A group of entertainment veterans have launched Wentworth Media & Arts, a London-based independent film finance, production and distribution company, led by the former chairman of EMI, Eric Luciano Nicoli, the company announced on Saturday.
According to a news release, the company will both acquire films and seek to produce three to four feature films per year “in various budget ranges.” See Photos: The Scene at Cannes Film Festival 2013
Other company founders include William Lewis, John Stanley and Dean Goldberg.The company said it was backed by "major private equity sources in the UK," but did not further specify.
“WMA will acquire completed films for domestic, international and/or worldwide distribution and also pre-buy rights to well-packaged projects that have or are likely to have meaningful distribution," the release stated. "On the production front, the company will initially look to develop and produce three to four feature films per year in various budget ranges."
The company has already taken a stake in the newly minted sales company, Filmagine, headed by veteran film financier Beau Rogers (“Gods and Monsters”) and formed in partnership with Morris Ruskin’s Shoreline Entertainment. WMA and Filmagine are jointly developing “The Raven of St. James's Park” written by Ocean Palmer, billed as a modern day “Downton Abbey” meets “Love Actually.”
Said Nicoli, “We believe content, in all forms, is increasing in value around the world. The strategically vetted approach to financing new films and properties is appealing to us. We’re aligning high quality content with funding and business execution in a way that can maximize the exploitation and commercialization of that content for the content owner, distributor, investor and WMA alike.”
