By Kevin McCauley
Raleigh-based French|West|Vaughan has established a Hollywood venture with showbiz veterans Stella Solper and Brian Sher, CEO Rick French told O'Dwyer's.
French says ownership of the Los Angeles operation is divided among himself, Solper, Sher and FWV principals David Gwyn and Natalie Best.
Stolper is the former VP-talent and creative development at VH1 and creator of the "celebreality" brand that became a hallmark of VH1 and MTV programming. She was executive producer of Paris Hilton's "My New BFF," 50 Cent's "The Money and the Power," and DJ AM's "Gone Too Far."
Sher, an ex-ICM talent agent, runs Category 5 Entertainment and is partner with Kelsey Grammer in Grammnet Productions.
He was also executive producer of "The Michael Vick Project" for BET and has been working with FWV for the past six months to guide the off-the-field career of football quarterback Vick, who served jail time in connection with a dog-fighting ring and made a strong comeback with the Philadelphia Eagles last season.
French formed the venture because "the world is fascinated by what celebrities wear, eat, read and otherwise consume." That fascination is "arguably the biggest drive of consumer buying behavior."
The West Coast outpost is to create embedded content opportunities and storylines for FWV clients and provide PR and marketing support for Solper and Sher's independently produced film and TV projects.
With 2010 fees of $13.6M, FWV ranks No. 1 among southeast PR firms ranked by O'Dwyer's. It also has offices in Tampa, Dallas and New York.
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