Sir Richard Branson, Jason Felts and Justin Berfield's Virgin Produced, Emmy Award® & Golden Globe Award® nominated executive producers Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin's City Entertainment ("Georgia O'Keeffe," "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself") have partnered with Johnny Depp and Christi Dembrowski's Infinitum Nihil to produce a new drama series inspired by the award winning documentary feature MUSCLE SHOALS. Greg Camalier, who directed and produced the documentary, will also produce the television adaption. Virgin Produced Executive Vice President of Production Rene Rigal brought the project into the company and will be overseeing with Infinitum Nihil's Bobby DeLeon.
The series will explore the rich and vast milieu of the tumultuous and often poetically tragic segregated south through its colorful characters, rich cultural and political history and southern gothic settings, which became a unique melting pot of diverse musical & cultural traditions. Weaving a Faulkneresque tale through the stories of Muscle Shoals and the magical and mythical south, the filmmakers will get
BEHIND THE MUSIC to explore the extraordinary stories that birthed this iconic sound.
Jason Felts, CEO of Virgin Produced said: "Greg's film unearthed the poetic mysticism and inspired us to produce a series that utilizes music and narrative in a unique and ground-breaking way. This provocative story about the rich region and pioneering artists that birthed the iconic 'Muscle Shoals Sound' fits in with Virgin's music roots and provides an ideal opportunity to partner with Depp, Infinitum and City Entertainment."
"MUSCLE SHOALS is an extraordinary story in which, through adversity, some of the world's most amazing music was created. It is perfectly suited for Infinitum as it combines Johnny's love of music and its history with our company's creative mission to tell these stories," said Infinitum Nihil President Christi Dembrowski.
The Grammy Award ® nominated MUSCLE SHOALS celebrates Rick Hall, the founder of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and the signature sound he developed in songs such as "I'll Take You There", "Brown Sugar", and "When a Man Loves a Woman". The documentary world premiered to critical acclaim at the 2013
Sundance Film Festival, and continued to find accolade at notable film festivals including the SXSW Film Festival and Hot Docs. Magnolia Pictures released the film in 2013.
ABOUT VIRGIN PRODUCED
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Virgin Produced is the film and television development, packaging, and production arm of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. Led by Co-founder/CEO, Jason Felts and Chief Creative Officer, Justin Berfield, Virgin Produced breaks the archaic models of traditional Hollywood by providing a collaborative environment that embraces talent to produce quality content reflective of the Virgin brand. Launched in 2010, Virgin Produced's films include Limitless, Machine Gun Preacher, Immortals, Movie 43, 21 & Over, bio-pic Jobs, and comedy That Awkward Moment which have cumulatively grossed over $724MM in worldwide box office. With an equal focus on television, commercials and branded entertainment, Virgin Produced has a robust slate of television projects in development and work hand in hand with Virgin companies to concept and produce branded content. This includes the CLIO and Shorty award winning Virgin America Safety Dance video garnering over 727 million media impressions and 10 millions views. In April 2012, Virgin Produced launched its own digital network of Virgin Produced Channels, with premium programming of lifestyle, music, travel, technology, and comedy content currently available onboard Virgin airlines and hotels and expanding across other Virgin transportation, mobile, broadband, health club, and retail operating companies. In 2013, Virgin Produced expanded into India with the launch of Virgin Produced India, developing, producing, and distributing Bollywood film and television content. Very simply; Virgin Produced creates content meant to inspire and entertain with direct access to reach over 60 million loyal Virgin brand fans globally.
ABOUT INFINITUM NIHIL
Infinitum Nihil has produced "The Rum Diary" directed by Bruce Robinson, starring Johnny Depp; "Dark Shadows" directed by Tim Burton, starring Johnny Depp; and "Hugo" directed by Martin Scorsese: All were in association with GK Films producing. Their most recent project "Mortdecai" directed by David Koepp, starring Johnny Depp, was produced alongside OddLot Entertainment and Lionsgate. They are currently developing other feature film projects under their first look deal with Disney. In television, Infinitum-Nihil is developing "Sound & Fury" for
CBS with Tom Fontana and "Dreamland" with Rob Cooper.
