Screen Media sets film fund
Targets films in the $5-$10 million range
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To give indie pics a better shot at standing out from the crowd, the company is starting a $10 million P&A fund in association with financial shingle Weissman & Co. It will target films in the $5 million-$10 million budget range.
"Quite a few of the films we see during the year deserve a theatrical opportunity, but given the funding required, they generally go direct to video instead," said Screen Media exec VP David Fannon. "We believe there are too many people retrenching. We believe in the film business."
The fund will be run by Fannon and Lawrence Weissman as an entity separate from the domestic, international and homevid distrib ops of Screen Media. Weissman has the option of extending, at his discretion, P&A funding beyond the intended $10 million cap.
Plans call for sums to be dispensed in the $500,000-$1 million range, though smaller or larger amounts are possible.
The nature of the films will help determine their suitability for the fund, Fannon said.
"It’s not going to be strictly arthouse, esoteric-type films," he said. "They will need to have some commercial aspect to them."
Screen Media, which has a homevid output deal with Universal and a library of 800 titles, could end up actually handling some of the pics in the P&A fund, though that isn’t a requirement.
