Branded
Entertainment, Inc.
Branded Entertainment, Inc.
We are an innovative branding company that selects products, businesses, and hyper-growth markets and then creates television shows around them so that the television shows we create act as a huge marketing engine to drive traffic to and derive revenue from those products, businesses, and hyper-growth markets.
Our First Slate of Shows
CRYPTO
How To Be A Man
Outdoor Adventure
House Game
World Education Initiative
The Count
Jonathan Sanger – Chief Executive Officer
Academy Award Winning Producer/Director, Broadway Producer, Media Advisor,
Entertainment Financial Consultant. Jonathan received a Bachelor of Arts and Masters in
Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Directors Guild of
America, The Screen Actors Guild, The Producers Guild of America, the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, and The Television Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Jonathan Sanger has lead initiatives in virtually every sector of the filmed entertainment and
media industry for the last forty years. He’s also produced prominent films in each of the last 4
decades. In the 80’s he produced The Elephant Man and Francis. Elephant Man, an
emotionally charged film, made a strong impact on critics and audiences alike, and was rewarded
with eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, as well as winning both the
British Academy Film Award for Best Motion Picture and the French Cesar Award. In the 90’s
he produced Without Limits, in the 2000’s Vanilla Sky, Suspect Zero and Paraiso Travel and in
the 2010’s Chapter and Verse and Marshall. Jonathan has supported and advised filmmakers and
investors in making wise choices and innovative decisions in every part of the entertainment
media space. To date, his films have received 3 Academy Awards, 21 Academy Award
nominations, a British Academy Film Award and a French Cesar Award.
Sanger formed Chanticleer Films and created The Discovery Program in the late 1980s. Forty-
two short films were produced, including the Academy Award-winning and internationally
acclaimed Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall as well as Academy Award winner, Session
Man. Additionally, Chanticleer received seven more Academy Award nominations and all the
Discovery Program shorts have won awards at numerous international film festivals.
You can follow his media activities on jonathansangerproductions.com.
Keith Crouch – President & Chief Brand Officer
Keith began his career in food distribution and product development at McKesson Food & Drug Company in 1988. Since then, he has directly aided in the successful growth of many well-known corporations and brands which include: Health Valley Foods, Kraft Foods, Quaker, Nabisco, Kikkoman, Twining’s Tea, Bigelow Tea, Sweet Leaf Tea, Walker’s Shortbread, Stubb’s BBQ, Frontera Foods, Jose’ Cuervo, Cholula, Master of Mixes, Emeril’s, Rao’s, Liberty Richter, Wild Tonic, Sam Mills, Alkawonder, La Catrina Wine, DOD Beer, AC/DC Tequila, Lotus Foods, Surprise Drinks, Hooch Mixer, Merica Bourbon, Atlas Marketing, Metro Marketing, Santucci, Marsai Group, R&R Innovations, and IntelliCUP, just to name a few.
Due to these experiences, he has been able to nurture and develop many valuable contacts and professional relationships with major Grocery & Natural Retailers including, the Club Store Channel, C-Store Channel, Drug Store Channel, Dollar Store Channel, Specialty Food Distributors, Beer, Wine & Spirits Distributors, Food and Beverage Distributors, and Military channels in the US and Internationally.
Keith has also served on multiple advisory boards and has successfully owned, operated and co-founded several Food & Beverage Brokerage Companies, Consulting Firms, Food & Beverage Manufacturing Companies, Plastics Manufacturing Companies, and Software Companies. In addition, Keith has not just worked with and owned various companies, he has put up significant metrics. For example, he has been successful in raising over 50 million dollars for start-up companies and new product development.
Throughout the past 30 years, he has been utilizing his acknowledged superior sales expertise to increase sales, provide market planning and support, oversee new business development, initiate brand launches for national and private label brands, and establish multi-channel distribution in a wide range of situations.
Also, he has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, honors, and accolades, most importantly, “Broker of the Year”, numerous times. He has completed his degree in the Total Quality Management (TQM) program, along with many other training and skill enhancement programs. Keith possesses a rich and varied skill set that enables him to consistently exceed his personal and corporate objectives in revenues and profits.
