Q&A: MoviePass Films’ Execs Talk Hollywood, Pacino, & Bringing Films Back to Miami

Randall Emmett, Ted Farnsworth, & George Furla

Miami, FL – February 13, 2019 – MoviePass made headlines in 2018 when it launched a $9.99 all you can see movies in the theater subscription that garnered over 3 million subscribers practically overnight. The plan for 2019? Don’t just put theater goers in seats, but actually – make the movies. So now, MoviePass Films is launching an aggressive 2019 slate, starting with the currently in production Axis Sally starring Al Pacino and Meadow Williams in Puerto Rico. Next up? The Bruce Willis drama Trauma Center, and a variety of TV shows and movies with Miami in mind.

MoviePass Films executives Ted Farnsworth, Randall Emmett, and George Furla are all deeply rooted in Miami. Farnsworth who’s recently started executive producing (Gotti, Axis Sally, Trauma Center) calls it home, while Emmett (producer of 2 Guns, Lone Survivor, and Silence) was born and raised here attending New World School of the Arts, which he returns to several times a year to speak to the students, as founder and director of the Alumni association. Furla (2 Guns, Lone Survivor, End of Watch) makes Miami his go to destination while in between shoots. Says Emmett, “I have always wanted to make films here (in Miami). Ted, George and myself said we have to get films back here even without tax incentives. We found a way to make a couple films here this coming year in an independent way that allows us to kind of compete with other incentive type states. We love Florida, who doesn’t?”.  2020 will also bring a wedding for Randall Emmett, who’s engaged to actress Lala Kent, star of Vanderpump Rules and the upcoming films The Row 2 and 10 Minutes Gone. World Red Eye met up with the trio to learn more about MoviePass, their upcoming projects, and bringing the TV and film business back to the 305.

Randall Emmett, Ted Farnsworth, & George Furla

WRE: What’s your tie or background with South Florida?

TF: I live in Miami, and have been in South Florida for 40 years. There’s really no place I’d rather be. Obviously now making these films and with our business and ties to New York and Hollywood and everywhere in between I’m on the road a lot, but Miami is home and of course paradise. Miami is so central to everything we are doing for example, last week we were in Puerto Rico for Axis Sally and it was so easy to fly back and forth.

RE: I was born and raised right here in Miami – in Kendall Lakes – and went to New World School of the Arts the first year that it opened and it changed my life. I never fit in and I found a community there. It gave me my backbone to the arts and built my confidence. South Florida really launched me into the movie industry and the next phase of my life.

WRE: Tell us a little bit about the MoviePass Films partnership you have formed and how you met each other?

TF: I was looking at other companies that had librairies for acquisition and George and Randall shared a friend in common with me. George’s background in film and finance and coming in with Randall for over 27 years, these two totally different personalities worked together extremely well. The first meeting was really magical. Randall was already trying to close the deal, George was explaining the movie business to me, and it’s been a great ride ever since.

RE: It’s rare to have a partnership where two people have been married for 20 plus years and someone comes in and it’s what you’ve been missing for 20 years. That’s where Ted comes in. His experience in Wall Street and raising and financing public companies, that’s something George and I don’t have. We’ve raised a lot of money privately, but never one nickel on Wall Street. So now you have someone like Ted to come in and teach us how to not only raise money, but turn profit, gain revenue and build the company up. George: We have done over $1 Billion in the box office and we know that with MoviePass Films and with Ted, we can double that pretty quickly so we just want to keep it moving, keep it rolling.

George Furla, Ted Farnsworth, & Randall Emmett

WRE: What are some other projects you guys are working on?

GF: We have Escape Plan 3 with Sylvester Stallone, 50 Cent, and Dave Bautista. It’s the third movie we’ve done with Stallone. We have Boss Level coming out starring Mel Gibson, Frank Grillo, Naomi Watts with Joe Carnahan directing. It’s a big $50 million action movie. Probably one of the top 3 movies we’ve done in our career. Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, which is probably his last gangster movie he’ll ever make, with, Deniro, Pesci, and Pacino – we’re really excited for that to come out.

WRE: You recently started production on Axis Sally starring Al Pacino, how is that going and what’s your favorite part about working with him? What about Trauma Center with Bruce Willis? 

RE: George and I have worked with Al five times, he’s the best of the best. When you watch him in these classics you look at him and praise him for his ability, but when you work with him it’s the same thing watching each take. Then after the take he’s just this happy-go-lucky really funny guy, but the minute they say “action”, it’s the legendary Al Pacino that you have watched. It’s really a magical time. As far as Trauma Center with Bruce Willis, right now were are considering Miami as a possible filming location, among others. It starts first week of March. We’re excited, we’ve done so many movies with Bruce. At this point he is a friend of the family. We have done artistic movies and action movies with him and this one will be a lot of fun.

WRE: Miami lost a big chunk of movie and TV business in the last few years. What are you going to do to bring it back?

RE: I’ve always wanted to make films here. The film commissioner is my friend. I’ve campaigned and lobbied within the state for tax incentives to come back. I think ultimately they will get them back, but for now, Ted and I and George talked about it and said ‘look we have to get film back here even without the tax incentives.’ And we found a way to make a couple films here this coming year in an independent way that allows us to kind of compete with other incentive based states. We love Florida, who doesn’t? We’ll bring a couple films here and then we’re optimistic that the state will bring incentives back in play. I know they’re trying to pass the bill again, but in the meantime we have our slate of 10 films a year and we’re definitely going to bring a couple here. There’s a TV series that we can’t release yet that has a big chance of ending up in Miami Beach to double as Venice Beach, so that’s in the works and we’re very close to announcing that as well.

WRE: Where do you see MoviePass Films going in the next 5 years?

TF: In the last year or less that we have been together, MoviePass films was nominated for an Oscar (Border), and that comes from George and Randall’s recommendation for acquisitions, and having them as experts to say ‘yes that looks like a great movie’ or do this or that. Getting nominated for an an Oscar in the first year is huge, a miracle, we have been nominated for so many awards already with our movies. Between all films, American Animals, Border, Monsters and Men, In Search for Greatness, and Gotti. To us, this is really just the beginning.