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250:, but the interested financiers wanted the script shortened. After several years of negotiations, Russell's agents were ready to move on if the movie was not fully financed in a matter of months. To secure financing for the film, in 2014, Sonnier took a new mortgage on his house. The film failed at the box office, but found success in ancillary markets like DVD sales and VOD rentals.
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while still in high school, and later as an undergrad, becoming one of five students to inaugurate the school's joint business-film program, introducing him to studio executives, entertainment attorneys, agents, and talent managers. During this period, he learned about aspects of the film making
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Sonnier has stated that his approach to production is giving total creative freedom to writers and directors while also keeping budgets low enough that their projects can still be profitable. In interviews, he has been adamant about not making films that "pander" to any audience, as well as not
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Beginning his career as an agent, Sonnier later gravitated towards production, initially founding the
California-based Caliber Media with partner Jack Heller. Wanting to bring major film productions to the state of Texas, he returned there in 2016 to found the Dallas-based production company
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Sonnier founded
Cinestate upon his move back to Dallas from California. According to him, the unique selling point of the company was that it produced films that were creatively unfiltered by producers or executives, and which represented the artistic vision of their creators.
221:, beginning in the mailroom and working his way up to Agent Trainee. After a few years, he left the agency to join a start-up management firm run by David Schiff. In 2008, Sonnier and Jack Heller, a USC classmate, founded Caliber Media. While attending
229:, eventually collaborating with him on nine low-budget action movies that were sold to distributors and premiered on DVD and video-on-demand. Caliber segued into other independent projects, before raising funds for two years in order to shoot
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filtering directors' creativity. His business model relies on making films as widely available as possible—through purchase, rental, or streaming—on multiple platforms to "piece together" revenue from every possible source.
257:, Sonnier departed Caliber to found Cinestate, a production company based in Dallas, with the intention of bringing film production to Texas. Sonnier would go on to collaborate with Zahler for two more films:
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While revenue from
Cinestate productions were a fraction of major studio releases, the company remained profitable by keeping production costs low and relying on word-of-mouth.
197:, shortly before he was born in 1980. Sonnier's nickname originated with his parents referring to him as "the Dallas baby" and the moniker stuck with him throughout his life.
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Sonnier developed an ambition to begin making movies while still in high school; to this end, he began taking continuing education classes in screenwriting at
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article alleging misconduct on
Cinestate sets, Sonnier was criticized for downplaying abusive behavior and endangering employees. The scandal led to
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Sonnier is also an advocate for filmmaking outside of New York and Los
Angeles and not relying on the model of traditional studio systems.
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Cinestate also extended its brand into other content, publishing six genre novels (three under the
Cinestate imprint and three under a
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being sold, all of
Cinestate's social media and websites went dormant, the company was closed and its entire staff was laid off.
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during the Summer before his senior year at
Highland Park High School. He attended film classes at the
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946:"Scandal Is No Object: With Its First Film Slate, Daily Wire Embraces Those Out of Hollywood's Favor"
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and relaunched the defunct magazine as a print-only publication; he additionally expanded the
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brand, including the horror movie magazine, and relaunched it as a division of
Cinestate.
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Dallas
Sonnier was born Joseph Albert Sonnier IV in the Highland Park neighborhood of
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In 2018, Sonnier completed the deal to acquire all the assets and trademarks of the
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In 2020, following the arrest of producer Adam Donaghey for sexual assault and a
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In 2022, Sonnier became a key architect for the entertainment division of
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890:"How a "Populist" Film Studio Is Turning Rage and Violence Into Revenue"
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became print only and Sonnier hired a brand-new editor-in-chief,
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brand to encompass a publishing and film production company.
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imprint), as well as audiobook adaptations of screenplays.
181:, US. His parents, Becky and Dr. Joseph Sonnier moved from
153:(2019), among others. In 2018, he purchased the rights to
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After graduating from USC, Sonnier obtained a job with
997:"HiT Episode No. 117 – Cinestate CEO Dallas Sonnier"
1011:"Fox4ward: Making Movies for a Different Audience"
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129:magazine. He has producing credits on the films
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1084:@SonnyBunch (June 10, 2020).
971:"Filmmaking In The Trump Era"
856:"Bone Tomahawk - Video Sales"
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683:Snow White and the Evil Queen
577:The Standoff at Sparrow Creek
202:Southern Methodist University
144:The Standoff at Sparrow Creek
1062:Simek, Peter (August 2020).
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227:Stone Cold Steve Austin
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894:The Hollywood Reporter
550:Brawl in Cell Block 99
465:3 Nights in the Desert
260:Brawl in Cell Block 99
138:Brawl in Cell Block 99
37:Dallas Sonnier in 2019
16:American film producer
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292:Production philosophy
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1017:. November 19, 2018
918:Schwartzel, Erich.
810:. November 23, 2016
223:San Diego Comic-Con
1043:. October 12, 2017
896:. January 28, 2019
781:. October 15, 2016
755:. January 18, 2019
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331:Birth.Movies.Death
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753:Dallas News
447:The Package
350:Daily Beast
165:Cinestate.
147:(2018) and
82:Occupations
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692:References
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183:Shreveport
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527:Condemned
304:Cinestate
187:Louisiana
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975:Wbur.org
728:IMDb.com
456:Bad Milo
355:Fangoria
342:Fangoria
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322:Fangoria
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141:(2017),
135:(2015),
126:Fangoria
1094:Twitter
924:Wsj.com
638:Shut In
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361:Movies
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113:Dallas
64:Dallas
1090:Tweet
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195:Texas
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