Lee Stewart
10-14-2008, 10:50 AM
DreamWorks, Universal strike deal
Distribution pact covers six films per year
By Carl DiOrio
Oct 13, 2008, 02:40 PM ET
Updated: Oct 13, 2008, 10:10 PM ET
ORLANDO -- Steven Spielberg is back in the Universal family.
DreamWorks, headed by Spielberg and Stacey Snider, has struck a much-anticipated deal for theatrical distribution with Universal Studios in a seven-year agreement encompassing as many as six releases a year. The first project under the pact should go before cameras by September for release in 2010.
Terms call for DreamWorks to pay Universal an 8% distribution fee, with Uni advancing the marketing costs of the films.
Spielberg and Snider recently bolted Paramount to reconstitute DreamWorks as a private, separate production company. Several projects under development at Paramount will exit with them, but several DW/Par co-productions are likely during the next couple of years from among a batch of 33 key projects that DreamWorks had in development at Paramount.
The new DreamWorks' planned financial backing includes $550 million from India's Reliance Big Entertainment, bank loans of up to $750 million administered by JPMorgan Securities and $150 million in backup funding by Uni in the form of a callable bond that would be drawn upon only if other funds were exhausted.
Uni will handle worldwide distribution except for India, which RBE will oversee, and any DW/Par co-productions are likely to see global distribution shared with Uni.
Disney and Fox were also eyed as possible distribution partners for the new DW, but Uni was always the prohibitive frontrunner. DreamWorks production offices remained in leased space on the Uni lot even after Par acquired the company in March 2006.
The Reliance portion of DreamWorks' financial package is in place and could be augmented at some point. Execs won't get going in earnest on the bank component to the start-up's financial package until next month because of the turbulence in the financial markets. The aim is to close on the bank syndication and related lender commitments in January.
DreamWorks principal David Geffen is helping to fashion the latest iteration of the company but will not be involved once the new DW is up and operating.
As a young filmmaker, Spielberg's first contacts with Hollywood took place on the Universal lot, where he eventually rose to prominence as the director of "Jaws" and "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial." And Snider ran Universal Pictures as its chairman before joining DreamWorks two years ago.
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i677aeab462cd125f63bd69ecfdaf12ec
More info:
As was widely predicted, Steven Spielberg is returning to Universal Studios, where he began his career as an unpaid intern in the 1960s (after first sneaking into the studio by, as he said, "looking important,"). Under a seven-year deal, Universal will distribute movies produced by his DreamWorks company and financed by India's Reliance entertainment conglomerate. He'll be joined by DreamWorks' CEO Stacey Snider, but David Geffen, who reportedly negotiated the deals with Reliance and Universal and the exit from Paramount, will be leaving the company. Spielberg acknowledged that the Walt Disney Company had also made him an attractive offer to distribute the six DreamWorks films that he has said the company will produce annually. He told today's (Tuesday) Wall Street Journal, "It was a tough decision because I love the whole legacy of the Walt Disney Co. ... But when it came down to my final decision, it was about my feeling that it was right to return to the lot that gave me my first chance to be a director." Although Paramount has distributed DreamWorks' movies since 2006, Spielberg kept his offices on Universal's lot. "Even coming through the gate this morning actually felt different," he told today's New York Times. "I felt better. Less like a squatter." And in an interview with USA Today, Snider added: "It was really a decision not about terms or money, but 'where do we belong?' Steven and I felt the most comfortable there." Snider also has a long history at Universal, having spent nine years there as a top executive.
Distribution pact covers six films per year
By Carl DiOrio
Oct 13, 2008, 02:40 PM ET
Updated: Oct 13, 2008, 10:10 PM ET
ORLANDO -- Steven Spielberg is back in the Universal family.
DreamWorks, headed by Spielberg and Stacey Snider, has struck a much-anticipated deal for theatrical distribution with Universal Studios in a seven-year agreement encompassing as many as six releases a year. The first project under the pact should go before cameras by September for release in 2010.
Terms call for DreamWorks to pay Universal an 8% distribution fee, with Uni advancing the marketing costs of the films.
Spielberg and Snider recently bolted Paramount to reconstitute DreamWorks as a private, separate production company. Several projects under development at Paramount will exit with them, but several DW/Par co-productions are likely during the next couple of years from among a batch of 33 key projects that DreamWorks had in development at Paramount.
The new DreamWorks' planned financial backing includes $550 million from India's Reliance Big Entertainment, bank loans of up to $750 million administered by JPMorgan Securities and $150 million in backup funding by Uni in the form of a callable bond that would be drawn upon only if other funds were exhausted.
Uni will handle worldwide distribution except for India, which RBE will oversee, and any DW/Par co-productions are likely to see global distribution shared with Uni.
Disney and Fox were also eyed as possible distribution partners for the new DW, but Uni was always the prohibitive frontrunner. DreamWorks production offices remained in leased space on the Uni lot even after Par acquired the company in March 2006.
The Reliance portion of DreamWorks' financial package is in place and could be augmented at some point. Execs won't get going in earnest on the bank component to the start-up's financial package until next month because of the turbulence in the financial markets. The aim is to close on the bank syndication and related lender commitments in January.
DreamWorks principal David Geffen is helping to fashion the latest iteration of the company but will not be involved once the new DW is up and operating.
As a young filmmaker, Spielberg's first contacts with Hollywood took place on the Universal lot, where he eventually rose to prominence as the director of "Jaws" and "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial." And Snider ran Universal Pictures as its chairman before joining DreamWorks two years ago.
1 |2NEXT PAGE »
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i677aeab462cd125f63bd69ecfdaf12ec
More info:
As was widely predicted, Steven Spielberg is returning to Universal Studios, where he began his career as an unpaid intern in the 1960s (after first sneaking into the studio by, as he said, "looking important,"). Under a seven-year deal, Universal will distribute movies produced by his DreamWorks company and financed by India's Reliance entertainment conglomerate. He'll be joined by DreamWorks' CEO Stacey Snider, but David Geffen, who reportedly negotiated the deals with Reliance and Universal and the exit from Paramount, will be leaving the company. Spielberg acknowledged that the Walt Disney Company had also made him an attractive offer to distribute the six DreamWorks films that he has said the company will produce annually. He told today's (Tuesday) Wall Street Journal, "It was a tough decision because I love the whole legacy of the Walt Disney Co. ... But when it came down to my final decision, it was about my feeling that it was right to return to the lot that gave me my first chance to be a director." Although Paramount has distributed DreamWorks' movies since 2006, Spielberg kept his offices on Universal's lot. "Even coming through the gate this morning actually felt different," he told today's New York Times. "I felt better. Less like a squatter." And in an interview with USA Today, Snider added: "It was really a decision not about terms or money, but 'where do we belong?' Steven and I felt the most comfortable there." Snider also has a long history at Universal, having spent nine years there as a top executive.