Chetty outlined the company's goals for the fund, which will back around ten productions with budgets of $15m-$40m.
'We're looking for Asian stories with global relevance,' said Chetty. He added that the projects backed by the fund will likely be English-language and ideally shoot in Asia. A North American distribution deal and the ability to cover around 30% of the budget through pre-sales would also help trigger investment.
One of the first projects that the fund is backing is Jan de Bont's Point Break 2 - which will feature Asian characters and shoot at South-East Asian locations including Singapore and Bali later this year. The fund is also likely to back an unnamed heist movie set in Japan and an action adventure set in India.
RGM will be actively involved in seeking source material - including concepts, scripts, books and other properties - taking advantage of its relationships with producers, filmmakers and talent agencies worldwide.
Unlike most ofthe other funds that gave presentations at the three-day financing event, RGM will also finance development of the projects backed by the fund. Like the others, it willthen handle packaging and arrange global distribution. RGM has relationships with a wide range of international sales agents, such as Essential Entertainment which is selling Point Break 2, and will place each project with the appropriate company.
Chetty said RGM had established the fund to create economies of scale, to enable the company to operate with flexibility and also to give it an edge when negotiating with suppliers.
'We want to create the link between the investment community and the talent,' Chetty said. 'We've talked to investment banks but they had unrealistic expectations on issues such as screen count, p&a commitment and pre-sales. The concept of taking the money at all costs just doesn't work in our spectrum - the fund is designed for maximum flexibility.'
The fund is around 30% equity and 70% debt, which has been provided by Oceana Media Finance LLC. Chetty said that fortunately the fund-raising was completed before the current economic meltdown.
Formerly based in Sydney until 2005, RGM is a talent management and executive production company with a roster of around 300 writers, directors and actors including Cate Blanchett, Martin Henderson and Rose Byrne. Projects it has financed include Winged Creatures, starring Forest Whitaker and Kate Beckinsale, and The Girl In The Park, with Sigourney Weaver and Kate Bosworth.
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