Veteran Lenders Launch Entertainment & Media Group at Western Alliance Bank

Halo‘s Pablo Schreiber and Fire Island‘s Matt Rogers were among the stars who joined fashion brand Paul Smith last week for a celebration of the iconic Signature Stripe pattern.

Wilson Chapman editorHulu’s new five-part miniseries “Candy” takes on one of the most famous true crime stories in American history: the 1980 axe murder of Texas housewife Betty Gore by Candy Montgomery. For Melanie Lynskey, who plays Gore, the greatest challenge of the show was finding a way to play the character respectfully.“I wanted to make sure I was playing as true as I could version to life of her,” Lynskey told Variety at the “Candy” premiere at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles Monday.

EXCLUSIVE: Liam Neeson is set to star in thriller Thug, reuniting with his Cold Pursuit director Hans Petter Moland, who will direct the film for Sculptor Media and Electromagnetic Productions, with Mossbank and CAA handling international sales at next week’s Cannes market.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaAfter 140 years, the Actors Fund is getting a new name. The charitable organization will rebrand itself as the Entertainment Community Fund, which it says better reflects the work that it does to help industry professionals from a vast array of jobs and disciplines.“One of the challenges we have always faced is that we are not just for actors, we are here to work with everybody in show business,” says Tony Award-winning actor and Fund Chairman Brian Stokes Mitchell.

Jessica Biel and Melanie Lynskey pose for a few pictures together ahead of their interview at SiriusXM Studios in Los Angeles on Thursday (May 5).

Minnie Driver has some THOUGHTS on the shocking way Matt Damon broke up with her back in the ‘90s!

UPDATED with host, performer set: Holly Robinson Peete was tapped to host the 47th annual Gracie Awards at its in-person ceremony May 24 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Singer-songwriter Christina Perri will perform during the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation’s ceremony, which honors exemplary programming created by, for and about women in radio, TV, cable and interactive media.

Cillian Murphy chills out on the set of his new movie, Oppenheimer, in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon (May 3).

Naman Ramachandran The Knight Riders Group (KRG), backed by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, alongside actor Juhi Chawla and businessman Jay Mehta, is investing in a 10,000-capacity cricket stadium near Los Angeles.Located at a 15-acre land parcel in Great Park, Irvine, Southern California, some 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles, the plan is driven by Major League Cricket (MLC). The org has revealed that an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city of Irvine to move forward with lease negotiations and design approvals has been approved.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterEntertainment-focused private investment firm Coral Tree Partners has closed its inaugural round of funding with committed capital of approximately $470 million, well above the initial target of $350 million.Per Coral Tree, inaugural fund was “significantly oversubscribed above its original hard cap” and “received strong support from a range of high‐quality institutional investors, including endowments, foundations, insurance companies, pension plans, institutional family offices and funds‐of‐funds.”Founded by former Shamrock Capital Advisors partners Will Wynperle and Alan Resnikoff, Coral Tree Partners is focused on investments in the media, entertainment, marketing services, and communications industries, lower middle market buyouts, and late state growth equity investments. Currently, the Los Angeles-based company has two investments to its name: Loaded, a Santa Monica, Calif.‐based global talent management and marketing firm that works in the gaming influencer market, and Subject Matter, a Washington, D.C.‐based strategic communications, creative content, advertising and government relations firm.Along with Wynperle and Resnikoff, the Coral Tree Partners team includes Mike DiLorenzo, Matt Greenzang and Jake Simons, who have worked with the founders previously, as well as a group of executive advisors comprised of several CEOs, including the former CEOs of Giant Creative, Learfield Sports, MarketCast and Questex.“Our investment experience in our sectors combined with our lower middle market focus differentiates us in the market,” Wynperle said.

Matt Damon is hard at work on his upcoming movie Oppenheimer!

Mathew Rosengart arrives on the rooftop restaurant of the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills wearing a wheaten wool coat from Barney’s, steeled against the early February cold snap that has whipped across Los Angeles. The sky is awash in Monet watercolors, the twinkling lights of Beverly Hills are aglitter. “It’s imperfect, and the clichés are often true, but there is something magical about L.A.