About Rene Rigal Rene Rigal, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico is currently VP of Development and Production at State Street Pictures (SOUL FOOD, MEN OF HONOR, BARBERSHOP I & II). Currently for State State Street Rene is charged with the duties of locating and setting up new material for Tillman to direct and Teitel to produce as well as managing the shingle's existing slate. Most recently, Rene brought in STEPHON'S CORNER(Fox Seacrhlight), to be directed by George Tillman and written by Pat Gilfilan. Rigal set up the high school comedy COLLEGE through Sam Nazarian's Element Films and being distributed through LionsGate Films, which has a November 2006 start date. Rigal is currently out to directors. In addition to the feature division, Rigal heads up television development for the company as well. The company is currently in production on two pilots: "Clownin", an edgy teen variety show starring Wayne Brady and Brandon Jackson for the Noggin Network and "Mic Sessions" a reality series in the vein of Def Comedy Jam with a musical angle where they are partnered with Quincy Jones. Upcoming TV shows include "Bookies" a 1 hour edgy cable series with Tillman directing and Jeffrey Lieber (Creator of "Lost") writing among others. Most recently Rene has set up a half hour single camera comedy idea for a series called "Professional Tailgaters" at NBC. Tapping into the exploding Latin Media market, Rene Rigal along with Teitel and Tillman has launched a Latin division of the company with three projects currently in development. Rigal's brother, Jaime Rigal, Vice President of Film Finance for Comerica Entertainment Group, is raising equity to finance the Latin Slate for State Street. JULITO MARANA starring Freddy Rodriguez ("Six Feet Under", BOBBY, LADY IN THE WATER, HARSH TIMES) is a Puerto Rican Pablo Escobar story set in the infamous Puerto Rican favela known as "La Perla". The screenplay is based on the #1 Reggaeton song - "Julito Marana" by Voltio and special guest Tego Calderon. Teitel, Tillman & Rigal are producing alongside White Lion (The Def Jam of Puerto Rico) and Quincy Jones Jr. KING'S DAY, described as a Latin SOUL FOOD is being written by Rick Najera for him to direct as well. Najera is an award-winning writer-director-producer and actor with credits in film, television and Broadway. Most notably, his writing credits include LATINOLOGUES(TM) on Broadway, and hit television comedies such as "MAD TV" and "In Living Color". Recently, Najera was chosen to write, star in and produce his own comedy "BBQ Bill" for CBS' new Internet channel, Innertube. "BBQ Bill" is the first original scripted show made just for the internet by a major network. Najera is also the writer, director, producer and creator of his own nationally recognized award-winning hit comedy , LATINOLOGUES (TM), a compilation of comedic and poignant monologues that he wrote about 'Life in America'. THE CORE UNIT is described best as a Latin HEAT. The CORE UNIT is being written by Albert Leon, a Puerto Rican screenwriter who wrote REGGAETON, which is currently being produced by J-Lo's Nuyorican Productions. THE UNTITLED BOBBY MARTINEZ PROJECT is the most recent project added to the Latin Slate. Rigal closed the rights to Bobby Martinez, who in addition to being the #2 to surfer in the world ... five years earlier was a Mexican teen navigating the "harsh waters" of the gang culture who saw his 20 year old cousin die by getting her throat slit in a gang fight. "The film is very much like ROCKY or 8 MILE, simply about a guy that just wants to beat the odds," replies Rigal. Previous to his current position at State Street, he was Director of Development of Kustom Entertainment, a literary management and production shingle, where he oversaw development of both feature and television projects. During his tenure at Kustom, he developed CLOSED FOR THE CHRISTMAS, which eventually sold to Paramount with Mark Waters producing; and developed the feature LAST MAN HOME, which sold to Universal with Imagine/ Brian Grazer producing for Ron Howard to direct. Previous to Kustom Entertainment, Rigal was a Creative Executive at Outlaw Productions where he oversaw development and production of SANTA CLAUSE II and BREACH among others. Rigal began his career as an independent producer / actor / writer ... |