Equity players

Alcon Entertainment, backed by Fed Ex chairman Fred Smith, raised $550m in private funding (and extended its distribution deal with Warner Bros) in May 2008, just before the financial crisis. The company is riding high with The Blind Side, and is eyeing a move into TV and scouting for libraries.

Endgame Entertainment, backed by private investors and founder James Stern, saw Astro Boy (pictured) underperform last year, but has earned awards attention with An Education. It is considering a return to debt financing and looking at p&a funding.

Participant Media, launched in 2004 by former eBay president Jeff Skoll, increased its output after setting up a $250m film fund with Imagenation Abu Dhabi and signing a non-exclusive worldwide distribution deal with Summit. Two documentaries, Food Inc and The Cove, are Oscar nominees this year, while Waiting For Superman sold to Paramount at Sundance.

River Road Entertainment, founded by wealthy investor Bill Pohlad, has recently backed projects including Food Inc, Sundance premiere The Runawaysand Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life. Pohlad has reportedly invested another $30m in US distribution startup Apparition, in which he is partnered with Bob Berney.

Big Beach Films, the New York-based outfit run by producer-financiers Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf, saw comedy Away We Go (pictured) underperform last summer but took Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Jack Goes Boating (pictured) to Sundance. It is working on a TV version of Sunshine Cleaning.

Several self-financed independents have slimmed down their operations in response to difficult conditions in the international and US theatrical markets.Sidney Kimmel Entertainment (SKE) last summer moved its international sales business from New York to Los Angeles and signed a deal with Nick Meyer’s Sierra Pictures to handle international sales, delivery and servicing. SKE’s forthcoming projects include Phillip Noyce’s Mixed Blood and David Loughery’s Mourning After. Incentive Filmed Entertainment, launched in 2008 with $100m in funding by the then William Morris Agency and Screen Capital International, also recently signed up with Sierra for distribution services and cut back production plans. At Sundance, Incentive’s Blue Valentine was sold to The Weinstein Company. Yari Film Group has kept up a minimal release slate - last year it released What Doesn’t Kill You and The Maiden Heist straight to video - while fighting legal battles in court. In January, the group’s Bob Yari Productions division filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following a similar move by its releasing arm.

A couple of high-profile finance and production operations have recently sought new financial footings. The Film Department, which had mid-level success last autumn with Law Abiding Citizen (pictured) but is said to have worked through most of its initial $200m backing, is reportedly on the verge of making an initial public offering of shares to raise around $90m. The company is planning to build its own US theatrical releasing operation.

Groundswell Productions recently underwent a financial restructuring, with founder Michael London and partner Jonathan Fischer buying the company’s library and ongoing value from TPG-Axon, the hedge fund that originally provided Groundswell with $70m in capital. London says the company, which has a credit facility with Comerica, can now ³decide which movies to make, without having to meet an elaborate set of investment criteria. And we can now produce for the studios as well. In the current climate, where flexibility and entrepreneurship are at a premium, that’s the only way to survive.² In spite of the tough conditions, new equity players continue to appear.

Vendome Pictures, whose equity backing comes from US and European investors including StudioCanal, was launched in Los Angeles 18 months ago by French producer and former Warner executive Philippe Rousselet. Its first project is sci-fi thriller Source Code. Natural Selection, headed by former film music executive Matty Beckerman, has a $100m production fund provided by Libyan businessman Al-Saadi Gaddafi (son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi) and other private-equity groups.