Oren Koules
Encyclopedia
Oren Koules is an American entertainment industry and professional sports industry executive. He was president of Evolution Entertainment
, producer of the Saw film series. He was also the owner of the Helena Bighorns
ice hockey team, and is former part-owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning
ice hockey team of the National Hockey League
(NHL).
to Greek
immigrants, Koules is divorced but has remarried with one son, Miles, and one daughter, and lives in Los Angeles
. He played soccer and starred in hockey at Lyons Township High School (alma mater of David Hasselhoff) in west suburban Chicago before leaving prior to graduation to pursue his dream of playing professional hockey. After his hockey career, he became a commodities trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he made the money to enter the entertainment business. He then moved into the entertainment industry in production.
. His best year was 1980–81; he scored 28 goals for the Spokane Flyers and was a teammate of future NHL defenseman Ken Daneyko
. He also participated in the 1981 US Olympic Festival, which was part of evaluation process for the 1984 US Olympic Hockey Team.
As a member of the Hampton Roads Gulls
, Koules played 18 games and scored 6 goals and 21 points during the 1982–83 ACHL season. On the roster was a 24 year old John Tortorella, who would later coach the Tampa Bay Lightning
while Koules was part-owner of the team.
Despite not ever being drafted by an NHL team, Koules participated in two training camps with the Chicago Blackhawks
.
. In 1999, he helped found the Evolution Entertainment
film production company with Mark Burg
. In 2004, the partnership formed Twisted Pictures
to produce films. He starred in Saw in a small role as a murder victim and in a scene in Saw IV as the same character. In June 2011, after twelve years, Koules departed from Evolution Entertainment; Burg purchased his 50% of the company. Burg chose CAA agent-turned-producer Michael Menchel as the new president.
Executive producer
Television executive producer
Evolution Entertainment
Evolution Entertainment is an American independent entertainment management and film production company. The company was founded in 1998 Mark Burg and Oren Koules. and is best known for producing the first Saw film.-History:...
, producer of the Saw film series. He was also the owner of the Helena Bighorns
Helena Bighorns
The Helena Bighorns is a Tier III Junior A ice hockey team in the American West Hockey League based in Helena, Montana USA. The team plays their home games at the 1,600-seat Helena Ice Arena...
ice hockey team, and is former part-owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...
ice hockey team of the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(NHL).
Personal life
Born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
immigrants, Koules is divorced but has remarried with one son, Miles, and one daughter, and lives in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. He played soccer and starred in hockey at Lyons Township High School (alma mater of David Hasselhoff) in west suburban Chicago before leaving prior to graduation to pursue his dream of playing professional hockey. After his hockey career, he became a commodities trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he made the money to enter the entertainment business. He then moved into the entertainment industry in production.
Sports career
He played for six Western Hockey League teams, including the Portland Winter Hawks, the Great Falls Americans, the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Brandon Wheat Kings. In Medicine Hat, he was a teammate of future NHL goaltender Kelly HrudeyKelly Hrudey
Kelly Hrudey is a former NHL ice hockey goaltender and current hockey broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. During his NHL career, Hrudey played for the New York Islanders , Los Angeles Kings , and San Jose Sharks .-Playing career:Hrudey played junior hockey for three years with...
. His best year was 1980–81; he scored 28 goals for the Spokane Flyers and was a teammate of future NHL defenseman Ken Daneyko
Ken Daneyko
Kenneth Stephen Daneyko is a retired Canadian ice hockey defenceman of Ukrainian origin who played his entire career with the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League, winning three Stanley Cup championships with the team. He has been affectionately nicknamed "Mr...
. He also participated in the 1981 US Olympic Festival, which was part of evaluation process for the 1984 US Olympic Hockey Team.
As a member of the Hampton Roads Gulls
Hampton Roads Gulls
The Hampton Roads Gulls were a professional ice hockey team based in Hampton, VA. They were a member of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League in the 1982-83 season.-Season-by-season results:-Notable players:...
, Koules played 18 games and scored 6 goals and 21 points during the 1982–83 ACHL season. On the roster was a 24 year old John Tortorella, who would later coach the Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...
while Koules was part-owner of the team.
Despite not ever being drafted by an NHL team, Koules participated in two training camps with the Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
.
Entertainment career
Koules helped found Peak Productions in the mid 1990s. After two hit films, he became a Vice President of Production with Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. In 1999, he helped found the Evolution Entertainment
Evolution Entertainment
Evolution Entertainment is an American independent entertainment management and film production company. The company was founded in 1998 Mark Burg and Oren Koules. and is best known for producing the first Saw film.-History:...
film production company with Mark Burg
Mark Burg
Mark Burg is an American film producer and actor, perhaps best known for his work on the SAW series of films and on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.-Career:...
