Michelle Krumm.
Arclight Films plans to aggressively acquire Australian projects at an early stage, including optioning novels, according to Michelle Krumm.
The former head of production, development and studios at the South Australian Film Corp, Krumm joined Arclight as head of Australian operations and worldwide acquisitions on January 2.
In two years at the SAFC she supported numerous productions including Arclight’s Hotel Mumbai, Cargo, Sweet Country, I Am Mother, Wolf Creek series 2 and The Call Back.
Krumm, who reports to Arclight CEO Gary Hamilton, tells IF she was attracted to the job due to her desire to work with Hamilton and his team and to return to the creative side of the industry.
“Arclight is doing a lot of great movies like Hotel Mumbai and the upcoming Killer 10 with Phil Noyce and they have a lot of commercial projects in the pipeline and in early development,” she said.
“I’m looking to get in at all stages, whether that is optioning a book or a general idea or treatment and working with the writer from the ground up to develop it, as well as getting involved in packages that have good casts and good stories.
“The genres that I will be mainly looking for are sci-fi, action and thrillers but I am definitely open to good dramas. I am not looking to acquire small art-house films that would not garner a large release. I am looking for more mainstream, commercial ideas and I will be very aggressive in trying to scope out great projects and get them into production.
“The earlier you get into a project the better because you can help develop it, steer it into casting and really help shape it.”
Krumm succeeded Mark Lazarus, who departed to join Sydney Film Production Company as head of production with the mandate to find projects, talent, co-production partners and other sources of finance for films designed to appeal to China and Australia.
Krumm served as executive vice president, head of acquisitions and co-production at The Weinstein Company from 2005-2008 and before that spent a decade at Miramax Films.
She first worked with Hamilton on Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek and maintained a strong connection with Australia film industry, acquiring such titles as Rabbit-Proof Fence, Rogue, The Silence, Death Defying Acts, Like Minds and Storm Warning.
In 2013 she produced James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now, which starred Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller, after serving as an executive producer on Factory Girl, Bobby and All Good Things.
At the SAFC Alex Hannell, a former business affairs manager at Screenwest and head of business affairs and commercial affairs at the UK’s ITV, is acting in Krumm’s previous post until a successor is recruited.
Noyce is set to direct WW2 action-adventure Killer 10, produced by Thunder Road Pictures in association with Arclight Films. Written by Paul Staheli (Guardians of the Tomb) and Justin Monjo (Jungle) and based on an original concept by Hamilton, the film follows a gang of expat criminals who are coerced into a suicide mission behind enemy lines to destroy a chemical weapon being developed by the Nazis and the Japanese. The ensemble cast is expected to be a mix of Chinese and American actors.