SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Heyou Media Holdings, Inc., a new media content company founded by actor and filmmaker Tom Skerritt, continues to receive nods from the technology, entertainment and investment communities with a new infusion of investment dollars and top executive additions to its advisory board and team.
Heyou Media announced today that former Facebook and Amazon executive Rudy Gadre has invested in the company and will join its advisory board. Entertainment executive, Warren Etheredge has been appointed to Heyou Media’s core team as VP of Curation and Acquisitions for the company’s worldwide content library.
Gadre will join Pearl Jam manager, Kelly Curtis; Xbox Co-Creator, Ed Fries; and Douglas Shinsato, global business executive, all of whom currently sit on Heyou Media’s advisory board.
“The market is poised for a new form of digital storytelling that will address the growing global appetite for mobile digital content,” said Tom Skerritt, Heyou Media Founder and Chairman. “Our unique vision for entertainment continues to be appreciated by technology and business leaders who repeatedly recognize emerging enterprises and ideas with great potential.”
Rudy Gadre (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rudy-gadre-494243) is a partner at Seattle-based venture capital firm Founder’s Co-op. He also served as Vice President and General Counsel of Facebook, where he was responsible for all of the company’s legal matters, beginning in January 2006. Prior to that he had a long career at Amazon, where he was Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Business Development, New Technologies and Intellectual Property.
“Very few storytelling digital media companies offer the high-powered convergence of Heyou Media’s creative and production experience, industry relationships, business sense and technological savvy,” said Gadre. “The company’s unprecedented approach to the industry is bringing exceptional, smart content in an innovative business model that will help transform the way we view entertainment.”
Warren Etheredge is an experienced filmmaker, writer, producer and well-known Storyfinder™. He is one of the founding faculty of TheFilmSchool (www.thefilmschool.com), helping filmmakers translate their stories for screens big and small, and The Red Badge Project (www.theredbadgeproject.com), helping combat veterans work through PTS and other issues by teaching them the art of storytelling. Etheredge is a screenwriting professor at the University of Washington and hosts “The High Bar” (thehighbar.tv), his Emmy®-nominated television series devoted to “raising the bar.” He has hosted Reel NW (kcts9.org/reel-nw) on KCTS. He is the Founder and Curator for the Walla Walla Movie Crush (www.wallawallamoviecrush.com), America’s most intoxicating blend of short cinema, and formerly served as the Curator of the 1 Reel Film Festival (at Bumbershoot) and as a programmer for the Seattle International Film Festival. He is the founder of The Warren Report (www.thewarrenreport.com).
“There is a huge pool of fantastic, ground-breaking, one-of-a-kind content that few have seen,” said Etheredge. “With Heyou Media, we will finally have the chance to share these masterpieces. I look forward to curating, acquiring and producing exceptional mind-bending, side-splitting, soul-stirring entertainment that will engage and excite viewers across the world in ways they’ve never experienced.”
“The specialized insights and relationships that Rudy and Warren bring will contribute greatly to enhancing Heyou Media’s evolution and momentum,” added Skerritt.
Heyou Media did not disclose the new investment amount, but the company stated that the monies would be used to support productions, marketing, content acquisition and distribution deals.
In August of this year, the company announced its initial investment, and also a distribution agreement with Amazon.
An Emmy Award actor, director and writer in the entertainment industry, Skerritt is recognized for his work in the award-winning films M*A*S*H, TURNING POINT, ALIEN, TOP GUN, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, STEEL MAGNOLIAS and CONTACT; innumerable television shows, the 16-Emmy Award CBS series, PICKET FENCES; and Broadway productions. Skerritt founded TheFilmSchool in 2003 and in 2012, THE RED BADGE PROJECT, a storytelling program for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress (PTS).
Skerritt will star with Armie Hammer in the newly announced Broadway production “Straight White Men” in Summer 2018.
About Heyou Media
Founded in late 2016 by Tom Skerritt, Heyou Media Holdings, Inc. (www.heyoumedia.com) curates, aggregates, develops and distributes new media visual entertainment content, including music, short-form video, web series, virtual reality and special interest videos. Heyou Media is focused on curating, creating and distributing web content from around the world. In addition to the recently announced award-winning “Widow Walk,” Heyou Media is co-producing David Guterson’s “East of the Mountains,” Skerritt’s PTS-focused “What We Came to Be” and the “Stroller Gangs” web series.
Heyou Media holds offices in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington.
