Gary Barber announced on Thursday that he’s brought on former colleague Cheryl Rodman to serve as chief legal officer for his latest venture, Spyglass Media Group.
Rodman’s hiring comes a day after Spyglass CEO Gary Barber and Lantern Entertainment co-presidents Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic partnered to launch the independent content company. The new venture will develop, finance and produce premium content for theatrical, network, cable and streaming platforms as well as acquire assets and explore strategic opportunities.
In her role, Rodman will oversee all legal matters and business & legal affairs for the company, including corporate matters and strategic growth initiatives. She will report to Barber.
“I have had the pleasure of working alongside Cheryl at several companies over the years and always relied on her measured and savvy counsel,” Barber said in a statement. “Cheryl is a powerhouse whose extensive legal experience, negotiating skills, and business acumen will serve our company well as we continue to build Spyglass into a formidable premium content company.”
Rodman recently held the position of executive vice president and deputy general counsel for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., serving on the business and legal affairs team handling major corporate and financial transactions and strategic investments.
Before MGM, Rodman was the general counsel and executive vice president of Spyglass Entertainment, the production, finance and distribution company Barber co-founded in 1998. Prior to joining Spyglass Entertainment, Rodman was an associate of Troop Meisinger Steuber & Pasich and Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.
“I am thrilled to rejoin Gary at Spyglass and be a part of the company’s evolution and growth,” Rodman said in a statement.
In addition to Lantern, the Spyglass Media Group partnership includes as strategic investors Italy’s largest indie distributor, Eagle Pictures, and Cineworld Group, one of the world’s largest cinema chains..
In July 2018, Lantern acquired the assets of The Weinstein Company out of bankruptcy for $289 million. It walked away with three unreleased films after haggling with filmmakers and producers over the rights to some of the projects, and a library of content.
Through the new venture, Spyglass will own and control all of Lantern Entertainment’s current assets, including a wealth of development projects and more than 250 film library titles, as well as scripted and unscripted television series, such as “Project Runway,” which will return home to Bravo for its 17th season when it premieres March 14.
Lantern’s library of films acquired in the TWC sale include Academy Award winners “The King’s Speech” and “The Artist;” box office hits “Inglourious Basterds,”Silver Linings Playbook,” “The Hateful Eight” and “Django Unchained” and genre franchises “Hellraiser” and “Scream.”