Metrograph announced today that former A24 executive David Laub has joined the company as Head of Metrograph Pictures. Laub departs his role at A24 and will assemble a team to build a slate of theatrical releases, which Metrograph will distribute. Prior to Laub’s appointment, the company focused on restorations. Metrograph, founded by Alexander Olch in 2016, is coming off a record-breaking year for its Manhattan theater and its SVOD service, Metrograph At Home. Laub will immediately hit the ground running at the upcoming Berlinale and European Film Market next week.
For the past nine years, David Laub has served as a distribution executive for film studio A24. During his tenure, Laub worked in all aspects of film distribution including acquisitions, marketing, publicity, and exhibition. The projects he oversaw there included Aftersun, Close, Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir and The Souvenir: Part II, Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up and First Cow, Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, and the restoration of Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense.
David has also worked across the wider A24 slate on the campaigns of such releases as Everything Everywhere All At Once and Moonlight. Prior to A24, Laub spent three years as co-president of Oscilloscope Laboratories and two years as their head of acquisitions, where he worked on films such as Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy and Meek’s Cutoff, and Lynn Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin. He started his career at ThinkFilm and has a BA in Film Studies and English from Wesleyan University, and an MA in Film Studies, also from Wesleyan.
At Metrograph, Laub will be reporting to and working closely with chief executive officer Christian Grass, who joined the company in 2018 to grow the brand. Laub will be building a theatrical slate of American independent, international, and documentary features, as well as continuing to release restorations of classic films. Metrograph will be looking at both finished films as well movies in earlier stages to potentially provide financing. The company is currently looking at projects with an aim to release a slate of 10 films per year.
Christian Grass, the chief executive officer of Metrograph Pictures, said, “Metrograph Pictures is an important building block in our strategy to continue the strong growth of the Metrograph brand. It was important for us to find someone as passionate, strategic and experienced as David to lead this venture. His passion for film and filmmaker relationships are as impressive as his knowledge of all aspects of the business. We are really excited to work with him on building this into a significant distribution label.”
David Laub shared, “I am so proud to be heading up this new venture for Metrograph. Their taste and passion for cinema is second to none, and they have demonstrated an incredible ability to connect great movies with fresh and enthusiastic audiences. We are excited to work with a wide range of films and filmmakers, and be a robust new presence in the distribution landscape.”
“It’s a dream come true to work with David,” said founder Alexander Olch, “whom we have long admired for his taste and achievements, as we build a new special library of great cinema. We look forward to forging long term relationships with new and established filmmakers, putting the strength of the Metrograph brand, community, and theater behind our releases.”
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