Prolific Russian Producer Joins 'Brighton' Comedy TV Series

    LOS ANGELES, CA, April 06, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Internationally known film and television producer Vasily Balashov has attached to produce "Brighton," a half-hour comedy TV series that's slated to begin filming in October.

Set at the southernmost part of Brooklyn, N.Y., in the Russian neighborhood of Brighton Beach, the show centers around a dysfunctional Russian family who fled the Soviet Union in the 80s to settle into Brighton Beach and run a grocery store.

"Life in Brighton Beach always interested me because it's a unique, different world that sometimes lives the same way as they did in the 80s and 90s," said Balashov, a Russian native whose prolific career has included executive and producer roles at The Walt Disney Company CIS, Russia's award-winning, twenty-three year-running Park Production, Story First Production and CTC TV network. "The lead characters of the show have their own strong personalities. I am not attached to any of the characters personally, but really like how the characters have been developed."

"Brighton" is also being produced by Richard D'Alessio, who has created some of the most watched branded content in North America including directing four top ten-rated Super Bowl spots and directing campaigns with talent such as Jerry Seinfeld, Cedric the Entertainer, Hugh Jackman, William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum.

"We have many characters in different age categories that will be interesting for a broad pool of viewers," he said. "They can expect the highest quality modern comedy product with a touch of authentic Brighton Beach environment."

Filming will commence on location in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and other locations in New York City. Distribution rights are being negotiated with cable channels and web platforms.

"I expect this show to be popular for the broad audience," Balashov said, "since we have managed to create a comedy with unique characters, a strong storyline and a lot of humor."

Punctuating his place as one of today's leading, go-to producers, Balashov has left his producing imprint on more than 40 distinguished productions spanning film, TV, music videos and commercials.

Returning to comedy with "Brighton," Balashov previously line produced the comedic 2005 Park Cinema mini-series, "Zolotoy telyonok," and Park Cinema's 2004 comedic Russian series, "Kholostyaki (The Bachelors)," that was directed by the Nika Award winning Pavel Bardin ("Russia 88"), Ekaterina Dvigubskaya ("Dorogaya Masha Berezina") and Svyatoslav Vlasov ("Gorod soblaznov").

He associate produced the WWII drama - "The Aryan Couple" - directed by John Daly and starring Academy Award winner Martin Landau ("Ed Wood"). The film won four awards at the 2005 Beverly Hills Film Festival including the Jury Award for Best Feature. It also screened and won awards at the Fargo Film Festival, the Nashville Film Festival, the Washington D.C. Independent Film Festival and the Palm Beach International Film Festival.

Balashov line produced for the Russian series, "Diversant," which was created by Slovo, a production company known for Dmitry Meskhiyev's "Svoi (Ours)". "Diversant" received Best mini-series nominations from Russia's Emmy equivalent, TEFI, and from Zolotoi Orel, Russia's kindred to the Academy Awards.

From 1999-2000, Balashov worked in producing roles for seven "Kamenskaya" TV movies produced by Rekun-Film and distributed in Russia by NTV-Kino. While also working with Rekun-Film, Balashov started his producing career on "Strana Gluhih (The Land of the Deaf)," which was an Official Selection at the 48th Berlin Film Festival, won the Grand Prize at the All-Russian Film Festival and was named Best Picture at the Zolotoi Oven Festival.

Balashov's other selected producing highlights include producing the anthem music video for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, as well as producing TV commercials for Wrigley, Miller Beer, Pedigree, Nissan, Toyota, Samsung, Pepsi and Heineken's 007 James Bond commercial for "Casino Royale."

For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/BalashovIMDb and www.linkedin.com/in/vasilybalashov

Vasily Balashov is a film and television producer.

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