‘Echo Lake launches management division under Marcus' Screen Daily June 20, 2006 Article by Jeremy Kay Echo Lake founder and president Doug Mankoff has launched a management venture under the expanded and newly renamed umbrella company Echo Lake Entertainment. Former CAA agent and MGM president Mike Marcus will head Echo Lake Management, and brings a client roster that includes Water director Deepa Mehta, and New Zealand writer-director Toa Fraser, whose screenwriting credits include River Queen and this year's Sundance competition entry No.2. Longtime Echo Lake executive Amotz Zakai has been named a vice president at Echo Lake Management and will spearhead the company's efforts to sign international filmmakers and writers. Marcus will produce and serve as executive producer on projects for Echo Lake Productions, the production and finance arm that Mankoff and executive vice president Andrew Spaulding will continue to run. Pictured left to right are Mankoff, Marcus and Spaulding. "From his many years at CAA and as head of MGM, Mike Marcus brings a wealth of experience and relationships to Echo Lake," Mankoff said. "His presence allows us to make the logical transition to management as well as to bring our skills as producers to studio level projects." "At Echo Lake, one of our strategies is to foster relationships with creative and talented international filmmakers wanting to transition into English-language films," Spaulding said. "With our expansion into management, we can work with these filmmakers on projects with Echo Lake Productions as well as assisting them in their overall careers." "I am proud to be part of Echo Lake," Marcus added. "Doug and Andy have earned reputations for quality and integrity, and I'm excited about what we can build together. We've already assembled a diverse mix of truly accomplished filmmakers." The client roster include several of Marcus' clients from Cornice Entertainment, the management and production company he formed in 1999. Marcus' existing clients who will now be managed by the new firm include Paul Brickman, Jeremiah Chechik, Howard Deutch, Frederic Raphael, and David Ward. Echo Lake Productions recently signed on to produce Adam Alleca's directorial debut Standoff, a thriller about a troubled war veteran charged with protecting a 10-year-old murder witness. Casting is underway in time for an early autumn shoot. Since forming in 1998, Echo Lake has helped produce and finance 16 pictures including Water, Michael Cuesta's drama 12 And Holding, and Jason Matzner's drama Dreamland, which played in Sundance this year and stars Agnes Bruckner and John Corbett. Upcoming projects include John Dahl's mob comedy You Kill Me starring Ben Kingsley. Mankoff also served as executive producer on Gavin Hood's Oscar winning foreign language picture Tsotsi. Marcus served as a partner at MBST Entertainment, and in 2000 he formed MAC Releasing, becoming co-head of THINKFilm's West Coast office following a merger with that company in 2004.