Union Patriot Capital

Posted: Fri., Jun. 4, 1999

Sighvatsson buys Palomar

By ANDREW HINDES, CHRIS PETRIKIN

Propaganda co-founder Joni Sighvatsson has acquired a majority stake in award-winning L.A. commercial and musicvid company Palomar Pictures.

Sighvatsson, who most recently served as president of Paramount-based Lakeshore Entertainment, will become chairman and CEO of the company, while Palomar co-founder Jonathon Ker will assume the post of president.

Anne-Marie Mackay, who formed Palomar with Ker in 1992, will exit the company to pursue longform and dramatic production, but will maintain ties with Palomar as an independent producer.

The move lays to rest nearly a year of industry speculation as to where Sighvatsson, a highly regarded producer and entrepreneur, would land after exiting Lakeshore last July.

Branching out

Having earned a name for itself with musicvideos for the likes of Seal, Sting, Michael Jackson and Madonna as well as TV spots for clients including Budweiser ("Frogs") and Nike, Palomar has recently expanded into TV and telefilm production.

While commercials and musicvideos will remain Palomar's core business, the company has a number of features in active development.

Nick Brandt is attached to direct the time travel drama "Kindred," based on Octavia Butler's novel. Neil Abramson is developing a feature based on his own documentary "Soldier Child," about Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, who is said to have used kidnapped children in his guerrilla war against the government there.

Sighvatsson sees similarities between Palomar and Propaganda, whose commercial and musicvid activities became a proving ground for feature filmmakers including David Fincher, Domenic Sena and Michael Bay.

Vision lives

"This is a tremendous opportunity to further cultivate the vision of Jonathon and Anne-Marie in continuing to make Palomar a dominant force in the production of television commercials and other entertainment," Sighvatsson said.

Mackay's relationship with Sighvatsson dates back to the early days of Propaganda, where she headed the startup's musicvideo division.

The Icelandic-born Sighvatsson came to the U.S. on a Fullbright Scholarship, studying film at USC and later at the AFI. He joined forces with fellow AFI student Steve Golin to form Propaganda in 1986 and sold the company to Polygram in 1992.

At Propaganda, Sighvatsson produced or exec produced features including "Candyman," "Kalifornia" and "Red Rock West" as well as TV series "Beverly Hills, 90210" and TV mini "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City."

After leaving Propaganda in 1994, Sighvatsson teamed with Tom Rosenberg to become the first president of Lakeshore Entertainment.

Propaganda's feature arm was recently acquired by USA Films as part of its purchase of certain Polygram Filmed Entertainment assets from Universal Pictures. In May, former Sundance Cos. chief Gary Beer led a leveraged buyout of Propaganda's commercial, musicvid and management operations.

Michael Mendelsohn of Union Patriot Capital brokered the deal between Sighvatsson and Palomar.