J.J. Abrams Invests in FactoryMade Ventures

SANTA MONICA: Former William Morris Endeavor board member John Fogelman is launching FactoryMade Ventures, a business development and consulting firm, with J.J. Abrams as its principal investor and clients such as RTL Group already on board. 

FactoryMade Ventures will work with creative talent and innovative companies to develop and deliver content for multiple platforms. The initial plans are to create various formats of original short-form programming, develop interactive viewing and gaming experiences and incubate projects for digital and mobile platforms as well as TV platforms worldwide.

Alliances are already in place with clients such as Telefonica, Hasbro, RTL Group and Intel. Abrams, Michael Bay, Robert Rodriguez, Thom Beers and Whoopi Goldberg are among those who have already started developing projects with FactoryMade Ventures. Abrams’ producing partner, Bryan Burk, will play an active role in the new company.

“We recognize the characteristics of the constantly changing media landscape that continue to shift our view of entertainment,” said Fogelman, the CEO of FactoryMade Ventures. “We welcome the industry’s most imaginative and inventive minds to strategize new ventures with us and build them into fully fledged media businesses.”

Abrams commented, “I’ve been lucky enough to work with the same representatives since I began in this business. John Fogelman joined our team in 2006, and I was immediately struck by his ability to identify creative opportunities and his determination and skill to actually realize them,” Abrams added,  “I felt strongly about continuing to work with John, and this was a chance to support his latest ambitious enterprise, just as he has supported me over the years.” 

“It is an opportune time for Telefonica to join forces with the creative and savvy team at FactoryMade,” said Manuel Echanove Pasquin, the general director of business development and multimedia Sservices at Telefonica.  “We recognize the potential for reaching an even broader audience and look forward to delivering the highest quality, most original content imaginable.”

“Hasbro is continuing to create immersive entertainment globally for our incredible portfolio of brands,” added Brian Goldner, the president and CEO of Hasbro. “John Fogelman and his team have been a tremendous asset for us in the media and entertainment space and we look forward to many more opportunities with FactoryMade to build not only new experiences for our brands, but to work on creating new brands as well.”

The former strategic planning and business development unit at William Morris Endeavor, known to many as the “skunkworks” unit, will join FactoryMade Venture as well.