Leslie Bocskor – Chairman of the Board
Mr. Bocskor has been the President and Founder of Electrum Partners since January 2014. Electrum Partners is a global cannabis business advisory and services firm. In May 2016 he was appointed to the board of directors of GB Sciences, Inc. and has served as the vice chairman since April 2017. Mr. Bocskor combines two years of experience in the cannabis industry and a total of 20 years in senior management in the financial industry. Since June 2000, Mr. Bocskor has served as the President of Venture Catalyst LLC, a consulting company. From February 2011 through September 2012, Mr. Bocskor was employed in the investment banking division of Network 1 Financial Securities, Inc. From May 2005 through June 2011, Mr. Bocskor was Managing Partner of Lenox Hill Partners, LLC an advisory firm that focused on corporate finance and business consulting. Currently, Mr. Bocskor serves as the Chairman of the Board of The Nevada Cannabis Industry Association, a trade association working to establish an exemplary legal Cannabis Industry in the State of Nevada. Mr. Bocskor is also Chairman of the Board for the Figment Project, an arts and cultural organization. Additionally, Mr. Bocksor serves on the boards of Social Life Network (OTC: WDLF) an Indoor Harvest Corp. (OTC: INQD).
Glenn Truitt Esq. – General Counsel
Glenn H. Truitt, Esq. has been in private practice for 13 years and is the principal owner and managing partner of a multidisciplinary professional practice (law, finance & strategy) for legal cannabis and healthcare business owners, headquartered in Las Vegas, NV. He is licensed in California and Nevada and specializes in compliance and structured transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, financing, operations and brokerage.
Glenn is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he earned his BS in Mathematics, with honors, finishing 8th in his class of approximately 1,000 graduates. Glenn was the first Academy graduate in twenty years to win both of the Math Department’s class awards, including for highest standing and mathematical excellence – the latter awarded for his part in a published paper which achieved the proof a new linear algebraic axiom.
Glenn served for five years in the submarine community, including a six-patrol tour onboard the ballistic missile submarine, USS TENNESSEE SSBN 734(B), achieving the rank of Lieutenant, receiving a Navy Achievement Medal for his service as the Communications Officer during 9/11 (during which the TENNESSEE Blue Crew was on patrol), and qualifying in both Submarine Warfare (i.e. “Gold Dolphins”) and as a Naval Nuclear Engineer – widely considered to be the Navy’s most challenging technical qualification. He made the difficult decision to resign from the Navy to pursue a career in law, and matriculated at Stanford Law School where he graduated in 2005. Notably, during his time at Stanford, Glenn served as student body president for the law school during his second year, while also authoring a column in the Stanford Daily.
Glenn remains active in the local professional community, including membership in the American Bar Association, California and Nevada Bar Associations, and the Clark County Bar Association.
Bill Corrigan – EVP Business Development
Bill has made a phenomenal transition from championship boxing to entrepreneur being crowned "King of Connections" by some of the largest brands and corporate developers. With over 20 years of experience in product development, he is a nationally known marketing guru for fitness, health, food, beverage, alcohol, and sporting goods products. He has worked with many of today's top brands and product lines whether direct to consumer sales programs or in-store point of purchase, infomercials, product placement, and celebrity endorsed products and programs.
His network spans from factory relationships in the Far East to the Middle East and everywhere in between. He has been involved in multiple projects from concept to execution to sales/marketing to exit. He has unique access to television and movie product placement for the brands he represents along with in-room marketing through hotels, casinos, resorts and colleges.
Some of his most noteworthy clients/partners include: Billy Blanks Taebo Fitness, Celebrity Sweat, Cintas Uniform Company, KO Sports, Pure Global Brands, Heelys Sports Limited, In-Stride Footwear not to mention his direct working relationships with dozens of today's top athletes and celebrities. There seem to be very few people he doesn’t know or to whom he can get access.
