Marisa Clifford and Davud Karbassioun have officially unveiled their next-gen production house Magna Studios.
They’re billing it as a “a new kind of studio built to lead in a dynamic, platform-agnostic era,” sitting at the intersection of film, unscripted, brands and music content. It has been quietly operating for over a year, and we first wrote about it back in December 2024, but the founders have waited until now to officially launch.
Clifford and Karbassioun are co-CEOs of Magna, with Thomas Benski – who ran Pulse Films with Clifford until 2022 – the Chairman. Benski’s Lumina is an investor of what’s being described as a “well capitalized” business with bases in London, New York and L.A.
The senior management team comprises SVP of Non-Fiction Olly Calleja, Creative Director of Non-Fiction Louis Mole, Head of Music Documentaries Sam Bridger, Group Director of Commercial & Business Affairs Tim O’Shea and Managing Director, Commercials James Sorton.
Magna’s bosses say the company will support talent “through every stage” from development, financing, production, and global distribution. As such it has been building a talent roster, notably signing Brutalist director Brady Corbet in January, along with Oscar Hudson, James Marsh, Sam Pilling, Goldstein & Daley, Julien & Quentin, Haley Anderson, Jeff Tremaine, Asif Kapadia and Ariel Fisher.
Magna already has made a debut scripted feature, Straight Circle, which we revealed in February has Film Constellation on board for sales, and is producing the upcoming Oasis reunion tour doc. Also in place are brand campaigns with Apple, Nike, Beats and Spotify.
