Pinstripes: How NYU buds Danny Ramirez and Tom Culliver are building a Latin-led, craft-first indie powerhouse
Danny Ramirez and Tom Culliver met as freshmen at NYU and forged a bond that has evolved into Pinstripes, their production company launched earlier this year to tell stories that go underrepresented and unscripted by the mainstream. Their debut feature, Dead Man’s Wire, directed by Gus Van Sant, is set to premiere in Venice on September 2 before screening at Toronto, marking a bold entry for a company defined as much by temperament as by budget.
Ramirez, known for early work on Assassination Nation and On My Block, has since lifted his profile with roles in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Top Gun: Maverick. Culliver has spent the last decade-plus building his producing résumé, most recently partnering with Cassian Elwes as a creative executive at Elevated Films. Together, they now steer Pinstripes toward what they call “taste-driven” filmmaking and industry disruption.
Their slate includes Baton, a forthcoming soccer drama co-ventured with producers Victoria Alonso and David Beckham. Ramirez will direct Baton as part of a broader plan to produce two to three features a year with budgets around five million dollars or more, alongside mid- and high-end projects. Pursuit of Touch, another Ramirez-directed project, is in advanced development with a shooting script and several attachments in place. They also plan to push a modern take on Scarface, adapted from the original public-domain novel, as part of a strategy to develop IP that can be uniquely reimagined rather than remade for remakes’ sake.
The partners see Pinstripes as the kind of company that can translate intimate, character-driven storytelling into ambitious, big-screen experiences. Their first feature, Dead Man’s Wire, follows the true story of Tony Kiritsis, a 1977 Indianapolis mortgage lender who was held hostage by a former developer who felt wronged by the system. The film stars Bill Skarsgård and Dacre Montgomery and came together after a long development arc that included producer collaborations and a productive spark between the two founders and Gus Van Sant, who signed on after seeing the project in its early stages.
Ramirez and Culliver described their origin story as a continuous loop of collaboration that began with a draft Ramirez wrote for a project they discussed in 2018. Ramirez credits Culliver’s faith in his writing and their shared belief in a craft-first approach as the catalyst that turned a weekend development plan into a full-fledged company and slate. They emphasize that Pinstripes will pursue prestige storytelling with international sensibilities—an approach that blends family dramas, thrillers, and heist elements with four-quadrant appeal.
On the business side, Pinstripes operates with a flexible model. Development is funded through partnerships that have supported their work from the outset, while productions are pursued on an independent basis. They view IP as a key to their growth but insist on bringing fresh angles to any property they tackle. The Scarface project, for instance, will be a modernized take on the public-domain material, designed to offer a new perspective while honoring the legacy of the classic stories that inspired it.
The duo also spoke about the lessons they’ve learned from the greats they’ve shadowed—Tom Cruise during Top Gun: Maverick and the work ethic that underpins high-octane action sequences; and collaborations with filmmakers such as Chris McQuarrie, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Gus Van Sant. These experiences, they said, sharpen their eye for what makes a film feel real and lasting.
Looking ahead, Baton is positioned for a late-2025 or early-2026 shoot window, with a World Cup-aligned release objective in mind for the 2026 period. Pursuit of Touch is moving quickly toward production milestones, while other projects—ranging from a family comedy titled Old Men Drink Coffee Alone to additional in-house or externally developed material—are in various stages of development. Ramirez notes that Pinstripes is increasingly capable of matching talent to the right roles, expanding beyond his own acting work to develop a broader producer-driven slate where collaborators contribute their own strengths.
What this means for the industry is a new model of indie filmmaking that leans into authenticity and cultural specificity while maintaining an ambitious production taste. Ramirez and Culliver’s approach—craft-first storytelling, a willingness to take risks on underrepresented voices, and a hands-on collaboration style—could help define a new space for Latin American stories and other diverse perspectives in prestige cinema.
Summary: Ramirez and Culliver’s Pinstripes aims to blend artisanal craft with commercial potential, delivering two to three features a year anchored by Ramirez’s directorial projects and a growing slate rooted in representation and innovative storytelling. Their debut, Dead Man’s Wire, arrives with a high-profile cast and a true-crime premise, while Baton and Pursuit of Touch signal a broader commitment to big, boundary-pushing projects that reflect their shared love of cinema’s higher ambitions. A Scarface reimagining and a focus on Latino leads suggest the company’s long-term mission: to tell deeply human stories that resonate beyond their communities and into the global film landscape, all while maintaining a collaborative, friendship-driven core.
Additional notes for editors:
– If targeting a Latinx audience, highlight Pinstripes’ emphasis on Latin American-led prestige projects and the intent to cast and develop figures from within those communities as creators and stars.
– Consider including a sidebar on the Scarface adaptation to explain the public-domain basis of the source material, and how this project plans to differentiate itself from past iterations.
– Possible future angle: how Pinstripes plans to blend traditional film production with newer distribution/financing paths, given the indie-to-studio spectrum in today’s market.
– Positive angle: the partnership model, mentorship threads (Cruise, Iñárritu, Van Sant), and a willingness to invest in underrepresented voices as a potential long-term differentiator in a crowded indie space.