PRESS
RELEASE

Sunn Allied to
focus on niche pix
Venture will globally distribute eight to 12 acquisitions
by Melissa
Byrd
Minority-produced
urban and faith-based films have a home to call
their own at
the newly created joint distribution venture, Sunn Allied Releasing.
The venture, an
undertaking by Lang Elliott (prez-CEO of Sunn
Classic Pictures)
and attorneys Leroy Bobbitt and Virgil
Roberts, will globally distribute
eight to 12 acquisitions.
"The urban
product in all genres is becoming more and more
valuable," Bobbitt and Roberts said.
"From the early release of 'Shaft' in 1971 to 'Shaft 2000,' the demand for
this product
can no longer be ignored."
Sunn Allied will
participate in numerous film fests in the coming
months to spark buzz
about its projects, including the Urbanworld, African American and Pan
African Film Fests.
www.variety.com/article
6/28/2006
Meyer Shwarzstein of Brain Media, wrote:
“Congrats,
Lang. The timing for these is very good.
We’ve done very well with films in this category and there’s
a demand for more.”
Best,
Meyer
Contact
Information:
Sunn Allied Releasing LLC
c/o Sunn Classic Pictures, Inc.
69-730 Highway 111, Suite 213
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270
760-321-9300
Media
Contact:
Charlie Barrett
The Barrett Company
Los Angeles
310-471-5764
|
VIRGIL
ROBERTS - bio
Virgil Roberts once dreamed of following in the
footsteps of diplomat Ralph Bunche. At UCLA, he
majored in political science with an emphasis in
international relations, and was co-creator of
UCLA’s African American Studies Center, one
of the first Black Studies programs in the United
States.
As an intern for
the Voice of America during the summer of race
riots in 1967, however, Roberts was profoundly
affected by the historic shifts in the American
body politic and despite a Ford Foundation Foreign
Affairs Scholar Fellowship he
elected to attend Harvard Law School. Roberts received
his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in spring 1972 with
a new ambition: to become a civil rights attorney.
Employment opportunities with civil rights organizations
were limited, so he began his legal career as an
associate with a prominent Los Angeles law firm:
Pacht, Ross, Warne, Bernard & Sears. There,
he worked primarily as a civil litigator.
In 1976, Roberts formed the law firm of Manning & Roberts,
continuing his civil litigation practice and representation
of entertainment clients. Notable among the numerous
civil rights and civil liberties matters handled
by the firm was Roberts’ representation of
the NAACP in the Los Angeles school desegregation
case (Crawford vs. Board of Education).
Manning & Roberts also was chiefly responsible
for Mayor Tom Bradley's creation of the Los Angeles/Africa
Task Force, designed to promote and facilitate
commerce between Los Angeles and various African
countries.
Roberts joined Solar Records as executive vice
president and general counsel in 1981, became president
of Dick Griffey Productions (DGP) in 1982 and president
of Solar Records in 1990. One of the most successful
African American-owned record companies in the
80's, Solar had an impressive roster of gold and
platinum-selling artists including Babyface, The
Whispers, The Calloways, Shalamar, Midnight Star,
The Deele, Lakeside, Dynasty, Klymaxx, Absolute,
Jody Watley, Howard Hewett, Jeffrey Daniel, Vanity,
and Richie Havens.
In 1996, Roberts left Solar/DGP to form the law
firm of Bobbitt & Roberts. He is managing partner
of the firm, which specializes in representing
entertainment industry clients, concentrating on
television, film, music, theater licensing, and
merchandising.
Roberts has served as a board member and/or officer
of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the Beverly
Hills Barristers Association, the Los Angeles Barristers
Association, the Langston Law Club, the Los Angeles
Legal Aid Foundation, the Beverly Hills Bar Scholarship
Foundation, the California Teacher Credentialing
Commission, the Black Entertainment & Sports
Lawyers Association (BESLA), and the CORO Foundation.
He also has served as chairman of the Los Angeles
Education Partnership, as treasurer of the Los
Angeles Private Industry Council, as vice chairman
of the Public Education Fund Network, as a trustee
of the Committee for Economic Development, as a
board member of Los Angeles Education Alliance
for Restructuring Now, and as a trustee of Marlborough
School.
Past chairman of the board of the California Community
Foundation, a philanthropic organization with nearly
$700,000,000 in assets, Roberts also was board
chair of the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan
Project (LAAMP). Under Roberts’ leadership,
LAAMP raised and spent more than $120,000,000.00
to reform public education in the Los Angeles basin.
Roberts’ current commitments include the
boards of Community Build, an organization formed
after the riots of 1992 to work for change in South
Los Angeles; Occidental College, Families in Schools,
the Alliance for College Ready Public Schools,
and the Alliance of Artists and Record Companies
(AARC).
A frequent lecturer at law schools such as Harvard
and UCLA, Roberts has participated in panel discussions
for many organizations, among them the National
Bar Association, the American Bar Association,
the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters,
BESLA, the National Association of Securities Professionals,
and the American Law Institute.
Listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American
Law, and Who's Who among Black Americans, Roberts
has been honored by the Los Angeles Urban League,
the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the
University of Southern California (USC) School
of Education, and the UCLA Black Alumni Association.
At Harvard Law School, Roberts was a recipient
of the Felix Frankfurter Scholarship.
Roberts, who has traveled extensively in the Caribbean
and Africa, has traced his ancestral roots to the
small village of Pita in Guinea.
Roberts is married
to writer/editor Brenda (Banks) Roberts, former
news deputy for Mayor Tom Bradley and author of “Jazzy
Miz Mozetta,” a
children’s book that won the Coretta Scott
King/John Steptoe New Talent Award for its illustrations.
Virgil and Brenda are the proud parents of two
daughters, Gisele Simone and Hayley Tasha. |
LEROY
BOBBITT - bio
Leroy Bobbitt is a founding partner of the law
firm of Bobbitt & Roberts. Prior to forming
Bobbitt & Roberts, Mr. Bobbitt spent 22 years
with the international law firm of Loeb and Loeb,
spending 16 of those years as a partner. While
at Loeb and Loeb, he specialized in Entertainment
Law and handled major transactions in motion pictures,
television, music and legitimate theater. Mr. Bobbitt’s
legal career began as an associate in the corporate
department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
in New York.
Mr. Bobbitt has represented such diverse clients
as Paramount Pictures, the National Association
of Television Program Executives, Black Entertainment
Television, Bank of California, Beneficial Corporation,
Credit Lyonnais Bank Nederland, Prism Entertainment
Corporation, Hollywood Center Studios, RKO Pictures,
Carolco Pictures, Barbara Taylor Bradford and Timothy
Leary.
Mr. Bobbitt is a member of the American Bar Association,
the National Bar Association and the Langston Bar
Association and has served on the Board of Directors
and as President of the Black Entertainment and
Sports Lawyers Association and has served two terms
as a member of the Board of Visitors of the Stanford
Law School. He has lectured at UCLA and USC Law
Schools, as well as at various Entertainment Law
conferences around the country.
Mr. Bobbitt graduated from Michigan State University
in 1966 with an undergraduate degree in and received
his Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School
in 1969.
Mr. Bobbitt is married to Andrea Bobbitt, a coordinator
of community education with the Inglewood School
District. Leroy and Andrea have two daughters,
Dawn Bobbitt and Antoinette Gill and are the proud
grandparents of granddaughter, Lauryn and two grandsons,
Alex and Jonathan Gill. Mr. Bobbitt is also an
avid golfer and participates in numerous golf tournaments. |