ISA of the Day: The Exchange Sees Grand Peaks

I am using the term ISA to stand for International Sales Agent, a term also to be seen in IMDbPro.com when you look for Company Credits.  Occasionally, though not daily, before and during the markets, I feature a story on a particularly noteworthy ISA.

Today I salute Brain O'Shea's company, The Exchange. Since he left Affinity when it merged with Sierra to form Sierra Affinity, he had been selling, producing, discovering scripts and talent, such as the recent Sundance star writer/director Sebastian Silva's Magic Magic as well as the script, Young Ones, written and directed by Jake Paltrow, both of which he brought to Marina Fuentes of 6 Sales and Dreamtcatchers (read more about her here).

Now he has announced The Exchange, an international sales agency created in 2011, and Grand Peaks Entertainment, a Denver-based entertainment company, created Exchange Peaks Film Capital, a full-service specialty film fund which will be run by Exchange President Laura Ivey, reporting to Exchange CEO Brian O'Shea. Grand Peaks was introduced to The Exchange by VP of Worldwide Distribution, Nat McCormick.

Exchange Peaks Film Capital will participate in all forms of production financing, including minimum guarantees, gap, super gap, tax credits, foreign sales collateral, bridge and equity lending.

Ivey said Exchange Peaks Film Capital is eyeing to finance and produce four to six feature projects per year.

"We are thrilled to partner with The Exchange on this fund and are excited to expand our relationship together in the future, as well as to help talented filmmakers bring their visions to life." said Grand Peaks partner, Alan Simpson.

O'Shea said of the partnership, "Exchange Peaks Film Capital is an integral component to building The Exchange. From the start, we envisioned adding a financing side to the company and have found the ideal partner in Grand Peaks."

The first fund beneficiary is The Exchange's previously announced film, The Last 5 Years, directed by Richard LaGravenese (P.S. I Love You, Beautiful Creatures) and starring Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, Up in the Air, 50/50.)

Collaborative and transparent, The Exchange is a leading international sales and finance company committed to creating strong relationships between filmmakers, film financers and distributors through the exchange of product, information and commerce. Created by veteran sales executive Brian O'Shea, the company specializes in high quality, commercial films that appeal to North American audiences and the ever-evolving global film market.  In less than two year, The Exchange has acquired, financed, produced and/or sold over 140 films ranging in budgets from $5 million to $90 million, including studio films from Disney, Sony, Fox, and Universal.  Such films include Universal's 2 Guns, starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg; 2013 Sundance Award Winner The Spectacular Now staring Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley; Sony's Magic Magic, starring Juno Temple, Emily Browning and Michael Cera;  and Fox Searchlight's Sound of My Voice, starring Brit Marling and directed by Zal Batmanglij. For more information, please visit: www.theexchange.ws.