Pressman Film’s Sam Pressman

The independent film studio Pressman Film, founded by the legendary producer Edward R. Pressman, is behind such films as American Psycho, Wall Street, Badlands and The Crow. Now led by Edward’s son Sam Pressman, the studio is expanding into TV production. It has already aligned with an array of acclaimed U.S. and international TV producers and writers, among them Emmy winner Ernest Dickerson (Bosch, The Wire, Juice) and Eric Overmyer (Bosch, The Man in the High Castle, The Wire). Sam Pressman, CEO, speaks with World Screen Weekly about opportunities in the TV arena and the eclectic mix of series the studio is looking to be involved in.

WS: What led Pressman Film into the TV space?
PRESSMAN: Pressman Film has long sought to amplify independent voices in the motion picture industry; today, television has some of the most provocative narratives and inspiring creators out there, so it feels like a natural progression for the company to take. My father—producer Edward R. Pressman, founder of Pressman Film—was a purist in his dedication to narrative film, but in 2021, Paula Paizes, COO and head of business affairs for Pressman Film; Max Loeb, director of development; and I spoke with Ed about making a concerted effort to enter the TV space, and he was enthusiastic about pursuing the idea. Ed’s passing has been the greatest emotional challenge to all of us at Pressman Film, but Ed’s films, his life’s work, is a treasure of a library that we can explore across myriad platforms, including TV.

In some cases, it’s hard to fathom how to reimagine certain movies of the past that play nearly perfect in the feature film format, but perhaps exploring them as TV can yield something great—I think of series like Fargo, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The Karate Kid [extension Cobra Kai]. And on the flip side, some of the deep cuts in the Pressman catalog had great creatives and great ideas within them but just didn’t connect with audiences upon their release for whatever reason; those films might be even more fertile ground to approach in TV. Leveraging historical IP and connecting the relationships in the industry to explore new and original IP is the name of the game.

WS: What philosophies and lessons can you take from the film world and apply to the TV business? What are the opportunities you see in the TV landscape at present?
PRESSMAN: I think certain trends in audience engagement are easier to identify in film than in TV, but the implication of these trends applies to both platforms. We’re living in a profoundly strange and surreal time. The world feels in flux, humanity is perplexed wondering what is real, a base reality we all agree on feels murkier than ever, and so it makes sense that the art that seems to be connecting most is pretty out there, mind-bending stuff. Poor Things and Everything Everywhere All at Once come to mind in that regard.

There’s great consumption of mindless, easy-to-binge stuff happening all the time (I’ll confess to that; my girlfriend has gotten me to watch Love Island and Love on the Spectrum with her on more than one occasion—I’m sure we’re not alone in that), but I think audiences are hungry for content that is kind of “out there”—work that really stands out. For all the negative talk about the industry, when you make something really great and it connects, you can see it go wild. So, as an independent producer, you have to be able to identify and collaborate with unique voices and then you have to find independent ways to finance.

Both facets are the philosophy under which Ed nurtured our company to operate—backing the creator, cognizant of both artistic and commercial intentions. It is interesting to note that the same foreign sales/debt/equity blueprint that Ed was a part of pioneering in the 1970s is increasingly emulated in the independent TV space, namely international co-productions.

You see acquisitions like Mediawan and Leonine, Federation and Vertigo Films, Element Pictures and Fremantle or ITV and Tomorrow Studios—these powerful independent studios making strategic partnerships across multiple territories. All of this reflects that the TV landscape, especially in the independent space, is more global than it has ever been.

WS: Talk to me about some of the creative partnerships, including with acclaimed showrunners, that the effort launches with.
PRESSMAN: We have found our way into some incredibly exciting partnerships with world-class storytellers.

Ernest Dickerson and Eric Overmyer are dynamos and have a great working shorthand, having worked together previously on Bosch and The Wire before that. I first met Ernest when he directed Never Die Alone, and it was his suggestion to bring on Eric because he knew he had an avid interest in the specific historical period the show focuses on—and to wit, his experience with The Man in the High Castle proved how fascinating a revisionist history world can be.

We are also working with our partners at Endemol Shine Israel and acclaimed producer Ophira Dagan. They have been amazing collaborators, allowing the original story to evolve in response to our creative conversations.

Joe Quesada is just such a genius storyteller, going back to his work at Marvel Comics and subsequent work in TV crafting universes with great longevity like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and developing new ways for Marvel to think of its properties like with Daredevil.

These are just [some] of the many collaborators that we are now working with, and they all share the same theme: they’re all really lovely humans who love building expansive narratives. And that’s the exciting part of getting more into the TV world; by nature of working in writers’ rooms, there is an inherent collaborative spirit to the way creatives in the space work together.

WS: How will you be positioning Pressman in the wider TV landscape to attract established talent and fresh voices?
PRESSMAN: You see a show like Baby Reindeer or Tires, both offbeat independent shows that have found huge followings within Netflix—it’s really inspiring. For creatives to know that we’ll protect their vision and labor to bring them to the mass market, that’s what we’ve always stood for as a company and that’s what we’re going to fight to be in TV and any motion picture project.

WS: Any projects already in the works you can share?
PRESSMAN: I’d be remiss to share anything prematurely, but most certainly, we are trying to build an expansive slate to get that flow. We want to have an eclectic mix; Pressman Film isn’t defined by one type of film. Most certainly, we are trying to build a global slate, a slate with comedy, a slate with thrillers, espionage, sci-fi—a wide range. We’ve got projects percolating in the TV space in Korea, Japan, France and the U.K.

WS: What will Pressman be focusing its energy on in the first 12 to 18 months on the TV side?
PRESSMAN: We’ve identified some IP that we’re actively now looking to find creatives to pair with. Alongside that, we’ll be getting a few pilots and bibles, and we’ll look to bring on talent either with the studio in tow or independently before pitching them. My father always said the industry—and all of human history, for that matter—functions in cycles. People often think they’re in the worst of times, the end of an era; on the flip side, people think their good luck won’t run out. Sometimes it feels like it all moves at the speed of molasses; sometimes it all comes at you fast. So, really, Pressman Film is here trying to enjoy the creative path with partners who are our allies in working together to build something with cultural staying power.