Michael Wrenn is to join the Sydney office of Arclight Films, the company established by LA-based Australian Gary Hamilton.
Wrenn recently produced, with Karen Radzyner, director/writer Miro Bilbrough’s debut feature Being Venice but has spent most of his film career in sales, distribution and exhibition.
Wrenn brings several films with him to Arclight’s library according to the statement announcing the appointment. These include Ivan Sen’s Mystery Road, which goes into production in July with David Jowsey producing, Zoe LaBand’s Pinky Pinky produced by Jeremy Nathan, and The World Made Me Straight, an adaptation of the Ron Rash novel of the same name to be directed by David Burris and produced by Todd Labarowsky.
Wrenn has worked in financing and world sales for such companies as Celluloid Dreams and Maximum Films and has held very senior roles at several distribution companies including Electric Pictures and Alliance Atlantis (now Momentum).
“Michael is the perfect addition to the Arclight Films family and his distinct knowledge of the Australian territories, from all angles, is an invaluable asset, ” said Hamilton. “His reputation and work speaks for itself and we’re all excited about what’s to come.”
Wrenn was UK based before moving into a creative and marketing role at the New Zealand Film Commission in 2000. More recently he spent time working with script guru Stephen Cleary and his company Arista, and helped set up Curious Distribution.
The statement ended on an unusually personal note: it said Wrenn and Kylie de Fresne, one of the producers of the out-of-competition official selection musical The Sapphires, were “having a great Cannes together” with their newborn baby.
Arclight has handled sales on more than 130 films including Crash, which won the Academy Award for best picture in 2004 and Bobby, which was nominated for the best picture Golden Globe in 2007.
The company has the genre-driven division Darclight Films, which has Wolf Creek and shark action thriller Bait on its list of films, and the Asian film division Easternlight, which has two films in official selection, Dangerous Liaisons and The Assassins.