Thomas Benski Launches Talent & IP-Led Media Group Lumina

Thomas Benski, former CEO and co-founder of Gangs of London producer Pulse Films, has announced new London, New York, Paris and Los Angeles-based venture Lumina.

The new company is billed as a “well-capitalized talent & IP-led media group” backed by a first round of funding in mid-eight figures, with investors including Magnus Rausing’s BFK, Charles Dorfman’s Dorfman Media Holdings and SVS Holdings.

“The current media landscape is in flux, and we believe this is the ideal time to build future facing companies.  Drawing from our rich past experience, we are building in the present to shape the future,” said Benski.

“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,” he said.

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,” he said.

Lumina has already partnered with Oman 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 award-winning gaming studio Creators Corp (2023 WEBBY winner) as well as Bafta-winning Kids IP business – Strike. 

It has also invested in consumer brands like Metier, DAACI and just closed on their biggest investment to date on a globally recognized active wear brand soon to be announced. 

Lumina has also launched a new multi-disciplinary film studio, Magna Studios, led by Marisa Clifford and Davud Karbassioun which has scaled very quickly with projects in production across Branded, Documentaries and Scripted.

Sy, co-founder of Carrousel, one of Lumina’s companies said: “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.”

The Lumina release said the company’s approach would combine financial investment and the resources of a global studio, and be strategically organized in four verticals: talent driven studios, production, kids & family, and consumer.

It added that its investment strategy would leverage an extensive investor network and creative and storytelling expertise, combining these strengths with robust financial backing, operational discipline, and entrepreneurial track record.

Additionally, by self-financing film and TV projects, it said Lumina and its partners would be able to achieve greater creative and financial autonomy, enabling them to shape ventures with bold, innovative vision and valuable IP.

Benski is drawing on his experience building Pulse into a global leading multi-disciplinary studio that garnered accolades across all of its output and realized significant scale.

Pulse had revenues of more than $150m and more than 150 staff by the time Benski and Clifford exited in 2021. Their previous projects include 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).

In an ambitious projection, the company said it aimed be profitable in its first year of operations, delivering more than $55 million in revenue across the group, and that it had already started producing its first IP and long-form 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.

Magnus Rausing of BFK, one of Lumina’s investors, said: “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.”

Charles Dorfman, CEO, Dorfman Media Holdings, said its investment was also based on its belief in Benski, his team and their track record.

“We have known Thomas and his team for a long while, saw them build a tremendous business at Pulse and were naturally excited to back his new venture. I have total confidence in their ability to identify exciting opportunities across the media, entertainment and consumer industries, especially as the media industry as a whole moves into a new phase of development,” he said.

Marie Savare and P.J. van Sandwijk, co-founders of SVS Holding, added: “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.