Tony Mercedes – Sr. Vice President of Music and Talent
Tony Mercedes is a 30-year veteran of the entertainment industry with over 60 million career records sold, seven top-five Billboard records, and publishing credit on three Grammy Award-winning songs, including “No Scrubs” (TLC) and “Shape of You” (Ed Sheeran). Having worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, such as Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Ceelo Green, Pink, Usher, and Antonio “L.A.” Reid, Mercedes first made his mark in the music business with the 1992 debut club anthem “Dazzey Duks,” released on his eponymous independent record label. “Dazzey Duks” skyrocketed to the Billboards Top 100 charts for 56 consecutive weeks and sold over 4.5 million records worldwide, gaining recognition in the L.A. Times for coming only three weeks shy of breaking the standing record set in 1982. Known as one of the hardest working men in the business, Tony Mercedes is a behind-the-scenes visionary largely responsible for introducing America to the 1990s-originating “bass” subgenre through some of the hottest singles of that era, including the iconic “Whoomp! (There It Is),” which 27 years later also remains a pop-culture catchphrase. A former director of A&R at legendary boutique label LaFace Records, Mercedes hand-delivered the multi-platinum, multi-Grammy Award-winning hit “No Scrubs,” TLC's third No. 1 single and their eighth Top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100. Mercedes proudly boasts having the number one pop single (“No Scrubs”), the number one rap single (“Who Dat,” JT Money), and the number one R&B single (“No Scrubs”) on the Billboard charts all in the same week.
Transplanted from Atlanta, Mercedes is now a resident of Los Angeles, where he has made the transition from radio and records to film and television. In 1999 Mercedes was credited for placing Beyoncé Knowles and Destiny Child in their first feature film. Mercedes also managed the early career of film and comedy superstar Tiffany Haddish and is recognized for playing a pivotal role in her explosive success. Mercedes is also the CEO and founder of Urban Digital Filmworks, a film production company specializing in hi-quality entertainment for teens in the form of short films, motion pictures, documentaries, and videos for network television, mainstream, and cable television markets.
Arthur “Chip” Borkowski – Chief Growth + Innovation Officer
Mr. Borkowski founded the ALB Group in 2008 – A Growth Consultancy based out of Chicago, IL – USA. Prior to that he was the co-founder / president of D+B Advertising, a full-service marketing, branding, technology and content agency.
Borkowski has a proven track record across a variety of executive and entrepreneurial roles. He has more than 30 years of professional experience, primarily as a strategic sales and marketing counsel. He is adept in what he has coined as “Practical Innovation” which applies to many of his client initiatives for RaaS (Revenue-as-a-Service) and IaaS (Innovation-as-a-Solution).
Chip has successfully created, secured and implemented GoToMKT and Practical Innovation programs worth billions of dollars to the B2B2C ecosystems of his clients. Since the late ‘80s he has advised top organizations including but not limited to:
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Media: Tribune, Gannett, Clear Channel/iHeart, CBS/Entercom, ESPN, Comcast, ABC/Disney, Salem, BEI (Branded Entertainment, Inc.)
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Brands: Coca Cola, Gatorade, McDonald’s, Jimmy Johns, Chevrolet/GMC/Buick, Pulte/Del Webb, Lennar, D.R. Horton, Kroger, P+G
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Digital Platforms: Cars.com, CareerBuilder, WebMD, Sharecare, CancerCentral, BeWellUSA, MainStreetPrime
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Healthcare: Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Walgreens, John Hopkins, Houston Methodist, US Oncology Network, Mt. Sinai, Cleveland Clinic
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Financial: JPMorgan Chase, Bankrate, Interest.com, Northwestern Mutual
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Not-for-Profit: Joni + Friends, Ronald McDonald House, GE Food Pantry, CER, LydiaHome
Borkowski’s kind yet competitive nature serves as the driving force behind his continued success for his initiatives and his clients’ sustainable growth and optimal CX. When necessary, he has the rare ability to quickly develop and implement unique solutions to deliver critical results for his clients, businesses, partners and investors. Chip has continued to build positive relationships and friendships with the people he works with and has an upbeat and positive attitude. He is a true leader of people.
Chip has also served on many advisory boards and remains active in his local community, including membership at Innovation DuPage as a mentor. He received his B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Kentucky and is a member of the SAE Fraternity. He lives with his wife of almost 35 years and has three adult children.
Shawn Holland – VP of Business Development
Shawn Holland is a 20 year serial entrepreneur with a passion and deep understanding of brand development and marketing. He worked in corporate America with big pharma for a decade before launching several companies from beverages to financial services. He has held the CEO position with multiple companies, most recently with O&O Hooch, where he and his team have grown the business from one retail location to now covering half of the US.
