Rogue Wave Films

Mr. Johnston is the Executive Vice President and Managing Director at Vendian Entertainment LLC. He is responsible for business development and oversees investor relations, strategic initiatives and business & legal affairs. He was Vice President of Business Development at Worldview Entertainment. Worldview was one of the most successful film financing companies in the last five years. During his time there, Worldview deployed over $125 million in more than 20 feature films including the Academy Award winning “Birdman”. He has over 10 years experience in the entertainment industry as a transactional attorney and investment manager. Mr. Johnston holds a J.D./M.B.A. and a B.S. in Biology from Samford University.

Mr. Speed is the Senior Vice President, Business Development at Global Vision Entertainment. He began his career working in the areas of corporate finance and restructuring during the recession in the late 80's. He became exposed to the entertainment business through the corporate reorganizations of companies like Academy Entertainment (Marty Gold) and Avenue Pictures (Cary Brokaw) while with Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione. He later joined the Los Angeles law firm of Rosenfeld, Meyer & Sussman whose clients, at the time, included major studios, independent producers, and lenders.

 

In 1998, Mr. Speed moved to the private sector joining Regent Entertainment (producer of Academy Award winning Gods & Monsters) growing to the title of Senior Vice President for Business Affairs and Finance.  While at Regent, Speed coordinated production financing of over $40 million in the form of insurance guarantees, international tax shelters, tax credits, international co-productions and gap financing in addition to managing the day-to-day production and foreign sales operations. During his tenure, Regent produced 8-10 films a year and acquired 4-6 films a year.