Reddy S.J. Reddy
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
SJ Reddy is a financier, studio entrepreneur and booster of Auteur Filmmakers whose work is uniquely focused on the most pressing social problems of our time and their deleterious effect on society at large and the individual in particular. Reddy helps Auteur Filmmakers to write, produce and direct their films, all of which are financed and distributed by MahaFilm Collective; a boutique studio that Reddy created and dedicated to the development, production and delivery of socially themed films intended for the greater good of society.
In workshops for film-school students from UCLA, John Madison University, Drexel University, Temple University and other educational organizations, Reddy provides in-depth and exhaustive lectures on "auteur theory." His particular focus is "Indian Parallel Cinema" (1952-1990s) and his presentations revolve around the work of India's best-known quartet of Parallel Cinema; namely, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak and Tapan Sinha. In addition, he also features the work of famed Indian auteurs such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Govind Nihalani and others. In addition to Indian Parallel Cinema, Reddy's talks feature other major film movements that originated in mid-1900s. These include the Italian Neo Realism movement, the French New Wave, the Hollywood Renaissance movement and Japanese New Wave Cinema. For case studies, Reddy often explores the work of pioneering auteurs such as Roberto Rossellini, Giuseppe De Santis, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Nagisha Oshima, Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Sidney Lumet, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Copolla, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and a few others.
In addition to the financing and production of auteur-films at MahaFilm Collective, Reddy's professional background involves over three decades of capital-advisory services in numerous ventures in North America, Greater Asia and Southern Europe. Primarily involving Technology, Media, Healthcare and Consumer Services companies, Reddy's activities and undertakings have included a wide variety of roles, including that of a founder, co-founder, investor, advisor, board member, board chair, chief executive and/or interim CXO. It is the sum of these experiences --including his past professional career as that of a Wall Street executive and Investment Banker at bulge-bracket firms such as Shearson Lehman, Merrill Lynch, Dean Witter and Morgan Stanley-- that led to Reddy's foray into the world of films, first as a Financier & Producer, and then as a Studio Entrepreneur & Studio Executive. Additionally, before launching Mahafilm, Reddy was a passive investor in over two-dozen socially-themed indie films, short films and student films while also serving as an investor, advisor and corporate director in four Film and Animation Studios in the U.S, India and Malaysia.
In his lectures at both film schools and business schools, Reddy states that "film financing is the most highly distilled form of Venture Capital investing, often going from an idea on the back of an envelope by an enterprising filmmaker, to the refinement of the idea into a project that can be funded, developed, produced and taken to the market within a matter of months." Where some ventures need to be funded and managed for close to a decade without any prospect of an exit, Reddy has said "the simple fact that a film's success or failure can be determined within a matter of mere months --rather than enduring the death of a thousand cuts year after agonizing year in a traditional technology or media venture-- makes boutique film production the most distilled form of venture capital deployment."
He adds, "while there is a very high beta coefficient of monetary risk in film financing, that risk is very substantially mitigated by the highly accelerated timeline of 'concept development to marketplace deployment' of the product, because, unlike money, time cannot be replenished." However, Reddy has been a vocal critic of tentpole films that often cost between $100 million to $300 million "because of the colossal existential risk they pose to the very survival of a studio." In contrast, "the future of prudent filmmaking," he says, "is being able to conceptualize and commercialize film projects that require very low capital outlays but have a very high "Relational-Quotient"(TM) with exponential impact value." For these reasons, he believes that "social issue films --in service of younger audiences who are virally reachable on social media-- represent the best ventures for purpose-driven social investing because they provide the best potential return for social-capital in the form of both monetary returns as well as social impact. To reach the widest possible number of young audiences, he often encourages filmmakers to "abandon the 'studio model' and, instead, make films for global platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple TV, YouTube TV" and others. For socially themed short films and PSAs he encourages student filmmakers to "make use of ubiquitous digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and WhatsApp to reach the greatest number of change makers."
In addition to his commitments and contributions to the business world, Reddy has been closely involved with several worthy causes in the Social sector and has made many noteworthy contributions to this end. An avid sports enthusiast, Reddy was a founding Advisor of "The Champion's Trust;" India's largest and most prestigious privately run non-profit Sports charity that was founded by 12-Time Tennis Grand Slam Doubles Champion, Mahesh Bhupathi. In November 2005, the Champion's Trust received a $10 Million grant from Mr. Laxmi Niwas Mittal, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Mittal Steel, and was re-named the "Mittal Champion's Trust." Over the ensuing decade, the Trust provided an invaluable national service by developing Gold Medal winning champions for India in the Olympics, the Asian Games and other major international sporting events.
Separately, as an ardent tennis fan, Reddy sponsored individual members of the Indian Davis Cup team between 1999 and 2003, and traveled to various parts of the world as a guest of the Indian Davis Cup team. In 2002, Reddy, in partnership with Mahesh Bhupathi, purchased the "Los Angeles Strings;" a professional tennis franchise of World Team Tennis that was owned by Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and managed by the Los Angeles Lakers organization between 1978 and 1992. In 2004, the Los Angeles Franchise was acquired by the World Team Tennis organization lead by tennis great, Billie Jean King, and WTT Commissioner, Ilana Kloss.
Reddy serves with various Non-Profit, Charitable, and Civic Organizations worldwide, and in recognition of his contributions in the Corporate and Social sectors, has been honored by representatives of various public, private, and governmental undertakings, in India and the USA. Dividing his time between the U.S, U.K and his native country of India, Reddy remains actively involved in a variety of charitable and educational institutions, often volunteering his time and expertise at Schools and Universities in these countries. He has served as a guest lecturer or adjunct professor at select institutions in the U.S. U.K and India, most recently serving as Senior Drucker Fellow with the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. A lifelong animal lover, Reddy is involved with a number of animal-related ventures under the aegis of Animaya Platforms and the Animaya Foundation.
