David Dinerstein

World Screen Weekly, September 6, 2007

President of Worldwide Marketing and Distribution

Lakeshore Entertainment

David Dinerstein’s resume reads a bit like a who’s who of the independent film market in the U.S. The New York native—who began his career as a producer of commercials and music videos—entered the film world in 1988 working for Bob and Harvey Weinstein at Miramax Films. He then went on to work with Tom Rothman, today the co-chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, to set up Fox Searchlight, where he oversaw the release of acclaimed films like The Brothers McMullen and The Ice Storm. “That’s probably where I started to get my feet wet [on] the TV side, specifically because Fox was a vertically integrated media company,” Dinerstein says. “Although I was focusing my efforts on film, I was working with the other ancillary divisions trying to exploit all of our potential rights.”

In 1998, Dinerstein was recruited by Paramount Pictures to serve as the co-president of its independent feature film division, Paramount Classics, where he acquired and released such films as Hustle & Flow and Mad Hot Ballroom and distributed The Virgin Suicides, among others. Dinerstein then went on to work as a consultant for the Yari Film Group, overseeing the marketing and distribution of The Illusionist, which has grossed over $80 million worldwide. “That led me to some wonderful opportunities,” says Dinerstein, notably Lakeshore Entertainment, where this year he was tapped to fill the newly created role of president of worldwide marketing and distribution. “I thought Lakeshore was a perfect fit for me. I had worked with them throughout the years on the film side. I really respected their business acumen and their vision in general."

In his role, Dinerstein oversees all worldwide marketing and distribution of the Lakeshore slate, including theatrical and television releases. “The theatrical business quite often is the engine that drives the train in terms of the exploitation of worldwide rights,” Dinerstein says. “The theatrical side has given Lakeshore an understanding of the importance of branding and positioning. I spend half my day doing that and half my day making sure our international operation is firing on all cylinders."

Dinerstein notes that one of the strengths of the Lakeshore catalogue is the breadth of its offerings, which consists of a mix of its own productions and third-party acquisitions. The company, which produced Million Dollar Baby, is home to male-skewing action-adventure library titles like Black Moon Rising with Tommy Lee Jones, cult classics like Heathers and horror films such as Children of the Corn. Plus, as the international distributor of the Hearst Entertainment library, Lakeshore also offers “titles that were made for prime time on major [cable] networks. They include several mini-series and specials; it’s probably more of a female-driven and lifestyle library,” Dinerstein says.

And the company recently produced Robert Benton’s Feast of Love, Untraceable starring Dianne Lane, Midnight Meat Train based on the best-selling short story by Clive Barker and Elegy starring Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley. In November, Lakeshore begins production on the futuristic thriller Game starring Gerard Butler.

Dinerstein says that he is always looking for further acquisitions to bolster the Lakeshore catalogue, and notes that the company is “exploring producing specifically for TV and new media. The strategy we’ve implemented is to produce high-quality story-driven entertaining products for theatrical, TV, DVD and new media. On the TV side, we’re focusing our attention on both the traditional terrestrial TV as well as new media, which now obviously includes video on demand, subscription video on demand and Internet TV deals. We’re an aggressive, smart, ambitious organization that is nimble enough to react to the marketplace in a very effective manner.”

—By Mansha Daswani