Film finance and production company Productivity Media Inc. has suspended its CEO amid a probe over allegations of financial mismanagement, the company tells The Hollywood Reporter. It recently informed investors that its executive team had brought in auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers to check its books and review loans.
“We can confirm that there is an ongoing confidential investigation and that William Santor is currently on a temporary leave of absence,” a representative said.
Multiple sources tell THR that at least some producers on PMI productions — independent films with budgets typically under $10 million — have not been paid their full fees and believe distribution efforts may be imperiled by the issues now under review. “It is the company’s policy not to comment on these types of alleged contractual matters in a public forum,” the PMI representative said.
Santor, the founder of PMI, didn’t respond to a request for comment. He’s long operated Prosapia, a Canadian wealth management firm which says it services multiple family offices.
PMI has been a Hollywood lender for more than a decade. It provides financing secured against distribution rights as well as interim financing secured against tax credit rebates. Its best-known projects have included Aubrey Plaza’s indies The Little Hours and Black Bear.
Since the pandemic, a group of PMI projects have been shot in the Cayman Islands — including Ron Perlman’s vigilante action movie The Baker and Don Johnson’s thriller Unit 234 — under a multi-production pact made with the self-governing British territory’s film commission. (The Cayman Islands are known as a hub for offshore banking, not entertainment production.) “[The government’s] vision to develop and foster a robust film industry is very exciting, while offering a safe and secure place for production in these unprecedented times,” Santor told Screen Daily in 2021.
PMI’s buzziest upcoming film, black-and-white boxing drama Day of the Fight — the directorial debut of Jack Huston starring his former Boardwalk Empire costar Michael C. Pitt — recently hired the awards season consultants behind Parasite’s successful 2020 Academy Award best picture campaign.