Chad Verdi Jr. is dedicating his life to the venture started by his father 15 years ago when he secured the rights to make the biopic “Bleed for This,” based on the trials and comeback of local boxing champion Vinny Pazienza, which was released in 2016.
“That was how the company was created,” Verdi Jr. said. “Since then, we’ve continued to build off that success.”
Verdi Productions has now invested more than $200 million in 41 feature films.
While Chad Verdi Jr. has taken a larger role at the company as an executive producer, Chad Verdi Sr. remains the CEO and president.
“He focuses on big-picture things, and we run the day-to-day operations,” Verdi Jr. said.
Verdi Jr.’s mother, Michelle, even works as a post-production supervisor and serves on the board of directors.
“It’s a family thing,” Verdi Jr. said.
But because of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike that has halted film production across the country, things have slowed down a bit in recent months at the East Greenwich headquarters of Verdi Productions.
“We are sort of in a stalemate right now,” Verdi Jr. said.
Actors are even prevented from doing promotional work.
The stoppage has been especially tough on independent companies that rely on a steady stream of projects. Still, the company has several in the pipeline, including a biopic on Muhammad Ali’s son, Muhammed Ali Jr., who was the subject of a documentary by Verdi Productions released earlier this year.
Always a film fanatic, Verdi Jr. was still in high school when the film “Inkubus” was shot in Cranston, which was produced by Verdi Sr., who got his son a gig as a part-time assistant.
“I was 16 years old,” Verdi Jr. said. “That was when I fell in love with filmmaking.”
Now that he’s learned the ropes, Verdi Jr. has been branching out on his own. Verdi Jr. and business partner Paul Luba – who began as an intern at Verdi Productions in 2017 and is now an executive producer – created an affiliate company, Hyperborea Films, releasing their first feature in 2021.
Luba, who grew up in Warwick, is bullish on the Ocean State’s film industry. He didn’t have to go far to end up working with high-profile actors such as Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis and Tommy Lee Jones.
“I was always told that to achieve a career in this field, I would have to move to Los Angeles or New York,” Luba said.
Verdi Jr. credits the R.I. Film and Television Office for providing resources to local filmmakers and helping to promote the state as an ideal location.
The state-funded tax incentives “are essential to independent filmmaking,” Verdi Jr. said.
Today, Verdi Productions is the only film company consistently filming in Rhode Island. But Verdi Jr. expects that to change.
“I think it’s going to grow a lot over the next 10 to 15 years. More filmmakers realize it is no longer in Hollywood. There is still a stigma if you are not filming in New York or L.A. But major studios are showing more interest in establishing a footprint in the region. So, we won’t be just a one-stop shop,” Verdi Jr. said.
While the West Coast film work can be full of jaded veterans, hangers-on and wannabees, Verdi Jr. said the Rhode Island film scene still has a youthful optimism.
“Everybody gets excited when a movie is shot here,” he said.
OWNER: Chad A. Verdi Sr.
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Film production
LOCATION: 253 Main St., East Greenwich (with offices on Martha’s Vineyard, and in New York and Los Angeles)
EMPLOYEES: Six (150 part time when filming)
YEAR FOUNDED: 2009
ANNUAL SALES: WND
(Correction: An earlier version of the story misspelled Hyperborea Films. Also, the photo caption gave an incorrect location of Verdi Productions. It is located in East Greenwich.)
