John Finemore.
Thematic Entertainment, the newly launched production company founded by Chris Hemsworth and Australian producers John Finemore and James Hoppe, is seeking Australian and international stories for features and television series.
The aims, where possible, are to mount productions in Australia and for Hemsworth to star in as well as produce, according to Finemore, the president of Los Angeles-based Lost City Inc.
“When it comes to the types of projects we’re agnostic but intend to lean into character-driven genre fare. At the same time it could be a sweeping romance. In the end, it’s about the best stories,” Finemore tells IF from Toronto.
“It’s too early to discuss any projects but there are a number we’re kicking the tyres on.”
Lost City’s Buffaloed, a comedy-drama set in the underworld of debt collecting directed by Tanya Wexler, starring Zoey Deutch, Jermaine Fowler and Ted Ludzik, is shooting in Toronto.
As IF reported, Thematic Entertainment has offices in Melbourne and LA and has hired Ben Grayson as VP of development and production from LA-based content and design studio Radley Studios, where he served as director of TV development.
Grayson had known Hemsworth since he worked as assistant to Kenneth Branagh on Thor. The pair had been mulling the idea of forming a production company for several years and were looking for a suitable partner.
In stepped Finemore and Hoppe, who met with Hemsworth in his NSW North Coast home. “We all quickly realised our creative vision for the company aligned and it progressed from there,” Finemore said.
“James and I are always looking for opportunities to create meaningful/impactful content and relationships and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with Chris and Ben on this exciting venture.”
Friends for 25 years, Finemore and Hoppe launched Maker Films, which produced Justin Dix’s Crawlspace and Richard Gray’s Summer Coda.
In 2014 they launched Lost City, whose first production was ARQ, a sci-fi thriller from writer-director Tony Elliot which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016 as a Netflix Original. Robbie Amell and Rachael Taylor played a couple who are stuck in a time loop which forces them to relive a deadly home invasion over and over again.
That was followed by Drake Doremus’ Newness, a co-production with Scott Free Productions which premiered at Sundance in 2017. Scripted by Ben York Jones, the romantic drama starred Nicholas Hoult and Laia Costa as a couple in Los Angeles as they navigated the world of online dating and social media-driven hook-up culture.
ICM and CAA are handling domestic rights on Buffaloed; a foreign sales agent is yet to be appointed.