Los Angeles – Metan Development Group (Metan) and a coalition of North America’s top TV and film writers, have joined forces to launch Metan Wen Zhi Ku, a joint venture linking Western writing talent with transmedia projects for the China market, the announcement was made by Larry Namer, President/ CEO, Metan and writers Art Eisenson and David Gittins.
Eisenson and Gittins head up a collective of the most respected writers from TV and film, who have signed on as part of Metan Wen Zhi Ku’s talent roster, that includes Marilyn Anderson (Murphy Brown, The Jeffersons, Fame), Michael Elias (The Jerk,Head of the Class, All In The Family, The Bill Cosby Show), Eric Estrin (Cagney and Lacy, Miami Vice, Murder She Wrote), Lynn Roth (The Paper Chase, Nine To Five series), Judith Parker (L.A. Law), Bob Shayne (Magnum P.I.,Knight Rider, Hart to Hart, Welcome Back Kotter) and Treva Silverman (Mary Tyler Moore, The Monkeys, Room 222, Romancing the Stone, plus many others who have worked on some of television’s most loved shows including Dallas, Dynasty,The Golden Girls, Hawaii 5-0, Happy Days, Charlie’s Angels, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Larry Namer
Metan Wen Zhi Ku (which in English translates to “writing mastermind”) will have access to an unprecedented talent pool of over 2,000 writers. They now will have a new opportunity to reinvent their careers, and be afforded the freedom to lend their expertise as storytellers for multi-platform projects in the developing China media market.
“When Metan first met with Art and David, we immediately saw an amazing chance to not only celebrate some of the entertainment world’s most talented writers, but to provide them with new international opportunities,” comments Namer. “While China’s media business is developing at a rapid pace, core skills of storytelling are lacking. We believe that Metan Wen Zhi Ku will fill this void.”
After the China market, the company plans to expand to other emerging media markets, including India, Brazil and Russia/ CIS. In addition to writing, top U.S. writers will also be involved in mentoring and teaching foreign content creators in the art of storytelling.
Jay Kenoff serves as legal counsel for the joint venture. Writers will be compensated on a per-project basis, with additional opportunities for profit sharing.
“The opportunity for profit participation and transparent book-keeping are precedential, and make common business sense,” said Eisenson. “What writers do is structure emotional and cognitive experiences for other people. The fundamental premise of our collective is that humans have always used storytelling to make sense of life, and that writers’ skills and perceptions become more elementary as we gain life experience. This joint venture represents a merger of the energies of visionaries and the ethics of those who believe in doing well by doing good.”
Metan Wen Zhi Ku’s first project is a romantic comedy Web series to be set in China, Europe and South America.
Art Eisenson’s television writing includes the mini-series Beggarman, Thief, and episodes and staff assignments on What Really Happened to the Class of ’65,Kojak, Eischied, The Gangster Chronicles, The Mississippi, Lucan, Shannon andHigh Mountain Rangers.
Founder of the American Film Institute Alumni Association and Armed and Literate, he chaired the Writers Guild of America, West’s Committee on Freedom of Expression and Censorship and the Ad-hoc Committee on MBA Compliance, as well as served on WGA’s Career Longevity, New Media, and Waiver Committees.
David Gittins is the first Executive Director of the TV Writers Fund for the Future where he has been in position since 2012. He has written for British television, sold screenplays in the UK and Italy and has worked both in development and as an independent producer.
An entertainment industry veteran with over 40 years professional experience in cable television, live events and new media, Larry Namer is a founding partner of Metan and co-founder of E! Entertainment Television, a company now valued at over $3.5 billion USD, and the creator of several successful companies in the United States and overseas.
