{"id":4084,"date":"2011-06-06T08:28:54","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T15:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=4084"},"modified":"2014-01-25T18:10:32","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T23:10:32","slug":"hollywood-insider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=4084","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood insider"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kevin Kasha '83<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kevin Kasha<\/strong> loves Steve McQueen. He owns a replica of the King of Cool\u2019s Ford Mustang from Bullitt<\/em>, also the name of Kasha\u2019s fantasy football team. The film\u2019s legendary car chase is the best of all time, according to Kasha, because of its \u201cpurity. The characters were the cars.\u201d (A reporter\u2019s nomination for The French Connection<\/em> is politely shot down.) The poster for the 1968 classic adorns a wall in his office, which is home to other inspirational trinkets and paraphernalia that brand Kasha as a movie lover, one who got hooked thanks to afternoon flicks on the tube and Friday night jaunts to the Forum Theatre.<\/p>\n

In that same office, Kasha serves as the executive vice president for worldwide acquisitions and co-productions at Anchor Bay Films. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at scripts, screeners, screening films, meeting with filmmakers, meeting with potential investors,\u201d says Kasha, a 1983 business graduate who also had successful executive stints at New Line Home Entertainment and Miramax Films. \u201cIt covers everything from executive producing a film to actually screening a completed film and figuring out the right price to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes the passion and professionalism come together. Kasha is working with Neile McQueen-Toffel, the movie star\u2019s first wife, on developing her memoir, Steve McQueen: My Husband, My Friend<\/em>, for the screen.<\/p>\n

From film buff to studio exec<\/h3>\n

Growing up in Woodbridge, New Jersey, Kasha was into movies, but \u201cnot the way everyone else was,\u201d remembers longtime friend Joe Russo. Kasha could recite the biographies of actors who were mostly only recognized by their agents or family members. Russo once asked Kasha what possessed him to retain such information. The response: \u201cThey\u2019re stars, too.\u201d The family loved movies, says Kasha\u2019s sister, Eileen Plesnarski \u201978<\/strong>, but he \u201cbrought it beyond the word \u2018hobby.\u2019\u201d Plesnarski says Kasha had a knack for retaining facts about anything that interested him. \u201cHe\u2019s Mr. Trivia,\u201d jokes Plesnarski.<\/p>\n

Even at New Line Home Entertainment, he stood out. Kasha\u2019s office nickname was \u201cVideo Rain Man,\u201d a nod to Dustin Hoffman\u2019s classic phonebook-memorizing savant. \u201cHe had an internal database of information about films and stars and B-actors and C-actors that other people just didn\u2019t have,\u201d says Stephen Einhorn, formerly the company\u2019s president and chief operating officer.<\/p>\n

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Michael Douglas and Jesse Eisenberg in "Solitary Man" (above) and Andy Garcia and the cast of "City Island" (below, right); Kasha acquired both films for Anchor Bay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Underneath the encyclopedic knowledge of character actors lay a keen understanding of what made a movie successful. \u201cSomeone would say [a movie title] and Kevin would say, \u2018It wasn\u2019t sold that way, and it didn\u2019t perform this way, and these were the elements that made it work, and these were the elements that weren\u2019t successful,\u2019\u201d Einhorn says. \u201cHe could bring to bear a huge amount of information. These were in meetings. People learned there wasn\u2019t much point in disputing him, because he was always right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to Einhorn\u2019s tutelage, Kasha\u2014whose big-time industry experience started in sales, distribution, and marketing at the late Vestron, which introduced Dirty Dancing<\/em> to the world\u2014learned how movies got made. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in acquisitions, you\u2019re essentially production anyway, because you\u2019re pre-buying films,\u201d Einhorn explains, \u201cand you have to pick up the process: scripts, budgets, expense categories, what the delivery schedules are, the clearances are. You need to know that, just the way any producer does. And Kevin does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kasha, 50, joined Anchor Bay Films in 2008. \u201cI like the independent film world,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re responsible for everything from start to finish.\u201d He acquired 2009\u2019s art house, character-driven hits Solitary Man<\/em> and City Island<\/em>, which were also dark horse Oscar contenders. He also spearheaded Anchor Bay\u2019s video distribution deals with The Weinstein Company\u2014founded by Kasha\u2019s former Miramax bosses, Bob and Harvey Weinstein\u2014and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The Winstein Company is responsible for theatrical hits ranging from The Reader<\/em> to The King\u2019s Speech<\/em>, while the UFC continues to chip away at boxing\u2019s relevancy.<\/p>\n

In acquiring movies, Kasha says a project has to make \u201ceconomic sense.\u201d Liking something isn\u2019t enough. \u201cYou\u2019d be amazed how many people will make a movie or will be involved in a movie, and you ask them, \u2018Who\u2019s the audience for it?\u2019 and they don\u2019t know,\u201d Kasha says. \u201cThat\u2019s a bad formula.\u201d That scenario doesn\u2019t mean a dead end. \u201cHe\u2019s always on the side of the filmmaker,\u201d Einhorn says. \u201cHe\u2019ll always do the right thing\u201d\u2014including recommending other places where the film could get made. \u201cHe\u2019s just a genuine person who loves movies and wants to help filmmakers get their films made,\u201d says colleague Michele Sanchez, who has worked with Kasha for about six years.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI don\u2019t know why anyone would be in this business if you don\u2019t love movies,\u201d says Kasha, who makes no attempt to hide it. (Remember the office?) \u201cI take my responsibilities very seriously. I don\u2019t take myself very seriously.\u201d Sue Procko, whose firm SPPR handles public relations for Anchor Bay Films, compares Kasha to \u201ca kid at a candy store at film festivals.\u201d At this year\u2019s Sundance Film Festival, he got into good-natured disagreements with film critics. \u201cHe loves being around people,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

According to Procko, a 23-year Hollywood PR veteran, Kasha is one of \u201cprobably 20 people in the industry that I\u2019ve come across that have that kind of passion. He knows films; he seems to get a kick out of his job. It\u2019s infectious when you\u2019re around [him].\u201d<\/p>\n

Coolest job ever<\/h3>\n

Kasha laughs when asked if he has the coolest job among his friends and family members. \u201cMaybe,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s quick to note that the film industry is like any other business. \u201cYou deal with people who have strong opinions and egos, but you\u2019re dealing with people who are very passionate about their project. I respect that,\u201d he says. \u201cNot every movie is going to be my cup of tea, but I see if there\u2019s a business opportunity with the movie. It may not be my kind of movie, but if there\u2019s a chance for the movie to be successful for the company or the filmmakers, you support that.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce in a while,\u201d he adds, \u201cI\u2019ll catch myself going, \u2018Oh, Andy Garcia [the star of City Island<\/em>] just said, \u2018Let\u2019s grab a drink, Kev.\u2019 The nice thing is a lot of times you look up at the screen and [the actors] are larger than life and they\u2019re heroes to you, but when you sit down you realize, \u2018They have families. They have issues. They\u2019re just regular people.\u2019 That\u2019s one of the nicer parts of the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the subjects discussed over drinks? Steve McQueen, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kevin Kasha \u201983 has been a key player in the entertainment industry for more than two decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":4086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-june-2011"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}