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Clint Bentley (left) and Greg Kwedar (right) laughed as they watched a take during a filmmaking class for incarnated men at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in San Quentin, Calif., in\u00a02025.<\/p>\n
Gabrielle Lurie\/San Francisco Chronicle<\/p>\n
A pair North Texas filmmakers just signed an exclusive deal with Netflix.<\/p>\n
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Fort Worth native Greg Kwedar and Dallas-based Clint Bentley have worked on five films together over their 15-year creative partnership. The duo also share two Oscar nominations for best adapted screenplay.<\/p>\n
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The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>\u00a0reported Wednesday that Kwedar and Bentley signed a first-look deal with the streaming service to develop and produce feature films through their production company, Ethos.<\/p>\n Essentially, the deal means that Netflix has the first crack at anything the duo work on. If the company passes, Kwedar and Bentley can then shop the project to other studios.<\/p>\n \u201cIn founding Ethos, our hope was to create a home where independent filmmakers can make bold, enduring work in an environment that is equitable and sustainable for the whole community of artists working on these films,\u201d Bentley and\u00a0Kwedar said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter. \u201cWe\u2019re grateful to Netflix for their commitment to this vision and for their belief in us as artists and we\u2019re excited for this partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n In addition to their own projects, Kwedar and Bentley will also develop films with up-and-coming filmmakers selected from film schools and festivals.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Netflix will fund the development and production of these films and release them, per the Hollywood Reporter. The move aligns the filmmakers and Netflix on a shared focus for discovering new voices in the independent film space, which Kwedar and Bentley know well.<\/p>\n When Ethos launched in 2024, the company made headlines for its model that pays the entire cast and crew the same wage.<\/p>\n In its new Netflix deal, Ethos will continue this model and also allow everyone who works on a project to receive equity from the film.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate to cross paths with so many gifted filmmakers at festivals and markets, Clint and Greg among them,\u201d said Sean Berney, Netflix\u2019s head of film acquisitions, in a statement. \u201cWhat really stood out to me when working with them, aside from their raw talent, was how genuinely invested we both are in nurturing the next wave of filmmakers and giving them a real chance to make their mark.\u201d<\/p>\n The duo co-write projects together and trade off directing duties.<\/p>\n Kwedar directed their first film,\u00a0Transpecos,\u00a0in 2016, followed by Bentley helming\u00a0Jockey\u00a0in 2021. Kwedar was back behind the camera for 2024\u2019s\u00a0Sing Sing,\u00a0while Bentley directed\u00a0Train Dreams\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n Sing Sing landed three nominations at the 97th Academy Awards, including an adapted screenplay nod for Kwedar and Bentley (along with Clarence Maclin and John “Divine G” Whitfield). Just a year later at the 98th Academy Awards,\u00a0Train Dreams racked up four nominations, including another adapted screenplay bid for Kwedar and Bentley.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The duo\u2019s next project,\u00a0Saturn Return,\u00a0sees Kwedar direct from a script he and Bentley co-wrote. The Chicago-set romance will premiere on Netflix later this year.<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kwedar was born and raised in Fort Worth, and is now based in Austin.<\/p>\n Bentley, a Florida native, has called Texas home for at least a decade.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u00a92026 Fort Worth Star-Telegram.\u00a0Distributed by\u00a0Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clint Bentley (left) and Greg Kwedar (right) laughed as they watched a take during a filmmaking class for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28,104517],"class_list":["post-284306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tp-movies-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Netflix<\/p>\n
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