SCADpro partners with FilmHedge's Jon Gosier on $15 million feature production

SCAD alum to film directorial debut on university's new LED volume stage in Atlanta
Renowned producer Chris De La Torre joins 'Collateral Data'

Atlanta, Jan. 19, 2023 — The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and Southbox Entertainment and FilmHedge founder Jon Gosier (B.F.A. sequential art) announced today a new partnership as part of the university’s innovative SCADpro program. Gosier's upcoming action-thriller Collateral Data will be the first feature film shot on the university's newest LED volume stage, which launched in September 2022 at SCAD Atlanta's recently expanded SCAD Digital Media Center.

Based on Code Switch, a personal memoir about hip-hop, hackers, and Africa's tech revolution, Gosier's original screenplay Collateral Data examines the effects of data on privacy, public safety, and philanthropy. His screenplay caught the attention of Emmy Award-winning producer Chris De La Torre (The Square, The Great Hack), who has joined the production team that also includes Gosier, Cassidy Rast, and Jason Corder. The film will begin shooting on SCAD Atlanta's LED volume stage this summer, with current SCAD students getting hands-on experience as part of the program.

"We are thrilled to collaborate and partner with Southbox on their upcoming feature film, Collateral Data, said SCADpro Vice President Paul Stonick." This project will include exceptionally talented SCAD students and faculty across multiple majors, providing them valuable insights into industry trends and practices, strengthening their knowledge base and preparing them for their creative professions. The size and scope of this partnership is unique, innovative, and transcends multiple facilities, locations and resources, including SCAD's trailblazing LED volume stage — filmmaking's next frontier."

Every year, SCADpro generates more than 50 industry-sponsored projects, pairing innovative companies with the brightest creative students, alumni, and professors. SCADpro integrates multiple disciplines, offering partners innovative, student-generated concepts and solutions from a wide variety of career tracks. Representing the designers, thinkers, and influencers of tomorrow, SCAD students research, develop, and deliver professional results all within an academic setting. Top brands, including Coca-Cola, Google, Amazon, Delta Air Lines, NASA, Hewlett-Packard, Coty, Deloitte, and more, have collaborated on SCADpro assignments over the last five years.

"Our film will be among those privileged few to use this leading-edge technology, which advances the way stories are crafted," Gosier said. "To be the first director utilizing the SCAD LED volume stage for a feature is truly an honor. I had no idea that 25 years after enrolling at SCAD that I would be returning in a professional capacity to direct my first feature."

Gosier attended SCAD as an undergraduate sequential art student, time he credits for lighting his passion for storytelling and technology. Prior to his work in film, Gosier spent 10 years in venture capital and tech, founding the ad-tech company Audigent in 2014. The company made its debut on the Inc. 5000 in the top 5% of fastest growing companies and was ranked among the top 100 fastest growing companies in the country on the 2022 Deloitte Technology Fast 500. He was named one of the new faces of Black Leadership in 2015 by Time Magazine. His 2014 TED Talk about ethical innovation has been viewed millions of times. In December 2021, Gosier’s fintech venture, FilmHedge, kicked off with a $5 million seed round, including an investment from SCADpro Fund. Complementing the university’s preeminent curriculum, SCADpro Fund invests in new ventures by SCAD alumni, helping them scale fast and solve business challenges through innovation by design. FilmHedge will support the production of Collateral Data with its financial solutions, tailor-made for feature productions with budgets between $1 million and $50 million.

SCAD is the only university in the world with two LED volume stages, which are also the largest at any academic institution in the U.S. Extended reality technologies like SCAD’s LED volume stages are groundbreaking innovations that represent filmmaking’s next frontier, combining live-action performance and real-time environments live on set to merge the real and virtual worlds.

Students from top-ranked degree programs in the SCAD School of Animation and Motion and the SCAD School of Film and Acting will be among the first in the world actively working and collaborating on LED volumes, taking their filmmaking and storytelling capabilities to new heights. SCAD Atlanta’s trailblazing LED volume is an investment into the future of SCAD students and reinforces the university’s contributions to Georgia’s multibillion-dollar film and television industry.

About SCADpro

Fueled by inventive students and superstar faculty, SCADpro is a high-performance boutique design consultancy within SCAD that provides fast, smart, bottom-line business results for hundreds of global clients. Operating in the U.S. and Europe, SCADpro solves creative challenges for Fortune 500 clients in finance, health care, hospitality, entertainment, technology, automotive, e-commerce, and more. Contact SCADpro Vice President Paul Stonick to learn more about partnerships and pricing at [email protected].

About SCAD

SCAD is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering more than 100 graduate and undergraduate degree programs across locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow. SCAD enrolls more than 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 120 countries. The future-minded SCAD curriculum engages professional-level technology and myriad advanced learning resources, affording students opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and real-world assignments with corporate partners through SCADpro, the university’s renowned research lab and prototype generator. SCAD is No. 1 in the U.S., according to Art & Object’s 2023 Best Art Schools ranking, with additional top rankings for degree programs in interior design, architecture, film, fashion, digital media, and more. Career success is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. For the past five years, 99% of SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 10 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with ongoing career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more. For more information, visit scad.edu.

About FilmHedge

FilmHedge is a fintech platform that provides private credit and financing solutions to qualified film and TV producers, offering up to $10 million per film or TV production. In addition to financing, the company uses data to track film and TV production financial data, rates, and the credit worthiness of producers and production companies. In 2022, FilmHedge successfully closed on $100 million in financing to meet growing demand. For more information on FilmHedge, visit filmhedge.com.

About Southbox Entertainment

Atlanta-based Southbox Entertainment, the production company behind the film, is focused on important true-to-life dramas, thrillers, and comedies that draw from intellectual property acquired from around the globe. For more information, visit southboxent.com.

Media Contacts:
Wendy Gardner
SCAD Senior Director of Public Relations
[email protected]

Lynn Trono
Allison+Partners for Southbox Entertainment
[email protected]