Hart Sharp bought by Arts Alliance Media

Amodei will head renamed Arts Alliance America division

By Marcy Magiera -- Video Business, 5/10/2007

Arts Alliance Media has been an investor in Hart Sharp since the label’s formation in 2003. The new deal will give AAA the “financial wherewithal to continue to grow in the areas we’ve laid the groundwork for,” including the production, acquisition and distribution of feature films and sports programming, said Joe Amodei, who has been president of Hart Sharp Video and will become president of Arts Alliance America.

The company also will expand into digital distribution in the U.S., leveraging systems AAM has built in Europe. In addition to being the largest shareholder in LoveFilm, Europe’s leading online DVD rental service, AAM is a leading supplier of digital cinema solutions and a provider to online retailers and others of turnkey solutions for acquiring rights and securely distributing video over the Internet.

“They will be assisting us in building systems like their own in the U.S. so we can better deliver content directly to the consumer,” Amodei said.

AAM CEO Howard Kiedaisch, to whom Amodei reports, said, “I have known Joe and his team for over 10 years now and am really happy to announce Arts Alliance America with them on board. With such a savvy and well-respected group of professionals, many great opportunities lie ahead for us as we take our digital home distribution business to new heights.”

“The new innovative areas of digital home distribution are extremely exciting to us, but our core DVD business will continue to remain the biggest revenue stream for some time to come,” Amodei said.

Hart Sharp’s largest release to date has been the Morgan Spurlock documentary Super Size Me.

Amodei enjoys a close working relationship with Spurlock, and the two are executive producers on Chalk, a mockumentary about teaching in high school. It will be the first film to go out under Hart Sharp’s Morgan Spurlock Presents banner.

“The new partnership between Joe Amodei and Arts Alliance is really inspiring because it will give us the opportunity to distribute even more worthwhile films on a larger scale and allow more filmmakers the chance to get their movies seen by a global audience,” Spurlock said in a statement.

AAA also is a co-producer on upcoming films Out of the Blue, a documentary on the Fiesta Bowl-winning Boise State football team; comedy One Part Sugar, with Dylan Walsh and Danny DeVito; and Southern Gothic, a horror film.

Hart Sharp’s DVD lines include classic TV series under the TV Guide banner and the Baby Road Trip children’s series.

It streeted this week The Tiger and the Snow, Oscar winner Robert Benigni’s latest film.