Screen Media, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (Nasdaq: CSSE) company, announced today that Ryan Phillippe has joined the cast in a key role opposite Bella Thorne (the upcoming Rumble Through the Dark) in Mitzi Peirone’s thriller Saint Clare, based on Don Roff’s hit novel Clare at 16. Rebecca De Mornay, Frank Whaley (Pulp Fiction), Bart Johnson (High School Musical, JAG) and Dylan Flashner (The Card Counter, Collide) are also co-starring. Screen Media will release the film theatrically in North America in 2023. Foresight Unlimited is handling foreign sales.   

Saint Clare follows Clare Bleecker (Thorne), a quiet catholic college student with a divine vocation for killing. Phillippe will play the role of ‘Timmons’, a police officer investigating the latest murder in the small town, with Clare as his prime suspect. Frank Whaley will be playing ‘Mailman Bob’, a ghost from Clare’s past, with Bart Johnson dual starring as twin brothers, ‘Joe’ and ‘Randall’ and Dylan Flashner playing ‘Wade’ in a supporting role. 

Peirone (Braid) is directing the film adaptation from a script by Guinevere Turner (American Psycho) and Peirone. The film will be produced by David Chackler, Arielle Elwes, and Joel Michaely. Executive producers are Cassian Elwes, Seth Needle, Mark Damon, Tamara Birkemoe, Veronica Radaelli, Bella Thorne, Tom Culliver, Nadia Redler, Dave Sereny and Jere Hausfater.

“We are delighted to have Ryan join the team on Saint Clare. His performance opposite Bella Thorne as Detective Timmons is both dark and magnetic on screen,” said the producing team. 

A versatile actor known for films from Crash to Gosford Park and Cruel Intentions, award-winning actor Ryan Phillippe has several upcoming films, including Nicolas Harvard’s The Locksmith with Kate Bosworth and Kaylee Bryant and Mukunda Michael Dewil’s Collide with Drea De Mateo and Kat Graham. Phillippe is represented by The Gersh Agency and MGMT Entertainment. 

Over the course of five decades, Frank Whaley has been a standout in films including Pulp Fiction, The Doors, Swimming with Sharks, and Field of Dreams, as well as series including Ray Donovan, Marvel’s Luke Cage and Power Book II: Ghost. Whaley is represented by A3 Artists Agency and Karen Forman Management.  

Bart Johnson just wrapped an arc on Ryan Murphy's 9-1-1: Lone Star on Fox and premiered in the title role in Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters for Sony. Johnson will forever be known and loved by fans worldwide as ‘Coach Bolton’ in the High School Musical franchise. Bart is repped by INSURGE-Ent.

Dylan Flashner is revamping the term triple threat in the entertainment industry. While he is currently acting and starring alongside industry veterans, including Morgan Freeman, Tiffany Haddish, Mel Gibson, Shannen Doherty, Tye Sheridan and more, Dylan is exercising his skills behind the camera as an executive producer. His most recent acting project, Collide, stars Ryan Phillippe, Drea de Matteo, Kat Graham and David James Elliott. Other acting projects include Vanquish, The Comeback Trail, Farewell Amor, Hot Seat and The Card Counter. As an executive producer, Dylan was most recently a part of Christina Ricci’s latest film, Monstrous now available on streaming platforms. Dylan Flashner is repped by AKA Talent Agency. 

Bella Thorne is repped by CAA and Thor Bradwell from Thirty Three Management.

Screen Media recently acquired Renny Harlin’s action film The Bricklayer starring Aaron Eckhart and Nina Dobrev from Millennium Films, as well as The Locksmith starring Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth, and Ving Rhames. Additional recent acquisitions include Kevin Lewis’ follow-up to Willy’s Wonderland, The Accursed starring Alexis Knapp and Mena Suvari, The Enforcer starring Antonio Banderas and Kate Bosworth as well as The Immaculate Room starring Emile Hirsch and Kate Bosworth and Ashley Greene Khoury. Recent film releases include The Nan Movie starring Catherine Tate, Code Name Bansheestarring Antonio Banderas, Jaime King and Tommy Flanagan, The Good Neighbor starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and the psychological horror film Monstrous starring Christina Ricci. 

ABOUT SCREEN MEDIA VENTURES LLC 

Screen Media Ventures, LLC, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (Nasdaq: CSSE) company, is a leading independent distributor of feature films, television series and documentaries in North America and supplies high-quality content to the global market through its foreign sales division. The company is the main supplier of content to the Crackle Plus streaming services, as well as to third-party streaming platforms. With its recent acquisitions of 1091 Pictures and the Sonar Entertainment library assets, Screen Media continues to expand its library of nearly 7,000 television series and motion pictures. Screen Media’s diverse slate of titles includes critically acclaimed and audience favorites: The Outpost starring Scott Eastwood, Willy’s Wonderland starring Academy Award® Winner Nicolas Cage, groundbreaking documentaries such as The Phenomenon and Grammy-Award Winner Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, and indie film hits including Academy Award® Winner Taika Waititi’s What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. For more information, visit: www.screenmedia.net  

ABOUT FORESIGHT UNLIMITED 

Foresight Unlimited, acquired in 2019 by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc., is one of the industry’s leading independent film sales, production, and distribution companies. The company’s sales group is helmed by president, Tamara Birkemoe, who has been with the company for over 16 years, and oversees all aspects of the company’s slate. With a pioneering entertainment career spanning over 50 years, first as an actor, and then a producer, chairman of Foresight Unlimited, Mark Damon, is considered to be one of the leading authorities on international film financing, distribution and marketing strategies as well as being a successful independent producer, having garnered over 11 Oscar nominations and 1 win (Monster) during his outstanding career.

ABOUT CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL ENTERTAINMENT

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE) (the “Company”) operates video-on-demand (VOD) streaming services. The Company owns Crackle Plus, which owns and operates a variety of ad- supported VOD streaming services including Crackle, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Popcornflix, Popcornflix Kids, Truli, Pivotshare, Españolflix and FrightPix. The Company also acquires and distributes video content through its Screen Media and 1091 Pictures subsidiaries and produces original video content through the Chicken Soup for the Soul Television Group. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is a subsidiary of Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC, which publishes the famous book series and produces super-premium pet food under the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand name.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this press release, and on the current expectations of management and are not predictions of actual performance. Such assumptions involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to our core strategy, operating income and margin, seasonality, liquidity, including cash flows from operations, available funds, and access to financing sources, free cash flows, revenues, net income, profitability, stock price volatility, future regulatory changes, price changes, the ability of the Company’s content offerings to achieve market acceptance, the Company’s success in retaining or recruiting officers, key employees, or directors, the ability to protect intellectual property, the ability to complete strategic acquisitions, the ability to manage growth and integrate acquired operations, the ability to pay dividends, regulatory or operational risks, and general market conditions impacting demand for the Company’s services. For a more complete description of these and other risks and uncertainties, please refer the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, filed with the SEC on March 31, 2022, and the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on May 11, 2022. On May 10, 2022, the Company entered into a merger agreement to acquire Redbox Entertainment, Inc. We refer you to the presentation filed as Exhibit 99.2 under cover of a Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the Company with the SEC on May 22, 2022 for information regarding the proposed business acquisition transaction. If the proposed business acquisition is consummated, in addition to the risks noted above, we also face the risks detailed in Redbox’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations with respect thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based.