First feature film
about The Beatles to secure music rights to their songs
New York, NEW YORK (October 10, 2012) – Award-winning
producer and writer, Vivek J. Tiwary, is set to write and produce a feature
film adaptation of his upcoming graphic novel, THE FIFTH BEATLE, which
chronicles the life of The Beatles little-known manager, Brian Epstein. As Paul
McCartney said, “If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian.” This
groundbreaking project also marks the first time a feature film about the band
has ever secured rights to include Beatles songs.
Tiwary has signed a deal with Sony/ATV (who control the
Lennon/McCartney music catalog) which gives him unprecedented access to Beatles
songs for the film.
The graphic novel, THE FIFTH BEATLE, is being written by Tiwary
and drawn by fan-favorite artist Andrew Robinson (STAR WARS, BATMAN, SUPERMAN)
with additional contributions by multiple Eisner and Harvey award-winning
artist Kyle Baker (PLASTIC MAN, WHY I HATE SATURN, NAT TURNER). It is slated to
be published in 2013. Both Robinson and Tiwary will attend the upcoming New
York Comic Con from October 10th-14th to present the
graphic novel and meet fans. Artwork from the novel will be exclusively
displayed online at www.thefifthbeatle.com.
On Wednesday, October 10 at 7pm, Tiwary and Robinson will
appear on the panel “A Celebration of Pop Music Comics” at Jim Hanley’s
Universe store. They will then sign exclusive artwork from THE FIFTH BEATLE at
New York Comic Con’s Dark Horse booth at the Javitz Center on Friday, October
12th at 5pm.
THE FIFTH BEATLE from M Press Books, a division of Dark
Horse Comics, recounts the untold true story of Epstein, the brilliant
visionary who discovered The Beatles and helped guide the band to international
stardom as their manager, securing their first record deal at a time when no
one else was interested, and successfully bringing them to the world stage with
a scale and scope no music impresario had ever attempted.
Epstein’s boast—“The Beatles will be bigger than Elvis!”—
seemed absurd in 1961, but proved humbly prophetic by 1967. When he died
at the age of 32, he was an extremely successful artist manager and
entertainment impresario, but a painfully lonely young man. The film will
deal with Epstein’s struggles with his sexuality and religion, while
desperately trying to fit into the “Fab Four’s” world.
“My interest in the Brian Epstein story began almost 20
years ago, when I decided that music management was the area of the
entertainment industry that I first wanted to pursue,” says Vivek. “ I
had been a lifelong Beatles fan, so I thought that it made sense to study the
management of the band that had written the rules of the modern music industry.
What I unearthed after much research (there is a paltry amount of
information readily available on Brian, which is part of why I want to bring
his story to the world) was not just an inspirational business story and a
blueprint for what I wanted to accomplish with my career, but also a very human
story. This is a true labor of love, passion project for me.”
Tiwary is represented by David Alpert and Lawrence Mattis at
Circle of Confusion.
ABOUT VIVEK J. TIWARY
Vivek J. Tiwary is an award-winning producer, writer, and
financier for film, television, theater, music, and graphic novels. He is the
producer and writer of “The Fifth Beatle,” a feature film and graphic novel
based on the life of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. “The Fifth Beatle” has
secured unprecedented access to Beatles’ music and is in development to shoot
in 2013. In television, Vivek sold a sitcom pilot “Punk Rock Dad” to CBS, based
on the bestselling memoir/parenting manual by Pennywise lead singer Jim
Lindberg, and he is developing a number of additional series including “Ascension,”
a historical fiction / thriller juxtaposing the history of astronomy with
mankind’s future in the stars. On Broadway, Vivek’s productions have won a
combined 25 Tony Awards from 44 Tony nominations—every single one of his shows
have been decorated. They include “The Addams Family,” Green Day’s “American
Idiot” (the groundbreaking adaptation of the superstar rock band’s
multi-platinum album), Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” (the most Tony Awards ever)
and “Young Frankenstein”, “A Raisin In The Sun” (starring Sean Combs), and “A
Little Night Music” (starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury).
Off-Broadway, Vivek produced a theatrical collaboration between
electropop/performance artists Fischerspooner and avant-garde theatre
collective The Wooster Group (founded by Willem Dafoe, Spalding Gray, and
others) that launched the 2008 Sao Paulo Art Bienal. Vivek also serves on the
Board of Directors for Valiant Entertainment (www.valiantentertainment.com), a
multi-platform company that boasts the third largest and most-loved universe of
comic book characters and has been hailed by the New York Times as “Marvel
2.0”. Prior to founding Tiwary Entertainment Group (www.tiwaryent.com) and online music
education/empowerment company StarPolish, Vivek held a number of major label
music-industry positions, including launching and heading the Alternative
Marketing Department at Mercury/PolyGram Records, and managing Video Promotion
for Mercury/PolyGram, where he worked closely with MTV and VH1. Vivek has
worked with artists covering the entire musical spectrum including Bruce
Springsteen, Shania Twain, Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam, Kiss, LL Cool J, John
Mellencamp, Allen Ginsberg, Oasis, Hanson, 311 and The Mighty Mighty BossTones
to name but a few. Among many charitable pursuits, Vivek is the Co-Founder of
Musicians On Call (www.musiciansoncall),
a nonprofit organization that uses music and entertainment to complement the
healing process. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of both the Wharton School of
Business and the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Vivek also holds a filmmaking certificate from The New York Film Academy and is
an acting student of Susan Batson/Black Nexxus Acting Studio.
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