Warner Music Entertainment, the film and television division of Warner Music Group (WMG), and London and Los Angeles based television and film production company Lightbox, have signed a partnership deal to co-produce, co-develop and co-finance non-fiction film and TV projects.
The deal gives Lightbox, founded by double Oscar winner Simon Chinn (“Searching For Sugar Man,” “Man on Wire,” “Tina”) and double Emmy winner Jonathan Chinn (“LA 92,” “American High,” “Whitney”), access to WMG’s catalog, to create new content telling the stories of WMG’s current talent, songwriters and legacy acts.
Simon Chinn and Jonathan Chinn said: “This deal with WMG will open up the vaults to an archive of amazing musical talent and rich history of songwriters and performers. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring some of Warner Music’s extraordinary artists and their stories to audiences around the world.”
“This is a really exciting partnership for us at Warner Music. We have such an incredible array of artists whose stories deserve to be told and Simon, Jonathan and the Lightbox team are experts in storytelling and film-making,” said Kate Shepherd, MD, Warner Music Entertainment U.K. “Partnering Warner Music Entertainment with Lightbox will further enhance our productivity and enable us to create unrivalled content. We have a slate of projects that we’re incredibly excited about.”
Charlie Cohen, president, TV and Film, WMG, added: “Warner Music Group is a global company and within Warner Music Entertainment we’re focusing on expanding our film and TV content into markets around the word with an emphasis on local artists and local language production. This partnership with Lightbox is an important part of this expansion.”
Lightbox’s “Tina,” which bowed on HBO and had an international theatrical release by Universal Content Group following a world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, has been nominated for three 2021 Emmys.
Warner Music Entertainment has co-produced “Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan,” “Ed Sheeran: TikTok Euro 2020 Live Performance,” and “Genius: Aretha.”