Steve Richards Leaves Silver Pictures To Form Funded Venture Endurance Media

EXCLUSIVE: Steve Richards, a 19-year vet of Silver Pictures who most recently was Co-President, has left to start Endurance Media, a company that’s launching with a $250 million financing structure to produce and finance films in the $20 million-$60 million range. Endurance will put two pictures in production this year and starts with a staff of three to four production and financial executives housed in Santa Monica offices.

The venture also kicks off with a strategic alliance with Entertainment One Films, which will distribute Endurance films in multiple territories. Equity comes partly from eOne, and Richards raised the rest himself.

At Joel Silver’s company, Richards has held producing capacities on films that include the recently wrapped Autobahn, which stars Anthony Hopkins, Ben Kingsley, Nicholas Hoult and Felicity Jones. Other credits include the Liam Neeson starrer Non-Stop, Unknown and the Guy Ritchie-directed RocknRolla.

“Endurance Media will be filmmaker-driven, allowing me to tap into the great filmmaker relationships I have built throughout the years at Silver Pictures and elsewhere,” said Richards. His parting with Silver is amicable. “I owe so much to Joel,” he said. “He is a legend, and I depart Silver Pictures with many great memories. I look forward to working with him again in the future.”

Silver has hatched a bunch of top-tier producers including Susan Downey, who left to form Team Downey with husband Robert Downey Jr, and Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman, who left to form The Picture Company.