Startup studio Supergravity Pictures announced the formation of Red Sun Entertainment, a talent management division serving digital-native creators and talent, with initial clients including Lucas Cruikshank brought on board by Evan Weiss, formerly executive VP of strategic alliances and head of talent at ProSiebenSat.1’s Studio71.
Weiss joins the company as a founding partner in Red Sun and will help lead the effort alongside Supergravity founders Max Benator and Marc Hustvedt.
Weiss, while at Studio71 (previously called Collective Digital Studio), packaged and produced the “Fred” movies starring Lucas Cruikshank and Brian Robbins, founder of AwesomenessTV. Other digital talent joining Weiss at Red Sun include HollywireTV, Elliott Morgan, Steve Zaragoza, and Jesse Ridgway (aka McJuggerNuggets), along with clients from traditional entertainment including Chuck Tatham (executive producer of “Modern Family”), Gary Halvorson (director of “Billboard Awards”), radio personalities Big Boy, Jason Ellis and Chuey Martinez, and showrunners Don Foster (“Mike and Molly”) Frank Lombardi (“Happily Divorced”) and Jon Ross (“Marvin Marvin”).
“I worked with Evan during my time at CDS and was always impressed by his instinct to put the client first,” Benator said in a statement. “Whether it’s traditional TV, film or a digital platform, Evan has a deep understanding of the business at hand and can expertly guide our partners and clients to success.”
Before joining CDS/Studio71 in 2009, Weiss was a partner at Handprint TV and previously was head of TV packaging for UTA. Prior to that, he was VP of business affairs and production finance for Walt Disney Television.
“I had a great run with Studio71 and its predecessors and learned the digital and social media business from the inside,” Weiss said. About his new partners Benator and Hustvedt, he commented, “We have a common vision for building the prototype for the modern management company in the digital age.”
Investors in Supergravity, launched in November 2014, include Van Toffler’s Gunpowder & Sky, which is backed by Otter Media, the digital-video joint venture of Chernin Group and AT&T.
