Unified Pictures
- Open roles
- 0
- Founded
- 2004
- Employees
- 11-50
- Offices
- 1
About Unified Pictures
Unified Pictures is an independent film and animation production studio based in the Los Angeles area. Founded in 2004, the company develops, finances, produces, and distributes original motion pictures, with work spanning independent drama, commercial action thrillers, computer-generated animated features, and franchise intellectual property.
Its production activities extend from project development, acquisition, and packaging through casting, physical production, finishing, and distribution planning. Alongside live-action filmmaking, the studio maintains an in-house animation pipeline and participates in animation co-productions. Its financing and sales activities support projects intended for theatrical, streaming, home entertainment, and international territorial release.
Live-action filmmaking
The studio’s feature work includes David Rosenthal’s A Single Shot, George Tillman Jr.’s The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete, and Clark Gregg’s Trust Me. Its collaborations with William H. Macy include his directorial debut, Rudderless, and the comedy The Layover. Other productions include Elizabeth Chomko’s family drama What They Had and S. Craig Zahler’s thriller Dragged Across Concrete.
Festival presentations have formed part of the company’s release history. A Single Shot appeared at Berlin and Tribeca, while The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete and What They Had screened at Sundance. Rudderless closed the 2014 Sundance Film Festival before its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, and Dragged Across Concrete premiered at Venice.
More recent live-action productions include Brad Furman’s Tin Soldier, featuring Jamie Foxx and Robert De Niro, and Renny Harlin’s The Beast, featuring Samuel L. Jackson and Joel Kinnaman.
Animation and franchise development
The company’s animation slate includes The Ark and the Aardvark, a CG feature directed by John Stevenson. Its broader development work encompasses adaptations of literary, comic, and gaming properties for screen and other entertainment formats. This includes work around Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D, with development extending into the comic series Message from Mars and planned screen adaptations.
More about Unified Pictures
Founders and leadership
- Keith Kjarval is a founder, producer, and chief executive; Kurt Rauer is a founder, producer, and chief operating officer.
- Tim Montijo is also identified as a co-founder.
- Ben Ruffman serves as president of production and partner, Shaun Clapham as chief strategy officer, and Lois Ungar as chief financial officer.
Financing model
The studio's capital-formation work includes equity syndication, private placement offerings, senior debt packaging, and co-financing structures, combining several financing mechanisms within its production business.
Historical collaborations
An early alliance with David Lynch and his Absurda label involved handling foreign distribution for Lynch's library. The report also identifies Unified's executive-production involvement in Lynch's Inland Empire (2006) and Werner Herzog's My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009).
From 2017 onward, Unified North America was used as an integrated domestic distribution and packaging banner rather than a separate operating studio.
Notable credits
26 creditsOffices
Where Unified Pictures is based
- 19773 Bahama Street, Northridge, CA 91324, United StatesLos Angeles, California, United States
Unified Pictures Studio & Corporate Headquarters
HeadquartersAbout this office
Located in Northridge, a district of Los Angeles; serves as the sole corporate headquarters, administrative office, production studio, and animation production hub.
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