His financial service experience consisted of cutting edge strategy companies that protected assets, reduced taxes and leveraged wealth to maximize financial outcomes for his clients, including evaluation of private equity investments. Shawn is also a partner in RevGen Ventures, LLC which is a brand development and marketing company.
Shawn is charged with growing BEI's entertainment business, creating product placement opportunities for brand owners, and promoting their unique production and technology assets.
Shawn is a four-time All American tennis player who still plays competitively through the US.
Ron Vogler – VP of Brand Development
Ron is a proven sales and marketing executive with 35 years’ experience delivering results for world class consumer packaged goods companies, as well as for ground zero startup companies.
Ron’s positive upbeat leadership style is contagious, and propelled him to senior sales positions with E&J Gallo (world’s largest winery), PepsiCo (world’s largest beverage company), Nestle (world’s largest food company) VP Sales Confection, The Clorox Company (Director Sales Deer Park Water), Kretek International (largest specialty tobacco distributor in the U.S.) SVP Business Development. Ron’s vast consumer product knowledge, combined with his diverse and broad skill set provides expertise across numerous go to market sales formats – broker, direct, direct store delivery (DSD), third party agency, and direct to consumer.
Ron has category knowledge in virtually every aisle of grocery, natural, and convenience stores, as well as in major traffic areas of stores in the mass, club, value, drug, military, and natural / specialty channels.
Most recently Ron has led several startup companies to great success by creating compelling and innovative brand stories developing value propositions for the trade and consumers. Driving for bottom line results by building highly focused inside and outside sales teams and broker networks, has repeatedly resulted in profitable new distribution across the omni channels, leading to revenue generation and equity growth for ownership and investors. The past three startup businesses Ron built sales teams reaching a combined annual revenue run-rate of $92.0 million after 24 months.
Ron is a native of Miami, attended the U.S. Naval Academy, and received a business degree from the University of Florida, where he was the founder and director of the Student Better Business Bureau. Ron is the past President of the Florida Candy and Tobacco Association and is an active volunteer with The Alzheimer’s Association. Two of Ron’s sons played professional football, and his youngest son Brian won two National Championships while playing tight end at the University of Alabama.
Craig Shoemaker - VP of Content Development
Craig Shoemaker performed comedy for four US Presidents, has had recurring roles on network/cable TV, as well as starring and co-starring roles in several feature films. Craig performed four solo comedy TV specials, hosted/produced reality television, won Standup Comedian of the Year at the American Comedy Awards, put out three comedy albums, is a two time NATAS Emmy Award winner, a WGA scribe, an award-winning producer, best-selling author of a novel and two children’s books. Though Craig is known as a comic, this multitalented performer even sang on Broadway!
“Dr. Shoe” also has a doctorate degree from Cal U of PA, and his best selling book, “LoveMaster’d – A Digital Journey to Love & Happiness,” is critically acclaimed by the likes of Whoopi Goldberg and Dr. Drew Pinsky, inspiring readers worldwide how to manage through personal difficulties. In 2003, inspired by his close friend’s brain cancer diagnosis, Craig founded LaughterHeals.org, a 501c-3 nonprofit group, dedicated to using laughter as a healing modality. He is also a member of the Association of Transformational Leaders.
Craig is happily married to his wife Mika and is father to three sons, Justin, Jared and Jackson and daughter Chloe.
Andrea Cataneo – Securities Counsel
Andrea Cataneo is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group for the New York office of the law firm of Sheppard Mullin.
Ms. Cataneo focuses on structuring secured and unsecured private equity financing transactions for microcap companies, and taking companies public. Additionally, through her extensive relationships in the investment banking community, Ms. Cataneo offers her clients targeted sources of capital. Her practice covers domestic and international transactions and she has been active in Argentina, Canada, China, India, Israel, Kenya and Russia.
Prior to joining the firm of Sheppard Mullin, Ms. Cataneo ran a private practice concentrating in the areas of Securities Law, Corporate Finance, General Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions and Entertainment Law. Previously, she served as General Counsel to Power Station Entertainment, Inc. and the highly acclaimed Power Station Recording Studio.
