BET Founder Starts New Movie Company

Robert L. Johnson, founder of BET and owner of the NBA Charlotte Bobcats, today announced that his privately held RLJ Companies, LLC has entered into a new venture with The Weinstein Company ("TWC") to create a film company that will produce titles in the African-American family comedy genre.

Johnson will run Our Stories and will control the decisions to produce, acquire and finance film projects.

"We are thrilled to partner with Harvey and Bob Weinstein to fulfill this vision," stated Robert L. Johnson, Chairman of Our Stories Films, "Never before has an African-American had 'green light authority' at a studio combined with this quality of financing and a distribution partner that has a proven track record in successful urban films."

The company will be headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York City and will be theatrically distributed by Dimension Films and on DVD by Genius Products, Inc.

The company is capitalized at $200 million with JP Morgan Chase committed to providing financing of up to $175 million.

The company has begun assembling a management team to be announced in the near future.