Presidio Launches Feature Slate with "12 Mighty Orphans"

Presidio Launches Feature Slate with “12 Mighty Orphans”

Upstart, Texas-based Presidio Pictures confirmed today that it has reached an agreement to acquire all rights to Jim Dent’s “Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football” and that pre-production activities have begun for a feature film based on the book. Filming will take place later this year, primarily in Fort Worth, Texas.

Co-founded by Hollywood veterans Todd Allen and Steven Graham, Presidio distinguishes itself by offering a marked departure from traditional film finance models. The Presidio strategy is anchored by three key, distinctive points: a focus on story over effects-driven fare, a game-changing financial model that insures the investors are repaid before producers receive their interest and, finally, an aggressive, creative marketing and distribution strategy which utilizes new and emerging cross-platform digital distribution techniques to complement traditional release formats. Presidio’s senior management team also includes Fort Worth investment banker Porter Farrell, a partner with Allen and Graham in Presidio.

Addressing the Presidio business model, Allen stated: “We will follow many of the precision-based, platform release formulas that have driven recent independent films to the top of the box office and awards ceremonies. Films can be made and smartly distributed without putting an undue burden on the investors. We have been planning and refining this approach for quite a while, and are confident in its appeal to both filmgoers as well as film investors. We are going about this in a new way and the response has been overwhelming,” added Allen.

“Twelve Mighty Orphans”, the bestseller that led to the film deal, is the heart-tugging story of the relationship between “The Mighty Mites”, the football team of orphans at Fort Worth’s Masonic Home, and their legendary coach, Rusty Russell during the Great Depression. The team, outmanned and undersized, wreaked havoc on Texas high school gridirons in the 1930s, regularly whipping teams that were bigger and had many more players. The book’s title refers to the astonishing fact that in many of their toughest games the Mighty Mites had only twelve players suited up. Added Allen: “This is a story about overcoming adversity, and what it takes to be a winner – no matter what your circumstances are in life. With America facing tough times once again, I can’t think of a more opportune moment to bring 'Twelve Mighty Orphans' to the screen.”

Presidio is currently meeting with directors and plans to shoot the film during the late summer and early fall. Allen is enthusiastic about completing the film in time for consideration for the 2012 awards season.

Allen continued: “We have a tremendous amount of information and history to work with, including invaluable assistance from Coach Russell’s grandson, Fort Worth resident Russ Morton.” Farrell added: “Those key elements, combined with this great story, will make for a powerful movie. We’ll shoot as much as possible in Fort Worth and plan on shooting almost all of it in Texas. The main buildings at the old Masonic Home are still here, as are Amon Carter’s home, the Waggoner Building, the Fort Worth Club, Farrington Field – you name it. We’re excited about having our crew and actors experience the famous Fort Worth hospitality.”

The trio of Texans is already under way with an impressive slate of projects that are poised to follow the launch of “12 Mighty Orphans”.

Future Presidio projects include THE LAST FULL MEASURE, an examination of true heroism, courage under fire, and one of the great untold stories of the Vietnam war: 34 years after his death, William H. Pitsenbarger, Jr is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his extraordinary actions on the battlefield. Also slated is RIO GRANDE, based on the book “One Ranger: A Memoir”, the best-selling memoir of legendary Texas Ranger H. Joaquin Jackson. THE EMPTY QUARTER is a cautionary and timely tale of the collision of Muslim and Christian cultures, set on a high-pressure drilling rig in Saudi Arabia’s barren Rub al Khali desert. THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, a powerful story of the bonds of a cross-racial friendship, is set in the world of Delta Soul music, during America’s Civil Rights era; the lessons it teaches are as crucial today, if not more so, than they were fifty years ago.

Presidio Pictures
Todd Allen
tallen@presidio-pictures.com
or
Porter Farrell, 817-247-1636
pfarrell@presidio-pictures.com