Gerald Commissiong – Advisor
Mr. Commissiong has served as the Chief Operating Officer and a Director of Amarantus since April of 2001 until the present day. On October 23, 2011, Mr. Commissiong was appointed to serve as Chief Executive Officer and President of Amarantus. He was the co-founder and President and Chief Executive Officer of Amarantus, which was formerly known as CNS Protein Therapeutics, Inc. He played a significant role in sourcing the seed funding for the Company in 2008, assisted in developing a strategic corporate development pathway that involved the recruitment of relevant expertise, identification of appropriate development strategy, liaising with expertise to define development pathway, creation of a technological mitigation strategy and the identification of appropriate funding partners with a strategic interest the technology of Amarantus.
Prior to co-founding Amarantus, Mr. Commissiong played professional football for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Mr. Commissiong holds a B.S. degree in Management Science and Engineering with a focus on Financial Decisions from Stanford University. Mr. Commissiong is qualified to serve as Director because of his history with the Company and his management and leadership qualities. In addition, Mr. Commissiong skills and knowledge of the financial markets makes him invaluable to the Company.
Our Opening Slate of Shows
Our first slate of shows is fully developed and ready to go into production. It consists of five shows, each ten episodes in length and all with billion dollar upsides to the products, brands and businesses they promote.
Production #1 “Roll Tide”
“Roll Tide” is the story of John Riley, a boy who graduates from the most prestigious high school in America, Phillips Academy, at fourteen years old, and is recruited by every major university, both in and out of the country, as the number one academic mind in the world.
But instead of signing with an ivy league school, for reasons unbeknownst to anyone, John Riley shocks the academic world and announces that he will attend the University of Alabama. Roll Tide!
Each 10 episode season will profile one year of John Riley’s life at the University of Alabama. From freshman orientation to graduation, from being taken under the wing of the captain of the football team to his first kiss, and from trying to survive as a boy away from home to being asked by our government to use his brilliant mind to solve some of our country’s biggest problems, “Roll Tide” will take us on a most incredible adventure of the coming of age of the next Albert Einstein, as he is discovered in the most unexpected of places.
With incredible style, great dialogue, tremendous heart, brilliant characters and the best music every made, “Roll Tide” will look to set the new standard for a genre previously defined by Cameron Crowe and John Hughes.
Production #2 “Gamers”
Our second show “Gamers” is about four best friends who are all rising stars in the E-Sports world. Sponsored by Activision, these four phenoms travel the world playing the most cutting edge video games in front of sold out stadiums for millions of dollars. With legions of screaming fans, beautiful cosplay girls and a global backdrop of this $650 billion dollar a year industry, we expect “Gamers” will be the hottest show in our slate.
Production #3 “Crypto”
The Company’s third show “Crypto” can be thought of as “The Social Network” meets “Billions,” and will shift back and forth in its time line between telling the inside story of how blockchain technology and crypto currencies came to be and the current day-to-day developments in the rise and fall of global currencies and the deregulation of the stock market and banking system.
The protagonist is the CEO of a company called bettervitamins.com, which invents a sublingual delivery system for all nutraceutical and pharmaceutical compounds, providing the world with the ability to never have to swallow another pill again.
By creating the best new healthcare product on the planet, her company skyrockets in value causing her to become a major threat to Big Pharma. In order to protect herself and her company, she creates a superior crypto currency called vitamincoin, which will rise above the rest as one of the only stable and reliable crypto currencies in the world.
Production #4 “The Cure”
The Company’s fourth show is called “The Cure.” This show will tell the story of a biochemist, a microbiologist, a physicist and a rouge MD who jump out of C-130’s over places like Ghana to help Doctors Without Borders bring medical care to indigent populations. In each episode these four real-life super heroes will be called to save the lives of people who can’t be saved.
“The Cure” will have the unique ability to illustrate, through the humanity of the story telling process, the practical applicability of new and cutting edge technologies in medicine that are currently unknown to the majority of the population of the planet and which are often too difficult to explain to the lay person.
