How Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin Built Their Production Company Free Association

variety.com:

Ramin Setoodeh Executive EditorChanning Tatum and his producing partner Reid Carolin aren’t just the brains — and brawn — behind “Magic Mike.” They’ve built up their company Free Association into a place to go for innovative storytelling, including the road trip movie “Dog” (which opens on Feb.

18), which they co-directed; the Starz TV series “Step Up: Highwater”; and the thriller “Pussy Island,” which will be Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut.“I think it’s a good partnership,” says Steven Soderbergh, who is directing “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” which Tatum will star in and Carolin wrote. “I think they have a shared sense of people and how the world works.”Tatum and Carolin speak to Variety about Free Association. How did the two of you meet?CHANNING TATUM: Reid wrote the first version of a movie that I was in called “Stop-Loss,” and then he assisted the director, Kimberly Peirce.

And so we were in Austin together for an entire movie, and then after that we stayed close. And we were like, “All right, let’s make something.” And within the first year, we had produced our first film.REID CAROLIN: That was “10 Year,” or it eventually became “10 Years.” You look back at the cast [which includes Chris Pratt and Oscar Isaac] — every single person is a heavy hitter now.And then “Magic Mike” came next?TATUM: Yeah.

The whole reason “Magic Mike” started is they asked Soderbergh if he’d do the movie of my stripping days. And he was like, “Absolutely.” I called him up.