Thomas Pensky, former CEO and co-founder of London gangs Film producer Pulse Films has announced a new Lumina project based in London, New York, Paris and Los Angeles.
The new company is described as a “well-capitalized media group for talent and intellectual property” backed by a mid-eight-figure seed round, with investors including Magnus Rausing's BFK, Charles Dorfman's Dorfman Media Holdings and SVS Holdings.
“The current media landscape is in a state of constant change, and we believe this is the perfect time to build future-facing companies. Drawing on our rich past experience, we build in the present to shape the future,” Pinsky said.
“With content at the heart of everything today, I firmly believe that talent, brands and IP are multipliers. Our hypothesis is that there is a huge opportunity to decouple the IP creation process by building studios and production companies around great talent.
This will help them own more of their business and build long-lasting companies that remove unnecessary and costly layers in the process of creating intellectual property. “With capital and strategic input, we believe in United Artist’s decentralized model for today,” he said.
Lumina has already partnered with Oman Sy and Louis Leterrier in their new European studio, Carousel Studios led by CEO Cécile Jaget, and Yann Demange's Wayward Films ('71, Top Boy).
In the kids and family space, it has backed award-winning games studio Creators Corp (2023 WEBBY Award winner) as well as BAFTA-winning Kids IP – Strike.
It has also invested in consumer brands such as Metier and DAACI and has just closed its largest investment to date in a globally recognized sportswear brand that will be announced soon.
Lumina also launched a new multi-disciplinary film studio, Magna Studios, led by Marissa Clifford and Daoud Karbashion, which has expanded rapidly with projects in cross-brand productions, documentaries and screenplays.
“At the heart of this partnership, Lumina & Thomas and I saw a huge opportunity in building an ambitious, talent-led company that could capitalize on today's market dynamics,” said Si, co-founder of Carousel, a Lumina company. “Lumina & Thomas not only brings capital, but also an approach Strategically and operationally it provides artists like us with the resources and experience to step out and realize our ambitions at a time when talent is often not at the table to leverage long-term project success.”
The company's approach will combine financial investment with global studio resources, and will be strategically organized into four segments: talent-driven studios, production, kids & family, and consumer, Lumina's statement said.
She added that its investment strategy will leverage a broad network of investors, creative expertise and storytelling, and combine these strengths with strong financial backing, operational discipline, and a proven track record in entrepreneurship.
Additionally, by self-financing film and television projects, Lumina and its partners will be able to achieve greater creative and financial independence, enabling them to shape projects with bold, innovative vision and valuable intellectual property, she said.
Benski draws on his experience to build Pulse into a leading global multi-disciplinary studio that has won accolades across all of its productions and achieved significant scale.
Pulse had more than $150 million in revenue and more than 150 employees by the time Benski and Clifford exited in 2021. Their previous projects include London gangs (Sky/AMC), Beastie Boys story (apple), pig (neon), The disappearance of Madeleine McCann (Netflix) and Lewis Capaldi: How I feel now (Netflix).
In ambitious forecasts, the company said it aims to achieve profits in its first year of operations, generating revenues of more than $55 million across the group, and that it has already begun producing its first IP and long-form projects that will be delivered early next year. One year and will be announced soon.
Lumina has also secured funding for an IP war chest that will enable a number of high-value film and television projects to be produced over the coming years across its group companies.
Magnus Rausing of BFK, one of Lumina's investors, said: “Lumina's collective knowledge of investing and operating businesses makes it an ideal platform to pioneer a new approach that supports talent to create and own valuable intellectual property while driving innovation across its companies – creatively, strategically and technologically. I was looking for a way to build a media and entertainment footprint, and Lumina is the perfect fit given its innovative model, so I'm excited to help it become a defined player in the ecosystem.
Its investment is also based on its belief in Penske, his team and their track record, said Charles Dorfman, CEO of Dorfman Media Holdings.
“We have known Thomas and his team for a long time, watched them build a tremendous business at Pulse and were naturally excited to support his new venture. I have every confidence in their ability to identify exciting opportunities across the media, entertainment and consumer industries, especially as the media industry as a whole moves into a new phase of Evolution.
Mary Savary and PJ van Sandwyk, co-founders of SVS Holding, added: “We firmly believe that Lumina’s strategic model, which combines talent-driven content creation with a project-backed framework, represents the future of media and entertainment.