The pharmaceutical industry spends untold millions in marketing each year by producing commercials for their drugs that list a host of potentially horrific side effects, but if we can create a weekly television show, where an Academy Award winning actor can administer the lifesaving cure to an eight year old child of a single mother with no insurance, then we can create a better way to tell the story of how these modalities actually work and we can disseminate that knowledge artfully and aesthetically through storytelling.
Production #5 “Mastura”
The Company’s fifth show “Mastura” will be told from a multitude of conflicting perspectives. With storylines that reflect the Wall Street hedge funds that are pouring billions into this hyper growth industry, to the politicians who are fighting for and against legalization, to the gangsters who are now quickly becoming the next wave of our country’s anti-establishment billionaires, our fifth production is poised to elucidate the pathway to educate mainstream viewers in this previously controversial industry.
Tax Rebates And Product Integration
Tax Rebates
The Company initially intends to produce its content in Canada. In and of itself, the exchange rate between the US Dollar and the Canadian Dollar make it attractive to produce programming in Canada, but in addition, virtually all of the provinces and the Canadian federal government offer incentives, mostly in the form of tax rebates, although other incentives might be available depending on the show. For instance, Manitoba offers between 45% and 65% tax refund of the labor costs for Manitoba residents, as well as certain others “deemed’ residents, which can be used in conjunction with a federal tax refund of 16% of Canadian resident labor costs. The Company intends to design its productions to maximize the available incentives.
The incentive structure may change, both in Canada and elsewhere in the world. The Company reserves the right to produce in other locations with an eye towards maximizing the available incentive, consistent with the high quality of production sought.
Product Integration
We create television shows around brands that can subsidize the cost of the shows we produce through product integration. Brands like GM, Mercedes Benz, Heineken, Adidas, Hugo Boss, Samsung, Red Bull, Monster, Patron, Gatorade, Rolex, Net Jets, Ray Ban, Under Armor, Poker Stars, MGM, Caesars Palace, Tide, Budweiser, Coke, Pepsi, Dominoes, Papa John’s and many more are very familiar with product integration and pay significant sums to have their products and brands featured in television and film productions. The Company intends to create its programming with product integration at the forefront, involving brands at the earliest possible point in time, so that the product integration is organic and seamless and not thrown in as an afterthought.
When we produce our shows, each episode will feature a prominent actor integrating a sponsored product into the dialogue and in the action of that episode. We plan to do this for more than one product and/or sponsor each episode.
Distribution
With more platforms now than ever before needing to provide original content to their users, and with companies like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Apple TV, Google TV, HBO, Showtime, Stars, Cinemax, FX, A&E, Spike, MTV and many others paying more now for original content than ever before, we believe that we are uniquely positioned to take each of our shows to market and license the domestic and international rights. The Company intends to use the exposure created to generate program specific ancillary revenue streams, such as merchandise, commercial tie-ins and branding opportunities. Depending on the circumstances, the Company may determine that it would license shows to such platforms at reasonable prices in order to ensure the exposure for the products and brands highlighted in such shows.
Alternative Distribution
We believe the future of distribution is linked to the ability to distribute streaming content directly to the consumer. By bypassing traditional distributors, we can generate more revenue by distributing original content directly to the consumer.
After our first slate of shows has been completed, we plan to license the rights to our shows, individually or collectively, to both foreign and domestic distributors, although licensing may occur prior to completion of all episodes of a show. We may also determine that developing our own platform, for the distribution of streaming content directly to the end user, may be more financially viable.
We may also enter into joint venture agreements with websites that have substantial user bases and a built-in audience that has a predisposed interest in our content. For example, we may partner with websites such as PokerStars.com which reports that is has over 100 million registered users.
Our Future
Our first slate of five shows is just the beginning. After we prove the model, our second and third slates of shows will be defined by the companies that solicit us.
We will solve billion dollar company’s PR problems by taking a portion of their marketing budget and turning it into a revenue stream. We will teach fortune 500 companies how to get television networks to pay them to advertise their business.
Imagine what Exxon’s stock would have done every week if JR Ewing would have been the CEO of Exxon and think about how many billions of dollars Hollywood has left on the table over the years by failing to combine the creation of content with actual brick and mortar businesses.
Branded Entertainment Inc. will not make that mistake and we will redefine how content is created, consumed and monetized.