Greg
Basser

Greg Basser has been CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group since its founding in 2007 as a merger of Village Roadshow Picture Group and Concord Music Group, a year after he relocated from Australia to LA as CEO of VRPG. But Basser has been an integral part of parent company Village Roadshow Limited’s feature film success since even before he joined as Director, Commercial & Legal, in 1999.

As a longtime Melbourne-based entertainment lawyer, Basser helped establish VRPG (“The Matrix”) and its production finance facility in 1997. He then came aboard VRL to oversee all of its film productions, business and legal affairs, plus the formation of two theater chains in Asia and international theme parks.

Basser’s easygoing style and positive outlook helped get VRPG through a few box office flops and a credit crisis, where its long and fruitful co-production/funding partnership with Warner Bros. was tested when financing fell through on several films in 2009. But the following year he helped VPRG close a $1 billion film finance credit facility and, in 2011, form Village Roadshow Pictures Asia, whose first Chinese-language film, 2013’s “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons,” became one of the top-grossing films in China’s history. We see lots of opportunities in this market, [and] have been building multiplexes in the region,” he told Variety in 2013. “We have a partnership approach wherever we go.” A $480 million recapitalization in 2015 will ensure many more co-productions with Warners, Sony and other majors, which have generated more than $15 billion in worldwide box office to date. In April, the company sold a controlling stake to financial partners Vine Alternative Investments and Falcon Investment Advisors.

Prior to joining VRL, Basser was managing partner and head of the media and entertainment group at Thomson Geer (previously Herbert, Geer & Rundle). He holds a BA from Macquarie University and got his law degree from Monash University, both in Australia.