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By Zachary Pincus-Roth
21 Mar 2007

Scott Sanders, a producer of The Color Purple on Broadway, has created the film and theatre company Scott Sanders Productions and signed a first-look film deal with Disney.

Carol Fineman, who currently represents The Color Purple for the Broadway press agency Barlow Hartman, will join Sanders' company as vice president of the theatre division.

The company is backed by a private equity investor group that includes New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, David Kraft and the investment bankers Roy Furman and Jim Fantaci.

Sanders said in a statement that the company will be producing films and musicals "based on popular, renowned literary works as well as classic stories from a variety of sources, then marketing those projects to a broad based audience." Sanders also said he will use his experience working at Radio City Music Hall to "create original programming for Las Vegas and touring venues."

Sanders teamed with Oprah Winfrey, Furman, Quincy Jones and other producers on The Color Purple, which was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and recouped its $11 million investment. Sanders won a 2002 Tony Award for producing Elaine Stritch at Liberty and won an Emmy for the show's HBO special. His other theatre producing credits include Dame Edna: Back With A Vengeance on Broadway, and a concert version of Chess at the New Amsterdam Theatre starring Josh Groban.

Sanders also co-founded the film and television production company Mandalay Entertainment with Peter Guber and served as president of Mandalay Television, executive producing six network series in association with Columbia TriStar, including ABC's "Cupid" with Jeremy Piven and the WB's "Young Americans" with Kate Bosworth. Sanders also served as an executive at Radio City Music Hall and has managed music acts, produced records and produced a Super Bowl halftime show.

Before Barlow Hartman, Fineman was the head of the press department at The Public Theater for 11 years, representing shows such as Elaine Stritch at Liberty and Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. She was also a producer of the Worth Street Theater Company, which produced plays such as Christopher Shinn's Four and the revival of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart starring Raul Esparza, which was seen at the Public.

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