FEATURE
DOLLARS & SENSE
They are young and rich and investing in the US indie business. Jeremy Kay profiles the new breed of equity financiers helping to re-energise the industry
C
ash is back in US independent film. Yet the spectre of the 2008 crash serves as a reminder there have been drastic cor- rections. Hedge funds are no longer as
prevalent, indiscriminate slate funding is a thing of the past, one-off passion projects are thinner on the ground and by and large the $7m-$15m range continues to be off limits. Capital is diffi- cult to secure, but a new wave of smart finan- ciers who know how to get cash and use it efficiently are lining up alongside savvy estab-
lished players and the re-energised distribution sector to breathe life into the space. Behind-the-scenes deal-making has barely let
up this year for press-shy entities such as billion- aire industrialist Steven Rales’ Indian Paintbrush, financing among many others its third Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom (following Fan- tastic Mr Fox and The Darjeeling Limited) and Jeff, Who Lives At Home from the Duplass brothers. In Cannes, Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Films won an auction for The Terminator rights and
joined principal backer Michael Benaroya on John Hillcoat’s Wettest County starring Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain and Shia LaBeouf. In Toronto Ellison, the daughter of Oracle billion- aire Larry Ellison and perhaps the poster child of the new breed of young US financiers, effectively greenlit Bennett Miller’s next film Foxcatcher after she came on board to finance it following a strong reception for Miller’s Moneyball. Fellow whippersnapper Benaroya funded JC Chandor’s Sundance hit and potential awards
» n 26 Screen International at the AFM November 2, 2011
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