Mike Elliott (film producer)

Mike Elliott is an American film producer, film director and writer. He has produced or co-produced over 100 films,[1] with a special focus on direct-to-video sequels.[2]

Early life

Mike Elliott was born in Ventura, California but raised just outside Bend, Oregon.

He graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Soviet Studies.

Career

After landing intern positions at various television and film companies, Elliott would find his footing working with leading independent filmmaker and Hollywood legend Roger Corman. Under Corman's tutorage, Elliott would work his way up from being an unpaid intern to the vice president of Corman's Concorde/New Horizons Group. Elliott is responsible for helping turn Corman's company from a deteriorating theatrical release company to a viable player in the home video and television markets.

“It got to a point where we shrugged our shoulders and slowly realized theatrical was about prestige more than it was a sales factor," said Elliott. "The box and the cast became more important."[3]

Additionally, Elliott served as liaison and producer with the partner companies, which included Showtime, Artisan, Saban and Columbia/Tri-Star.

Elliott unsuccessfully tried to buy Concorde New Horizons from Corman in 1995, who kept hiking up the price. Instead, Elliott turned his attention to forming, with former Corman colleagues Rob Kerchner and Joe Genier, a new company Capital Arts Entertainment.[4]

One of Capital Arts Entertainment's first big claims was producing what is regarded to be the first direct-to-video sequel, Casper: A Spirited Beginning. "I claim I made the first DTV sequel (with Casper: A Spirited Beginning[1997])," Elliott said in 2012. "Stephen Einhorn'll tell you he did with Poison Ivy 2 (1996), but I'm pretty sure they thought they were making a theatrical while they were doing it. I suspect Stephen thought it was a theatrical, too.” .[5]

Elliott and Capital Arts Entertainment would become pioneers in the direct-to-video sequel market, producing such films as Casper Meets Wendy, Addams Family Reunion, The Prince and Me 2, American Pie Presents: Band Camp, and Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision.

In recent years Elliott has produced such films as After the Storm, WarGames: The Dead Code, The Eye, The Perfect Holiday, Rogue Assassin and Comic Book Villains. He made his directorial debut on Beethoven's Big Break in 2008, with sophomore directing effort Blue Crush 2 released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2011.

Elliott's latest credits include Death Race 3: Inferno starring Luke Goss and Ving Rhames, Forced to Fight starring Gary Daniels and Peter Weller, and Dead in Tombstone with Danny Trejo.

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References
  1. "Mike Elliott". Filmbug.com. Retrieved March 10, 2012. has produced more than one hundred feature and television films
  2. Sherber, Anne (August 17, 1998). "SEQUELS TO STAR IN DIRECT-TO-VIDEO PREMIERES". Supermarket News.
  3. Mesce, Bill (September 23, 2010). "Right Hand Man Mike Elliott". SoundonSight.org. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  4. Mesce, Bill (September 23, 2010). "Right hand man Mike Elliott". On the eve of concluding the deal, Corman raised the purchase price... SoundonSight.org. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  5. Mesce, Bill (September 23, 2010). "Right Hand Man Mike Elliott". Casper : A Spirited Beginning first direct-to-video sequel. SoundonSight.org. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
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