Producer and entrepreneur Thomas Benski, co-founder of Gangs of London producer Pulse Films, is launching media group and venture firm Lumina, based out of London, New York, Paris and Los Angeles.
Lumina brings a new approach, combining financial investment and the resources of a global studio, organised into four verticals – Talent driven studios, Production, Kids & family, and Consumer.
By self-financing film and TV projects, Lumina and its partners are wanting to achieve greater creative and financial autonomy.
Lumina has already partnered with talent like Omar Sy and Louis Leterrier for the new European studio, Carrousel Studios led by CEO Cecile Gaget, and Yann Demange’s Wayward Films (’71, Top Boy). On the Kids and Family vertical, it has backed gaming studio Creators Corp (2023 WEBBY winner) as well as Kids IP business – Strike.
Lumina has also launched a new multi-disciplinary film studio, Magna Studios, led by Marisa Clifford and Davud Karbassioun which has scaled quickly with projects in production across branded, documentaries and scripted.
Thomas Benski draws from his experience in building Pulse which had revenues of $150m and more than 150 staff by the time Benski and Marisa Clifford exited in 2021. Their projects included Gangs of London (Sky/AMC), Beastie Boys Story (Apple), PIG (Neon), The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann (Netflix) and Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now (Netflix).
Lumina’s momentum is already significant. Not only will it be profitable in its first year of operations, delivering $55 million+ in revenue across the group, but it is has already started producing its first IP and longform projects which will deliver early next year and be announced shortly.
Lumina has also secured funding for an IP war chest that will enable the production of a number of high value film and TV projects over the coming years across its group companies.
Benski says, “With content at the heart of everything today, I strongly believe talent, brands and IP are the multipliers. Our thesis is that there is a big opportunity to decouple the IP creation process by building studios and production companies around major talent. This will help them own more of their work and build long lasting companies that remove unnecessary and expensive layers in the process of creating IP. With capital and strategic input we believe in the decentralized United Artist model for today.”
Omar Sy, co-Founder of Carrousel, one of Lumina’s companies explains, “at the heart of this partnership, Louis, Thomas and I saw a big opportunity in building an ambitious talent-led business that can leverage the current market dynamics. Lumina & Thomas not only bring capital but a strategic and operational approach that offers artists like us the resources and expertise to go out and realize our ambitions at a time when talent is too often not at the table to benefit from a projects’ long-term success.”
Magnus Rausing of BFK, one of Lumina’s investors, explains “Lumina’s collective knowledge in investing and operating businesses makes them the ideal platform for pioneering a new approach that both supports talent to create and own valuable IP while driving innovation across its companies – creatively, strategically and technologically. I was looking for a vehicle to build a media and entertainment footprint and Lumina is absolutely the right platform given its inventive model so I’m excited to help it become a defining player in the ecosystem.”
Marie Savare and P.J. van Sandwijk, co-founders of SVS Holding said: “We firmly believe Lumina’s strategic model, combining talent-driven content creation with a venture-backed business framework, represents the future of media and entertainment. As committed strategic partners, we look forward to contributing beyond our investment to build a transformative and highly profitable enterprise together,” said
Pippa Considine
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