Munika Lay and Toni Wang launch Luna Media with film Tap Twice and Luna Lab
Munika Lay and Toni Wang have launched Luna Media, a new production company for film, television and digital content. The company will focus on unseen stories, The Hollywood Reporter reported on 23 September.
The slate is already moving. Its first feature, Tap Twice, has recently wrapped production. It is directed by and stars Andrew Bachelor, known as King Bach.
Lay and Wang have paired the company with a development initiative called Luna Lab. Its inaugural screenwriting programme kicked off in summer. The idea is to find new writers and develop their work inside the company.
The Lab started with 10 semifinalists. That group was narrowed to six finalist places. The finalists received a stipend for a four-month programme of workshops, meetings and mentorship, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
The programme culminated with a Pitch Day at Rideback Ranch in Los Angeles. There, the finalists pitched their projects to industry insiders. CAPE and Rideback Rise joined as community partners for the Lab.
The inaugural finalists are Buntheun Real, Phet Mahathongdy, Saila Reyes, Samantha Tan, Sebastien Tobler, Tom Dang and Nico Wan. Seven writers fill the six finalist slots because one entry comes from a two-person writing team.
Lay arrives with long studio experience. She served as senior vice president of film at Miramax, where she oversaw The Holdovers, The Beekeeper and Wrath of Man. She previously held executive posts at MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros. and WME, and is co-founder of digital-first action studio Melee and an adjunct professor in film studies at Mount Saint Mary's University.
Wang is a producer with festival credits. She produced Sung Kang's Drifter, a Toronto International Film Festival selection, and Jill Sachs' Taga, a Sundance short selection. She executive produced the independent feature A Great Divide starring Ken Jeong, and previously worked in digital at Columbia Records, helping steer content for Destiny's Child, Train, Lauryn Hill and Leonard Cohen, The Hollywood Reporter reported.
Lay has earlier ties to talent development. She served on juries for the CAPE and Janet Yang Productions Julia S. Gouw Short Film Challenge.
