writer-directors James Sadwith and Michael Nankin, and writers Karen Janszen and Eric Tuchman. Zeltserman is repped by APA, which negotiated the deal with Constantin Film and Impact Pictures.


ABOUT CONSTANTIN FILM

Constantin Film has been one of the most successful producers and independent distributors of feature films in Germany for over 25 years. The company, which is listed on the stock market since 1999, is also involved in the international production of theatrical films in English as well as TV production (TV movies, series, entertainment formats). Theclassic production and distribution operations were supplemented successfully in 2004 by license trading and the internal exploitation of video and DVD rights and intensified TV service production, with a particular focus on TV entertainment. Constantin Film’s international box-office hits include The Neverending Story, The Name of the Rose, the Resident Evil and Fantastic Four franchises, Perfume—The Story of a Murderer and Academy Award® nominees Downfall and The Baader Meinhof Complex.

ABOUT IMPACT PICTURES

Impact Pictures was founded in 1992 by producer Jeremy Bolt and writer/director/producer Paul Anderson. Impact's first film, the cult hit Shopping, was followed up by Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon, Soldier and The Hole. In 2000, Impact signed a joint venture deal with top German producer and distributor Constantin Film. This relationship produced the major box office hits Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Resident Evil: Extinction. Other releases include Alien vs. Predator, The Dark, DOA: Dead or Alive. Impact produced the recent Universal Pictures release of Death Race with Cruise/Wagner Productions. Two films based on bestselling video game franchises Spy Hunter and Castlevania, respectively, and the remake of Long Good Friday for Sony and Handmade Films are amongst Impact's current development slate.

ABOUT JOHN TOMKO

John Tomko has been active in feature film development and production since 1988. A graduate of Yale University (BA) and Harvard Business School (MBA), John found early success in the film business when he discovered and produced the movie "Falling Down" for Warner Bros. He has been a production executive at a number of companies and ran Jerry Weintraub Productions at Warner Bros. for six years during which time he supervised three movies for the company including "Ocean's 11". Before joining Rain Management Group as a producer/manager in 2008, John was an independent producer and has projects at Warner Bros., Overbrook Entertainment (Will Smith), Sony/Columbia Pictures, ScottFree (Ridley and Tony Scott), Lifetime, and Constantin Film.