Randall Ives Emmett (born March 25, 1971) is an American film producer, director and television personality. He is the chairman and co-founder of production company Emmett/Furla Oasis Films.
Emmett is best known for pioneering the geezer teaser, a genre of low-budget action movies "teased" as starring a "geezer" to quickly garner international financial backing, before producing a low-quality movie with the advertised "geezer" barely appearing.
He also appeared in the eighth and ninth seasons of the Bravo reality television series Vanderpump Rules as the partner of Lala Kent.
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Early life and education
Born to a family in Miami, Florida, according to Emmett, a "distant cousin", through his mother, of Jerry Bruckheimer, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Emmett is also a highschool alumnus of New World School of the Arts. In 1996 Emmett moved to Los Angeles and worked as an assistant at International Creative Management.
Career
In 1995, Emmett began his Hollywood career as a personal assistant to Mark Wahlberg. Emmett is the basis for the character Turtle from the HBO show Entourage. Emmett approached Wahlberg about the possibility of him producing movies but was turned down. Later, he met George Furla, a hedge fund manager who agreed to finance his dream of being a producer, with whom he co-founded Emmett/Furla Films in 1998.
Emmett would receive a crash-course in producing by Avi Lerner and through him was introduced to Michael Oblowitz and pitched a low-budget, direct to video movie starring Steven Seagal, who had just finished acting in the highly troubled production of The Foreigner. Mostly through Lerner's vouching, Oblowitz agreed to let Emmett produce 2003's Out for a Kill starring Seagal. Out for a Kill created the "template" for a geezer teaser, as it was low quality, starred an aged Seagal and was mostly advertised and distributed in Eastern Europe. Out for a Kill making a profit caused other studios like Sony and Universal to take notice of the business strategy, and who also began heavily investing in the direct to DVD market; Emmett and Furla made three films in 2010, including Gun, before being approached in March 2011 to make films financed by Remington Chase and Stepan Martirosyan, who claimed to have made their money in Russia. However, both men had convictions related to cocaine trafficking; the SEC revealed that $62 million of the $525 million they raised for Emmett was done so fraudulently, and used for personal expenses.
In 2013, Emmett and Furla were joined by Dubai-based film financier Oasis Ventures Entertainment to become Emmet/Furla Oasis Films (EFO). Later that year, Christopher Eberts, who gave Emmett a credit on The Wicker Man, was found guilty on federal wire-fraud and money-laundering charges, while Emmett's co-producer on Speed Kills, Guy Griffithe, was found guilty of selling fictitious interests in a legal marijuana business.
In 2013, EFO was sued by Dan Bilzerian, who invested $1 million into Lone Survivor in exchange for a cameo, although he would later settle and appeared in EFO's Extraction. Lone Survivor, which had been financed by EFO's Russian money, was seen as a prestige film for EFO and Emmett, as he saw another influx of cash into his production efforts.
In 2013, EFO and Emmett were sued by Nemesis Finance for their stake in Broken City, with Emmett and Furla being accused of misrepresenting their debts to investors so they could reduce the amount of cash reserves they were required to keep on hand for residual payments to writers, actors and directors. However, the suit would be settled out of court.
Poker
Emmett has been playing poker since 2012. He has won four tournaments, which include two victories in $10,000 buy-in high roller tournaments at Aria Resort and Casino. He has one World Series of Poker cash in 2019 and two cashes on the World Poker Tour. As of February 2021, his live tournament winnings exceed $590,000.
Emmett has made regular TV poker appearances on PokerGO shows, including World Series of Poker coverage, Poker After Dark and Friday Night Poker.
Personal life
In 2009, Emmett married actress Ambyr Childers, with whom he has two daughters. Emmett filed for separation from Childers in April 2015, but dismissed the petition the following year. Childers filed for divorce in January 2017. It was finalized in December 2017.
Emmett was engaged to Lauren "Lala Kent" Burningham from Vanderpump Rules. On March 15, 2021, their daughter, Ocean, was born.
Kent ended their relationship in October 2021, after news broke of Emmett's cheating.
Filmography
Director
Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021)
Savage Salvation (2022)
Under the pseudonym "Ives"
Cash Out (2024)
High Rollers (2025)
The Gentleman Thief (2026)
Conspiracy of Thieves (2026)