In workshops for film-school students from UCLA, John Madison University, Drexel University, Temple University and other educational organizations, Reddy provides in-depth and exhaustive lectures on "auteur theory." His particular focus is "Indian Parallel Cinema" (1952-1990s) and his presentations revolve around the work of India's best-known quartet of Parallel Cinema; namely, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak and Tapan Sinha. In addition, he also features the work of famed Indian auteurs such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Govind Nihalani and others. In addition to Indian Parallel Cinema, Reddy's talks feature other major film movements that originated in mid-1900s. These include the Italian Neo Realism movement, the French New Wave, the Hollywood Renaissance movement and Japanese New Wave Cinema. For case studies, Reddy often explores the work of pioneering auteurs such as Roberto Rossellini, Giuseppe De Santis, Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Nagisha Oshima, Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, Stanley Kubrick, Sidney Lumet, Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Copolla, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and a few others.
In addition to the financing and production of auteur-films at MahaFilm Collective, Reddy's professional background involves over three decades of capital-advisory services in numerous ventures in North America, Greater Asia and Southern Europe. Primarily involving Technology, Media, Healthcare and Consumer Services companies, Reddy's activities and undertakings have included a wide variety of roles, including that of a founder, co-founder, investor, advisor, board member, board chair, chief executive and/or interim CXO. It is the sum of these experiences --including his past professional career as that of a Wall Street executive and Investment Banker at bulge-bracket firms such as Shearson Lehman, Merrill Lynch, Dean Witter and Morgan Stanley-- that led to Reddy's foray into the world of films, first as a Financier & Producer, and then as a Studio Entrepreneur & Studio Executive. Additionally, before launching Mahafilm, Reddy was a passive investor in over two-dozen socially-themed indie films, short films and student films while also serving as an investor, advisor and corporate director in four Film and Animation Studios in the U.S, India and Malaysia.
In his lectures at both film schools and business schools, Reddy states that "film financing is the most highly distilled form of Venture Capital investing, often going from an idea on the back of an envelope by an enterprising filmmaker, to the refinement of the idea into a project that can be funded, developed, produced and taken to the market within a matter of months." Where some ventures need to be funded and managed for close to a decade without any prospect of an exit, Reddy has said "the simple fact that a film's success or failure can be determined within a matter of mere months --rather than enduring the death of a thousand cuts year after agonizing year in a traditional technology or media venture-- makes boutique film production the most distilled form of venture capital deployment."
He adds, "while there is a very high beta coefficient of monetary risk in film financing, that risk is very substantially mitigated by the highly accelerated timeline of 'concept development to marketplace deployment' of the product, because, unlike money, time cannot be replenished." However, Reddy has been a vocal critic of tentpole films that often cost between $100 million to $300 million "because of the colossal existential risk they pose to the very survival of a studio." In contrast, "the future of prudent filmmaking," he says, "is being able to conceptualize and commercialize film projects that require very low capital outlays but have a very high "Relational-Quotient"(TM) with exponential impact value." For these reasons, he believes that "social issue films --in service of younger audiences who are virally reachable on social media-- represent the best ventures for purpose-driven social investing because they provide the best potential return for social-capital in the form of both monetary returns as well as social impact. To reach the widest possible number of young audiences, he often encourages filmmakers to "abandon the 'studio model' and, instead, make films for global platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Apple TV, YouTube TV" and others. For socially themed short films and PSAs he encourages student filmmakers to "make use of ubiquitous digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and WhatsApp to reach the greatest number of change makers."
In addition to his commitments and contributions to the business world, Reddy has been closely involved with several worthy causes in the Social sector and has made many noteworthy contributions to this end. An avid sports enthusiast, Reddy was a founding Advisor of "The Champion's Trust;" India's largest and most prestigious privately run non-profit Sports charity that was founded by 12-Time Tennis Grand Slam Doubles Champion, Mahesh Bhupathi. In November 2005, the Champion's Trust received a $10 Million grant from Mr. Laxmi Niwas Mittal, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Mittal Steel, and was re-named the "Mittal Champion's Trust." Over the ensuing decade, the Trust provided an invaluable national service by developing Gold Medal winning champions for India in the Olympics, the Asian Games and other major international sporting events.
Separately, as an ardent tennis fan, Reddy sponsored individual members of the Indian Davis Cup team between 1999 and 2003, and traveled to various parts of the world as a guest of the Indian Davis Cup team. In 2002, Reddy, in partnership with Mahesh Bhupathi, purchased the "Los Angeles Strings;" a professional tennis franchise of World Team Tennis that was owned by Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and managed by the Los Angeles Lakers organization between 1978 and 1992. In 2004, the Los Angeles Franchise was acquired by the World Team Tennis organization lead by tennis great, Billie Jean King, and WTT Commissioner, Ilana Kloss.
Reddy serves with various Non-Profit, Charitable, and Civic Organizations worldwide, and in recognition of his contributions in the Corporate and Social sectors, has been honored by representatives of various public, private, and governmental undertakings, in India and the USA. Dividing his time between the U.S, U.K and his native country of India, Reddy remains actively involved in a variety of charitable and educational institutions, often volunteering his time and expertise at Schools and Universities in these countries. He has served as a guest lecturer or adjunct professor at select institutions in the U.S. U.K and India, most recently serving as Senior Drucker Fellow with the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. A lifelong animal lover, Reddy is involved with a number of animal-related ventures under the aegis of Animaya Platforms and the Animaya Foundation.
