Indie Film Vets Kristin Mann, Laura D. Smith Launch Production Shingle (Exclusive)

Prowess Pictures is set to shoot later this year Martha Stephens’ ‘Forsaken’ and the scotch whiskey world-set comedy ‘Tastings.’

Veteran indie film producers Kristin Mann and Laura D. Smith are launching their own film and TV production shingle, Prowess Pictures.

Mann, best known for producing Jeff Nichols’ mystery drama Midnight Special, which starred Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton, will partner with Smith, whose indie film credits include David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows and Brett Haley’s I’ll See You in My Dreams.

The duo will produce indie films with budgets over $5 million, while also doing studio projects and creating and producing TV series.

“We’re finding it more important than ever to strike that balance between high-quality, critically acclaimed projects with those that also have the potential for mass appeal and innovative releases in the rapidly evolving marketplace,” Smith said in a statement.

Prowess’ debut feature, Martha Stephens’ To the Stars, starring Malin Akerman and Tony Hale, bowed at Sundance, and Mann and Smith recently wrapped production on The Quarry, a thriller by director Scott Teems and starring Michael Shannon and Shea Whigham.

The production shingle’s next projects include the suspense feature Forsaken, directed by Stephens and set during the Mexican Revolution, and the comedy Tastings, about two older women in the world of scotch whiskey.

No word on casting for either project, both of which will shoot later this year.

Prowess has secured development funding for future projects from Arkansas-based Rockhill Studios, which earlier executive produced To the Stars and The Quarry.

Elsa Ramo from Ramo Law represents Prowess Pictures.

View this article at The Hollywood Reporter.