In 1988 Steven Lawrence was developing a feature documentary about Soviet underground rock star Boris Grebenshikov when Granada TV suddenly agreed to finance it. There was just one hitch:  he needed a company to receive the money.

 

With Granada's CFO waiting impatiently for an answer he scanned his desk for inspiration. Buried under budget spreadsheets was a newsprint photo of a wild-eyed rhesus monkey staring straight into the camera. Steven unearthed the paper and discovered a front page NY Times story about Yerosha. Shot into orbit by the Soviets for research purposes, he'd freed his left arm from a restraining cuff, yanked off the electrodes fitted to his cap and tinkered with buttons on the capsule's control panel.

 

Feeling much the way Yerosha looked—crazed but determined—he made his decision on the spot. His company would be named in honor of this renegade space monkey. Within days he was in production on The Long Way Home, Michael Apted’s critically acclaimed film about Boris's bittersweet musical odyssey to the West and back again.

 

It was only later that Steven learned that in Russian Yerosha means "troublemaker." Well, the media world can always use some mischief, so he decided to maintain the name in Yerosha’s honor.