{"id":619127,"date":"2023-03-17T15:49:33","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T20:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/17\/ali-afshar-former-racing-pro-and-holiday-movie-mogul-looks-beyond-christmas-for-growth\/"},"modified":"2023-04-22T21:57:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T02:57:42","slug":"ali-afshar-former-racing-pro-and-holiday-movie-mogul-looks-beyond-christmas-for-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/17\/ali-afshar-former-racing-pro-and-holiday-movie-mogul-looks-beyond-christmas-for-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali Afshar, Former Racing Pro and Holiday Movie Mogul, Looks Beyond Christmas for Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Entertainment <\/p>\n

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\n\tFor quite some time now, Christmas has come every day for <a href="https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/ali-Afshar<\/a>\/” id=”auto-tag_ali-afshar” data-tag=”ali-afshar”>Ali Afshar<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe actor, producer and former race car driver is founder and president of ESX Entertainment, a prolific indie film and TV production company that\u2019s made its name in recent years pumping Yuletide content to streamers amid the pandemic. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe projects are modestly budgeted and shot efficiently and safely, mostly due to Afshar\u2019s commandeering of his hometown \u2014 a sleepy Sonoma County village called Petaluma, where he built a soundstage from a converted barn and mines below-the-line crew from local residents. Titles include Netflix\u2019s \u201cA California Christmas\u201d and its sequel \u201cCity Lights,\u201d and the HBO Max originals \u201cA Christmas Mystery,\u201d \u201cA Hollywood Christmas\u201d and \u201cHoliday Harmony.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAfshar\u2019s well-oiled Christmas machine functions at such a level that, during a recent conversation with Variety<\/em>, he revealed he was in the middle of shooting another film \u2014 \u201cA Wine Country Christmas.\u201d The latest stars frequent Afshar collaborator Josh Swickard, Sol Rodriguez (\u201cGrachi\u201d), soap vet and \u201cReal Housewives of Beverly Hills\u201d alum Eileen Davison and Omar Gooding. Alex Ranarivelo is directing the project that follows a young widow struggling to keep a local vineyard from falling into the wrong hands while raising her two young boys. She may be in store, of course, for a Christmas miracle when she falls for the world\u2019s worst carpenter.<\/p>\n

\n\tOver our conversation, Afshar discussed the winding path to his production company, his desire to move into other genres, and expanding his holiday game past Christmas. <\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you get your start? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMy first job was on \u201cSaved by the Bell: The New Class,\u201d and it was the second audition I ever went in for. I worked consistently but took an eight-year hiatus in 2002 to become a pro race car driver for Subaru America.\u00a0I missed acting. but working with a race team I learned how to put people from all over the world together, winning many championships, and unknowingly I was learning how to produce. Around 2009 I came back. My first audition was for a Warner Bros. movie, \u201cHe\u2019s Just Not That Into You,\u201d and I booked it.<\/p>\n

\n\tI met an indie film financier named Jared Underwood through the racing world, and he said if I ever wanted to make a move to let him know. Jared made a few introductions and a few months later, we made our first film, \u201cBorn to Race.\u201d Fast forward to now, we\u2019re finishing our 23rd movie. We also have our series \u201cCasa Grande\u201d releasing May 1 on Amazon. That\u2019s like \u201cYellowstone\u201d with a Latin infusion, launching as a five-episode miniseries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you break into holiday content? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWe started in action films. The movie that introduced us to Warner Bros. was an action project called \u201cAmerican Wrestler: The Wizard.\u201d It was about my life coming to America from Iran. We made a name for ourselves punching above our weight class. I don\u2019t come from a traditional Hollywood pipeline, we like to do things our own way. We\u2019ve shot 17 of these 23 films in my hometown of Petaluma, where I built a barn and a soundstage. We use the same local crews over and over again. I\u2019m Iranian-born, I don\u2019t event celebrate Christmas that much. But COVID hit, and we decided to take a chance. We used actors who were a real-life couple and already in a pod together. I played the butler! We ended up doing seven holiday films back to back after that, some at Netflix and others at HBO Max.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHow are the films financed? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe first half of our movies were independently financed through private equity and high-net-worth individuals. The last 10 have been ordered through larger corporations.\u00a0Our biggest challenge is keeping the volume rolling and trying to get the stories that make sense. With all the changes happening in landscape \u2014 from the streaming retreat to the state of theatrical \u2014 it\u2019s a game about survival right now.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhere do you see the company in five<\/strong> years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tWe want to ramp up back to eight to 12 film releases per year. We\u2019ve got some really great diverse stories we\u2019d like to tell, and we\u2019re looking to go back into action. We\u2019re also setting a five-picture slate that will expand our holiday content into Valentine\u2019s Day, St. Patrick\u2019s Day, Mother\u2019s Day and more. We\u2019re also dipping our toes into horror for the first time. The two young girls who starred in \u201cThe Black Phone\u201d and \u201cM3GAN,\u201d they are sisters. I went to high school with their mom in Petaluma. We\u2019re developing a horror movie for them to star in together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you see budgets scaling up? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI don\u2019t see us making $200 million DC-level movies. I think we\u2019re strong in that $20 million to $30 million pocket. We have a great biopic about the rock band Scorpions, which is our version of \u201cBohemian Rhapsody.\u201d Their song \u201cWinds of Change\u201d was the theme song of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and it\u2019s so relevant now. That song just hit 1 billion streams on YouTube, the same day our writer turned in the script. That\u2019s got to be a sign. We see a real opportunity to connect younger audiences with their message.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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