Ascendant Pictures is a film development, production, finance and foreign distribution company co-founded by Chris Roberts and where Ortwin Freyermouth was Production Counsel.
Chris Roberts co-founded Ascendant Pictures in March of 2002, not long after he left Digital Anvil following its sale to Microsoft and after the subsequent creation of Point of No Return Entertainment.
Chris Roberts was a producer for among others Edison, Timber Falls, Outlander, Who's Your Caddy?, The Big White, Ask the Dust, Lucky Number Slevin and Lord of War.[1]
Kevin Costner sued Ascendant Pictures at the end of 2005, claiming it reneged on a deal to pay him $8 million to act in a comedy. however Ascendant Pictures denied wrongdoing and the suit was settled.
Ascendant Pictures used the German investment fund VIP Medienfonds which turned out to use a tax scheme to raise US$920 million over time from thousands of German investors to bankroll various productions including Hollywood movies. in 2006 the German government stopped the practice, and the fund’s founder Andreas Schmid was sentenced to six years in jail for tax fraud. Chris Roberts and Ortwin Freyermuth were not implicated.[2]
Chris Roberts sold Ascendant Pictures in 2010 to Bigfoot Entertainment.[3]
References
- ↑ Ascendant Pictures on imdb
- ↑ Schmid found guilty of tax fraud, Variety, Nov 13, 2007
- ↑ Bigfoot Entertainment Acquires Ascendant Pictures, press release, Bigfoot Entertainment, July 6, 2010