. In 2004, the partnership formed Twisted Pictures
Twisted Pictures
Twisted Pictures is an independent production company, mainly creating films of the horror genre. The company was founded in 2004 by Evolution Entertainment's Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Gregg Hoffman...
to produce films. He starred in Saw in a small role as a murder victim and in a scene in Saw IV as the same character. In June 2011, after twelve years, Koules departed from Evolution Entertainment; Burg purchased his 50% of the company. Burg chose CAA agent-turned-producer Michael Menchel as the new president.
Filmography
Producer- The TorturedThe TorturedThe Tortured is a 2010 mystery horror-thriller film directed by Robert Lieberman and written by Marek Posival.-Plot:The film tells the story of a couple whose life is broken when a serial killer kidnaps their only son and kills him. The psychotic wife blames her husband...
(2010) - Lottery TicketLottery Ticket (film)For the common Lottery, see Lottery. For other uses, see Lottery .Lottery Ticket is a comedy film starring Bow Wow, Brandon T...
(2010) - Saw 3D (2010)
- Saw VISaw VISaw VI is a 2009 horror film directed by Kevin Greutert from a screenplay written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. It is the sixth installment of the seven–part Saw film series and stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Peter Outerbridge, and Shawnee Smith...
(2009) - Saw VSaw VSaw V is a 2008 Canadian-American horror film directed by David Hackl and written by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan and stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor and Scott Patterson...
(2008) - Repo! The Genetic OperaRepo! The Genetic OperaRepo! The Genetic Opera is a 2008 horror-rock opera musical film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The film is based on a play written and composed by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich....
(2008) - Catacombs (2007)
- Dead SilenceDead SilenceDead Silence is a 2007 horror film, directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, the creators of Saw...
(2007) - Saw IVSaw IVSaw IV is a 2007 Canadian-American horror film and midquel to 2006's Saw III. It was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and written by newcomers Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan and Thomas Fenton. The film was released in North America on October 26, 2007...
(2007) - Saw IIISaw IIISaw III is a 2006 Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman from a screenplay by Leigh Whannell and story by James Wan and Whannell. Wan and Whannell directed and wrote Saw and Bousman wrote and directed Saw II. It is the third film in the seven-part Saw film series and stars...
(2006) - Saw IISaw IISaw II is a 2005 Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and co-written by Bousman and the first film's co-writer Leigh Whannell. It is a sequel to 2004's Saw and the second installment in the seven-part Saw film series...
(2005) - SawSaw (film)Saw is a 2004 American independent horror film directed by James Wan. The screenplay, written by Leigh Whannell, is based on a story by Wan and Whannell. The film stars Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, Whannell and Tobin Bell...
(2004) - Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)
- LockdownLockdownThere are several definitions for the term lockdown, the most common of which pertains to a state of containment or a restriction of progression....
(2003) - John QJohn QJohn Q is a 2002 film directed by Nick Cassavetes starring Denzel Washington as John Quincy Archibald, a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it...
(2002) - Run Ronnie RunRun Ronnie RunRun Ronnie Run is an American direct-to-video comedy film produced in 2001 and released in 2003, a spin-off from the HBO sketch comedy show Mr. Show. The recurring character Ronnie Dobbs is the focal point of the movie...
(2002) - Diary of A Sex AddictDiary of a Sex AddictDiary of a Sex Addict was a 2001 video drama.A middle-aged chef in a luxurious restaurant reveals to his shrink his double personality: He is an impeccable family man who loves his wife and son and at the same time a sexually hungry person who seeks pleasure at any time with any woman....
(2001) - Mrs. WinterbourneMrs. WinterbourneMrs. Winterbourne is a 1996 romantic comedy/drama starring Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake, and Brendan Fraser. The film is loosely based on Cornell Woolrich's novel I Married a Dead Man, which has already been filmed in Hollywood as No Man of Her Own starring Barbara Stanwyck, and in Bollywood as...
(1996) - Set It OffSet It OffSet It Off is a 1996 action and crime film directed by F. Gary Gray, and stars Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise , as four close friends in Los Angeles, California who decide to plan and execute a bank robbery...
(1996)
Executive producer
- Love Don't Cost a ThingLove Don't Cost a Thing (film)Love Don't Cost a Thing, stylized as Love Don't Co$t a Thing, is a 2003 teen comedy film written and directed by Troy Beyer and starring Nick Cannon and Christina Milian It also stars Steve Harvey, Kenan Thompson and Kal Penn...
(2003) - Black and White (2000)
Television executive producer
- Vlog (2008)
- Love, Inc.Love, Inc. (TV series)Love, Inc. is an American sitcom that began airing on UPN on September 22, 2005 until May 11, 2006. In its first and only season, it was aired right after Everybody Hates Chris. It was created by Andrew Secunda a former writer at "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "Saturday TV Funhouse" who...
(2005–2006) - Two and a Half MenTwo and a Half MenTwo and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
(2003–2011