TEG launches joint venture with Rockefeller Company
TEG has announced the launch of TEG Rockefeller, a new global partnership and joint venture with the Rockefeller Company of New York.
The Rockefeller Company creates film, animation and live family entertainment shows based on children’s books and movies. Its Rockefeller Productions subsidiary, founded in 2014, has a host of productions including The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, the world’s most popular children’s show (with 14 productions on four continents), Paddington Gets in a Jam, and Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation, which opens in New York this October.
For Sydney-based TEG, the partnership will see its portfolio of experiential family content promoted in the United States and elsewhere by the Rockefeller Productions team. Rockefeller Productions is led by company co-founder Jonathan Rockefeller, who will lead TEG Rockefeller alongside fellow co-founder Wilson Rockefeller and TEG Live managing director Tim McGregor.
The JV unveiled its first project earlier this week: Pixar Putt, an 18-hole pop-up mini-golf course designed by TEG’s Life Like Touring, which opens in Manhattan at the beginning of August with Rockefeller Productions as the US promoter.
TEG CEO Geoff Jones says: “The Rockefellers have created a unique business with a great track record delivering brilliant and innovative productions that have delighted families the world over. We welcome Jonathan, Wilson and their team to the TEG family and look forward to continuing their success under the TEG Rockefeller banner.”
“There is a great future ahead for both companies working alongside each other”
“We’ve always focused on bringing quality entertainment to people everywhere in the world, from Sydney to Shanghai, from London to Los Angeles, introducing the next generation of audience members to an exciting new world,” says Jonathan Rockefeller. “Our work is designed to be universal.
“We’re very pleased to be working alongside TEG to bring some great existing projects like Pixar Putt to a broader audience and begin new and wonderful projects together. There is a great future ahead for both companies working alongside each other.”
Wilson Rockefeller adds: “Rockefeller was established as the anthesis to an antiquated and broken Broadway and studio systems of ‘that is how it has always been done’. I believe our successes over a short period of time have confirmed our innovative approach. With TEG, our new partnership will continue to embrace the new as we move from strength to strength. We at Rockefeller could not be more delighted at the prospect.”
Australia-headquartered TEG operates out of seven country offices and includes TEG Live, TEG Dainty, TEG MJR, TEG Van Egmond, Laneway Festival, Handsome Tours, Qudos Bank Arena, Ticketek, TEG Analytics, TEG Insights and TEG Digital.
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Sony Music backs new family entertainment agency
Sony Music Masterworks has joined forces with leading US family entertainment bookers Stephen Lindsay and Brett Sirota to launch RoadCo Entertainment, a new booking agency specialising in “live family entertainment experiences”.
As RoadCo, Lindsay and Sirota – the co-founders of The Road Company, which brings musicals, plays and special attractions to venues across North America – will work alongside Mark Cavell, president of Sony Music Masterworks, and Scott Farthing, senior vice-president of Masterworks Broadway, to develop and produce live events based on both existing brands/IP and new formats.
The agency will also work with other Sony companies to identify opportunities to develop live shows based on Sony-owned properties.
RoadCo Entertainment is the latest live-industry venture for Sony Music Entertainment, following its acquisition of classical promoter Raymond Gubbay in 2018 and UK concert business Senbla the following year.
Lindsay and Sirota have previously worked with Masterworks, co-producing 2017’s SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, which won a Tony Award. The Road Company’s other shows include the North American tours of Wicked, Moulin Rouge, Beetlejuice and Oklahoma!.
“RoadCo is the perfect venue for us to further grow our entertainment division in the US when the touring business is ready to return”
“We are energised and excited at the opportunity to create a second booking agency with our friends at Sony Music Masterworks, who bring a wealth of expertise, resources, and intellectual property,” say the pair in a joint statement. “The Road Company will continue its focus on Broadway and other theatricals, while RoadCo starts a new chapter for us as we build this expansive new enterprise with Sony Music capable of handling a broad roster of live entertainment properties.”
Mark Cavell, president of Sony Music Masterworks, comments: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Stephen Lindsay and Brett Sirota, whose track record as booking experts is well-known throughout the entertainment industry.
“Since first working together on the co-producing team of the Tony Award-winning SpongeBob musical, we have looked for other opportunities to collaborate. RoadCo is the perfect venue for us to join forces and further grow our entertainment division in the US market when the live touring business is ready to return.”
RoadCo is the third new booking agency, and the first focusing on family entertainment, to launch in the US since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, following TBA Agency and Mint Talent Group.
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