MARK BURG AND OREN KOULES TO BE PRESENTED WITH SHOWEST

“AWARD OF EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCING”

BURG & KOULES’ WORK TO NEXT BE SEEN IN LIONSGATE’S SAW IV

Photo by Stephen Thorburn

LOS ANGELES — ShoWest will present Mark Burg and Oren Koules with the ShoWest “Award of Excellence in Producing,” it was announced today by Mitch Neuhauser, co-managing director of the event to be held March 12 - 15, 2007 in Las Vegas. Burg and Koules will be presented with the award at the Lionsgate Luncheon on Wednesday, March 14.

“With their pioneering work and vision in the SAW franchise and their highly-anticipated upcoming projects, Burg and Koules have successfully reinvented the modern day horror film,” said Neuhauser. “We are pleased to honor these two talented producers with the ShoWest Award of Excellence in Producing.”

Burg and Koules are best known for their work as producers for the horror franchise SAW. The pair produced the first film in the popular horror series in 2004; it became an immediate cultural sensation and was one of the year’s most profitable films. The film’s success led to a distribution deal with Lionsgate and the subsequent formation of the pair’s production company, Twisted Pictures. In 2005, Burg and Koules produced SAW II, which opened at #1 on Halloween weekend and became the year’s top-grossing horror movie. The latest entry of the SAW franchise, SAW III opened at #1 in North America, the U.K. and Australia on the weekend of October 27, 2006. The much anticipated upcoming SAW IV is currently in pre-production.

Both Burg and Koules are veteran film producers who co-founded the management and production company Evolution Entertainment in 1998 and later Twisted Pictures in 2004 after the success of their first SAW film. Burg, a filmmaker with a 20-year track record, has shepherded a diverse range of films to the screen. His early producing credits include Ron Shelton’s award-winning Bull Durham starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon, as well as Can’t Buy Me Love starring Patrick Dempsey. He served several years as President of Island Pictures where he produced or executive produced films such as Toy Soldiers, Airheads, The Cure, Don’t Be a Menace…, B*A*P*S, and The Gingerbread Man. Koules began his film career in the mid-1990s when he partnered with Dale Pollock in Peak Productions. Their credits included two hit films, the thriller Set It Off with Jada Pinkett-Smith and Queen Latifah, and the comedy/drama Mrs. Winterbourne starring Shirley MacLaine.

As partners, the two have compiled an impressive track record of hits including the powerhouse horror franchise SAW and the Emmy-nominated CBS series “Two and a Half Men.” Since the pair launched Evolution Entertainment in 1998, their production film credits have included the dramatic thriller John Q starring Denzel Washington, and the company has grown into a mid-sized talent and literary management company co-handling writers, directors and actors. The company is also active in television, with the two executive producing Two and a Half Men. Aside from the fourth film in the SAW franchise, the duo’s Twisted Pictures is slated to release Dead Silence by SAW creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell, as well as the horror / thriller Catacombs, which is currently in post production.

ShoWest is the largest annual convention for the motion picture industry. It is the only international gathering devoted exclusively to the movie business and the single largest international gathering of motion picture professionals and theatre owners in the world. The 2007 edition of ShoWest will be held March 12 - 15, 2007 at Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas and is expected to draw more than 5,000 members of the motion picture industry. Each year, ShoWest attracts delegates from more than 50 countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. ShoWest is managed by the Nielsen Business Media, a division of The Nielsen Company.