Karl Spoerri, Viviana Vezzani & Tobias Gutzwiller Launch Label Zurich Avenue With Venice Title Dreamin Wild Among Slate

EXCLUSIVE: Karl Spoerri, Viviana Vezzani and Tobias Gutzwiller are officially launching production label Zurich Avenue, which will sit under the banner of their finance company SPG3.

Based in Zurich and LA, the production-specific label will focus on film and TV and currently has ten English and German-language projects in different stages of production.

Among the slate is Bill Pohlad’s Venice Film Festival title Dreamin’ Wild, which stars Casey Affleck, Zooey Deschanel, Walton Goggins, Chris Messina, Noah Jupe, Jack Dylan Grazer and Beau Bridges, and tells the true story of musicians Donnie and Joe Emerson.

Pic was produced in partnership with River Road Entertainment and Innisfree Pictures while SPG3 co-financed with River Road. Kim Roth, Bill Pohlad, Jim Burke, Karl Spoerri and Viviana Vezzani served as producers.

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Currently in production are Greatest Days and Nyad. Coky Giederoic directs the former, the big screen adaptation of UK comedy musical The Band, inspired by UK pop group Take That. Aisling Bea stars in the film, which is produced in partnership with Elysian Films Group’s Danny Perkins, Kate Solomon and Jane Hooks and co-financed by SPG3. The movie shot in London and Athens earlier this year and is expected to release in 2023.

Zurich Avenue have also co-developed the biopic Nyad in association with producers Teddy Schwarzman of Black Bear Pictures and Andrew Lazar. The film about marathon swimmer Diana Nyad is directed by Free Solo duo Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster. Pic is currently in post-production and will launch on Netflix.

“As we diversify and further ramp up the Zurich Avenue slate, our strong focus remains on identifying unique content originating out of our home territories and building long-term partnerships with filmmakers and like-minded producers on both sides of the pond” the Zurich Avenue partners said today.

They added: “We collaborate on projects from scratch, green light them for development, and we have the financing company behind us to be a one-stop shop. At the same time being very open to develop and produce with outside partners and financiers such as streamers or studios.”

SPG3 was launched in 2020 by Spoerri with Urs Wietlisbach and Alfred Gantner, founders of the private equity house Partners Group, and the finance vehicle is run by Spoerri (CEO), Vezzani (COO), and Gutzwiller (CFO).

Previously, Spoerri co-founded the Zurich Film Festival and with Vezzani shaped it into a vibrant stop for Hollywood and arthouse movies. After selling the festival to NZZ Media AG in 2016, Spoerri and Vezzani both stepped down from their  roles in 2019.

The duo went on to be executive producers on Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall. Spoerri also served as executive producer on David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method (2011), Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate (2018), David Lowery’s The Old Man and the Gun (2018), and Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum (2018).

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