Icon today had “absolutely no comment” on reports that emerged last night that The Weinstein Company and Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries are reportedly creating a production fund to make mid-level features to be distributed by TWC and Access’ UK-based Icon operation.
The deal between Blavatnik and Harvey Weinstein’s TWC is said to call for the creation of a credit facility that would be used to fund a number of $5m-$20m films over a period of several years.
TWC would distribute and provide P&A funding for the films in North America and possibly pre-sell rights for selected international territories. Icon, whose distribution and international sales operations are headed by Stewart Till, would distribute and put up P&A in the UK and sell rights for other markets. TWC and Icon would split the profits 50-50.
The arrangement would help TWC spread its available funding over a larger slate of films and help feed Icon’s distribution pipeline.
Access acquired the UK operations of Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey’s Los Angeles-based Icon Group last November. New York-based industrialist Blavatnik backed Till’s company Stadium in September 2008 when it first announced plans to acquire parts of Icon.
Till said at the time of the acquisition that the UK distribution company and the sales company were the first two pieces of a planned international distribution network modeled on the one he helped develop at PolyGram.
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