Biography
Hollywood is always looking for ways to raise money, yet there have often been many conflicts between the artists and the money-men. As a producer and financier, Joey McFarland strove to set himself apart and build financial deals that artists could trust, as well as make movies in a variety of genres and budget ranges. Christopher "Joey" McFarland was born in Louisville, Kentucky on April 30, 1972. A graduate of the University of Louisville, McFarland founded his own production company in 2010, Red Granite Pictures, with partner Riza Aziz. Red Granite specialized in financing, development, production and distribution, and McFarland became the Vice Chairman and a producer within the company. The first film Red Granite put together was writer-director Jennifer Westfeldt's "Friends With Kids" (2011), starring Jon Hamm (Westfeldt's longtime companion), Adam Scott, Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph. McFarland followed with "Out of the Furnace" (2013), an intense drama starring Christian Bale, Martin Scorsese's controversial "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013), and "Horns" (2014), a horror film starring Daniel Radcliffe ("Harry Potter"). With "The Wolf of Wall Street," McFarland ended up saving the film from development hell at Warner Brothers. It took four years to get a green light for "Wolf," but it finally landed at Paramount, and Red Granite was able to raise a budget of $100 million. Even more important for Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio, Red Granite offered the freedom to make a strong and provocative movie their way. Not only did McFarland finally get the movie made, but "Wolf of Wall Street" would also prove to be Scorsese's biggest hit at the box office, making over $338 million world-wide.
