Parkes/MacDonald And Image Nation Abu Dhabi Seal New Five-Year Deal

Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald and Image Nation Abu Dhabi are extending their deal for another five years and have named Evan Hayes as president of production at Parkes/Macdonald. Hayes was formerly the president of production at Story Mining & Supply Co. The extension of their joint venture expands the relationship first born in 2010 when the production company was given a $10 million revolving financial fund. Two years later the Men in Black producers and their partners formed a stronger union as Parks+Macdonald/Image Nation.

The next project from them is the untitled feature-length documentary about the courageous Pakastani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who stood up to the Taliban after getting shot multiple times and is the youngest recipient ever of the Nobel Peace Prize. Directed by Oscar-winner Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth), the Malala film follows the features Flight and Men in Black 3.  Also on the slate is Keeping Up with the Joneses, written by Mike Lesieur, which the partnership developed through their $10 million fund, and is now slated for production at Fox 2000 with Greg Mottola (Superbad) directing and Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) and Isla Fisher (The Great Gatsby) starring.

Hayes will oversee the company’s slate of feature film projects as well as supervise all aspects of production and creative development. Included in that is a number of other independent and studio projects, including a live-action comedy feature based on Mattel’s Barbie at Sony Pictures. Other projects in production or pre-prod include NBC’s The Slap, which is currently shooting in Brooklyn, and Paramount’s Ring 3 with director F. Javier Gutierrez (Before the Fall) which will go before the cameras in Atlanta in early March.

“The Parkes/Macdonald team will continue to work closely with us in Abu Dhabi, bringing their creative vision and expertise to bear on our local productions.  We look forward to the release of the Malala documentary next year and to developing and producing more exciting projects in the future,” Michael Garin, CEO of Image Nation Abu Dhabi, said in a statement.

While at Story Mining, Hayes oversaw a large slate of projects, including the Starz original series Outlander, created by Ron Moore, the war drama The Yellow Birds written by David Lowery, the true crime thriller The Fence, written by Dennis Lehane & George Pelecanos, and the St-Cyr & Kohler series from author J. Robert Janes with Gideon Raff (Homeland, Tyrant, Dig) show running, among others.

Hayes also developed and is an executive producer of Everest for Universal Pictures & Working Title Films starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright and Sam Worthington which Universal will release in September 2015.

This article was printed from https://deadline.com/2014/12/parkes-macdonald-image-nation-abu-dhabi-seal-five-year-deal-1201307290/

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