James Cardwell, Esq.
Jim Cardwell holds a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Manchester and a Juris Doctor from Purdue Law School. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and is licensed to practice law in California.
Mr. Cardwell spent thirty years at Warner Bros. and was President (worldwide) of the world's largest home video distribution company, WHV. He created two new divisions (TV on DVD and Special Interest) and was instrumental in paving the way for WHV's strategic positioning in emerging technologies such as Hi-Def DVD, electronic sell-though, portable video, and digital distribution. He was responsible for Warner Home Video's purchase of video distribution rights to the MGM, UA, Cannon, Thorn EMI, and other libraries.
Mr. Cardwell served on the Management Committee for Warner Bros. which was responsible for green lighting theatrical productions, and the marketing committee, which determined the marketing strategy for each motion picture.
After departing Warner Bros, Mr. Cardwell launched a consulting company that provided consulting, distribution, and financing services for motion pictures. He acquired E-T Pictures, a full-service North American motion picture distribution company with a library of over 250 titles.
Mr. Cardwell was Chairman of WR Films, which he formed to acquire literary rights and produce motion pictures based on such rights. He also led successful efforts to publicly list WR Films on the Norwegian stock exchange.
Mr. Cardwell is an experienced legal and production executive and has provided services to such motion pictures as Blacklight, Not Another Church Movie, Werewolves (Year 2) and Dweller. Such services included writing agreements, union agreements (SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, Teamsters and others), copyright registration, acting, directing, producing and music licensing agreements, financing agreements (debt, equity gap, mezz) and distribution arrangements.