Toby Emmerich to Advise FilmNation's Infrared Label
Former Warner Bros. film chief Toby Emmerich will advise FilmNation Entertainment on its Infrared label, which specialises in genre pictures built to support sequels.
FilmNation chief executive Glen Basner set the consulting arrangement, Variety reported on 7 October 2026. Emmerich will consult on development and production across Infrared's slate, from scripts to the shoot.
Infrared is a production label, a dedicated banner inside a larger company for a particular kind of film. Its focus is genre work, a trade term for action, thriller, horror and similar audience-driven pictures, with franchise potential, meaning stories designed to return for further instalments. That is the end of the market that lives or dies on release dates, budgets and word of mouth.
The upcoming slate includes "Painter," written by Derek Kolstad and starring Amber Midthunder and Walton Goggins for 20th Century Studios. It also includes "Skeletons," from writer-director JT Mollner and starring Brie Larson for Sony Pictures, Variety reported. Infrared's earlier release was "Novocaine," the action comedy starring Jack Quaid.
The appointment follows a recent collaboration on Peter Farrelly's "I Play Rocky," which premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. Anthony Ippolito stars as a young Sylvester Stallone scrambling to get Rocky made. Emmerich's Fireside Films produced the picture alongside Christian Baha and Farrelly, while FilmNation handled production services and international sales, the business of selling cinema rights country by country.
Emmerich will keep running Fireside Films and Fireside Television with Michele Weiss and Amanda Krentzman alongside the FilmNation work. He is a 30-year Warner Bros. veteran, as noted by The Hollywood Reporter, who stepped down as film studio chief in June 2022, according to the Los Angeles Times.
What makes this stand out is the fit. Emmerich knows studio-scale development. Infrared wants reliable, repeatable titles. He advises. The label builds.
