'Anora': Sean Baker won the PGA and DGA awards on the same night last awards season, then went on to take the WGA's original screenplay prize, while Nickel Boys won adapted. Courtesy of NEON Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Production outfit Department M is in talks to acquire a major stake in Anora distributor Neon. Mike Larocca and Michael Schaefer's Department M is being backed by a consortium of private investors, including Forta Advisors, which backed Department M at its launch two years ago. Larocca and Schaefer spent years as producers before breaking off to raise financing to form Department M. Larocca was a longtime right hand to the Russo Bros, co-founding their banner AGBO and producing films such as Extraction, The Grey Man and Cherry before departing. Schaefer worked for Ridley Scott at Scott Free, earning an Oscar nomination for producing The Martian, and spent almost seven years at New Regency before co-founding Department M. Related Stories Movies Neon Lands Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Next Movie 'All of a Sudden' Movies 'EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert' Review: Baz Luhrmann Raids the Vaults for an Electrifying Companion Piece to His 2022 Bio-Drama Department M's slate of films includes horror The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Steven Soderbergh's latest The Christophers, the latter of which was picked up for distribution by Neon out of last year's Toronto International Film Festival. For its part, Neon is an awards season regular, having distributed best picture winners Anora and Parasite. Founded in 2017 by Tom Quinn, Neon has found particular success releasing international films (The Secret Agent, Anatomy of a Fall) and genre titles (Longlegs, The Monkey). Recent releases include Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value, Jafar Panahi's It Was Just An Accident and Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice. Neon, which has previously explored a sale, is considered to be one of the biggest players in the domestic specialty space. A presence at every festival (the company has famously acquired the distribution rights to six consecutive Palme d'Or winners), Neon recently acquired the North American rights to queer horror Leviticus out of this year's Sundance. Neon and Department M declined to comment on the prospective deal. Variety was the first report the acquisition talks. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up Netflix Netflix's Chief Comms Officer Dani Dudeck Makes Two Key VP Hires Overseas (Exclusive) social media OpenAI Poaches Instagram's Celebrity Consigliere to Lead Creative Partnerships THR, Esq FCC Chair to Hollywood: Talk Shows Aren't Legitimate News cineplex Ellis Jacob Set for CinemaCon Honor Roku Roku Hires Patrick Harris as Global Media Revenue Executive Cinemark Cinemark Earnings: The Final Quarter of 2025 Was No Final Quarter of 2024 Netflix Netflix's Chief Comms Officer Dani Dudeck Makes Two Key VP Hires Overseas (Exclusive) social media OpenAI Poaches Instagram's Celebrity Consigliere to Lead Creative Partnerships THR, Esq FCC Chair to Hollywood: Talk Shows Aren't Legitimate News cineplex Ellis Jacob Set for CinemaCon Honor Roku Roku Hires Patrick Harris as Global Media Revenue Executive Cinemark Cinemark Earnings: The Final Quarter of 2025 Was No Final Quarter of 2024