Overbrook Entertainment is an American

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

based in

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It was founded by partners

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his Will Smith filmography, acting career starring as Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), a ...

and

James Lassiter James Lassiter is an American film producer, known for being co-founder of Overbrook Entertainment and longtime business partner of actor and rapper Will Smith. Career Lassiter attended University of Miami and Temple University and befriended Jef ...

in 1998, around the same time production for ''

Wild Wild West ''Wild Wild West'' is a 1999 American steampunk Western film co-produced and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock alongside Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, from a story penned by brothers Jim and John ...

'' (1999) was started. The name "Overbrook" is derived from Will Smith's neighborhood in

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

. The company produces music, films and television shows. Smith claimed to have started the company in order to serve as producer and find roles. He uses his role in the company to help unknown artists record music and also records music for some of his films in Overbrook.

History

On November 11, 1997, actor Will Smith (age 29) and manager

signed an overall first-look term deal at

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

. Thus, Overbrook Entertainment was born. It was formally incorporated on February 2, 1998. On September 16, 1998, David Tochterman, formerly employee of

The Carsey-Werner Company The Carsey-Werner Company (previously known as Carsey-Werner Productions and Carsey-Werner-Mandabach Productions, before that, Carsey Productions and also known as Carsey-Werner Television) is an independent production company founded in 1981 by ...

, joined the company and decided to launch the television division. Tochterman produced shows for the broadcast and cable TV networks. On February 11, 1999, the music division is restructured with

John Dukakis John Dukakis (né Chaffetz; born June 9, 1958) is an American entertainer, music executive, and political aide. Early life Dukakis was born John Chaffetz Jr. in San Jose, California on June 9, 1958, but reared in the Boston area. He is the son of ...

, formerly employee of Southpaw Entertainment, signed on as executive vice president of its music division. On May 10, 2000, it was announced that a merger with The Firm was proposed, but it was scrapped. On December 10, 2000, Overbrook Entertainment is renewing its interest in the television division. Its plans was to include a 13-episode animated series commitment for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, as well as a slew of comedy, drama, and telemovies on the broadcast networks. The studio is landing deals for three sitcoms, three dramas and one telefilm for the webnetworks. On January 30, 2002, the studio's contract with

ended. It formally signed a contract with

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, ac ...

to develop feature films. On January 3, 2018, it was announced that the studio wouldn't renew its deal with

. On July 10, 2019, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith announced the formation of Westbrook Inc., with Overbrook Entertainment being as one of the subsidiaries of the company. It is reported that the Westbrook Studios company would sign a deal with National Geographic.

Filmography

Films

2000s

2010s

2020s

Television

2000s

2010s

Soundtrack

Distribution

References

{{Authority control American record labels Film production companies of the United States 1998 establishments in California Record labels based in California Record labels established in 1998 Hip hop record labels Will Smith Companies based in Culver City, California