About VERALUX MEDIA
VERALUX MEDIA is a new, cutting-edge film, television, book packaging, and multi-media development and production company with offices in Los Angeles and New York.
Founded by the four partners of Gotham-based Zachary Shuster Harmsworth, one of the nation's most respected boutique literary agencies, VERALUX MEDIA is uniquely positioned to develop and produce exceptionally high-quality and commercially savvy projects. Boasting established relationships with famous literary estates, best-selling fiction and nonfiction authors who have won everything from the Pen/Faulkner and the Pulitzer to the National Book Award and the Nobel Peace Prize, leading correspondents at CBS, NBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN, and some of the nation's most celebrated reporters, writers, and columnists at major newspapers and magazines, including (among many others) The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Newsweek, GQ, Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, VERALUX MEDIA is at the helm of some of the most prestigious creative activity in the nation. The firm's unparalleled literary acumen—and its unusual access to high-end material from numerous non-traditional sources—provide limitless possibilities for magic and success.
With its own significant development fund, VERALUX's mission is to create top-drawer properties from unusual and unexpected sources. Veralux intends to secure early access to great stories and first-rate literary material that can be swiftly developed and produced into winning projects, projects that are as thought-provoking as they are entertaining, as probing and informative as they are uplifting and inspirational. Moreover, in an age where the most valuable content is distributed across a range of media and formats, VERALUX is devoted to creating strong brands and enduring intellectual properties that can reach a broad audience across all available platforms.
Through their involvement in New York Times bestselling memoir, Pursuit of Happyness by once homeless (now multi-millionaire) power broker Chris Gardner, the principals of VERALUX recently had the opportunity to work closely with Los Angeles-based film producer Mark Clayman. Clayman masterfully developed Pursuit of Happyness for film, teaming with Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal at Steve Tisch's Escape Artists— and with James Lassiter and Will Smith at Overbrook Productions—to create a major motion picture starring Will Smith. The film was widely acclaimed—Smith was nominated for an Oscar for his performance—and scored at the top of the box office both domestically and internationally.
Following their mutual success in setting up this property both as a best-selling book and box office motion picture hit, the principals of VERALUX quickly saw that Clayman was a perfect fit to launch the company's activities in Hollywood.
The entire VERALUX team—including Esmond Harmsworth, Todd Shuster, Lane Zachary, Jennifer Gates and Mark Clayman—are committed to using their full resources to create a strong presence in the Los Angeles film and television marketplace, bringing to fruition projects which, much like Sony's acclaimed and hugely profitable Pursuit of Happyness, tell powerful stories that garner widespread critical recognition as well as resounding commercial success. The company has already commenced development on properties based on several major upcoming books and on sought-after articles and stories from The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and GQ.