(1888PressRelease)
January 12, 2008 - Noci Pictures Entertainment has announced its slate of upcoming feature films for its hybrid tax credit equity/hedge fund and its continued search for an in-house private equity CFO with global experience in structured finance, family office management, investment banking, capital markets, fund of funds, and tax credit finance.
The first two films are "The Violinist" and "Layers" .
"The Violinist" is about a boy who comes to Chicago in the 1970's during the largest Eastern European immigration wave since the times of Ellis Island. He is growing up to be a concert violinist, something goes wrong and he ends up being an enforcer for a crime family. After ten years, he wants out.
Its "Goodfellas" meets "Once Upon A Time In America". It has Oscar potential written all over it.
"Layers" is a "Memento-ish" thriller about an S&P trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange who wakes up one day and realizes he is stuck between the layers of the "Tree Of Life" and needs to get out. Its "Jacob's Ladder" meets "9 1/2 weeks".
"It is the most spine tingling, page turning, edge of your seat thriller that global film audiences will respond to and can easily be a $300 Million dollar grossing summer hit", adds the Company's CEO, Yuri Rutman.
The Company also has several horror films and live-action television series that it is also on a fast track to production with.
The Company is also continuing its search for an aggressive, ethical, top producing private equity CFO, hedge fund visionary, alternative investment banker, or asset manager, to successfully structure a $20 million private equity partnership for a motion picture finance fund that would hedge the risk across multiple films as well as have a convertible LLC structure that would enable investors to cash out on a public float as well.
The innovation behind independent film finance is manifesting itself with a plethora of investors and film projects that are aggressively attracting venture capitalists, money and hedge fund managers, qualified purchasers, family offices, ex-founders and CEO's of .com and other companies and matching those with breakout films and success stories.
Sergey Brin And Larry Page Of Google, Fred Smith, the CEO of Federal Express, Norman Waitt, the Co-Founder of Gateway Computers, Jeff Skoll Of Ebay, Todd Wagner and Marc Cuban (formerly of broadcast.com), Max Levchin and David Grodnick Of PAYPAL, Marc Turtletaub of The Money Store, Roger Marino Of EMC Corp, former Chicago bulls co-owner Jim Stern, Sidney Kimmel Of Jones Apparel Group, Minnesota Twins owner Bill Pohlad; Real Estate Developers Tom Rosenberg, Bob Yari; and, financiers Robert Sturm, Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim, Zeid Masri of SilverHaze Partners, Michael Singer, Mark Esses, David Larcher, Michael Goguen, Richard Landry, Michael Reilly, Rafael Fogel, and Philip Anschutz are just a handful of high net worth entrepreneurs who entered the motion picture finance and production business with successful results.
Alternative venture investors are seeing a window of opportunity that the big studios are hungry for product.
The large opening in financing sophisticated films comes from two sources. On smaller budgeted films, studios are paying a hefty premium for films as an alternative to their continuing track record of losses at the box office. Its panic time at the studios. All the big budget films are tanking. What’s profitable are films such as "Saw" which was made for 1.5 million and has made nearly 100 million dollars worldwide and spawned a sequel. Or a $200,000 film like “Napolean Dynamite” with similar results.
The second part of the success factor is that the total cost of larger films in the $6-10 million dollar range. An investor puts up 20-30% in equity or a letter of credit, and in some cases, if the film has strong cast, the entire budget is financed through foreign sales. Add a DVD and Cable deal to the equation and sometimes investors can see revenues on a film before its even made.
The Company's business model is based on two kinds of films. The 1.5-2 million 100% equity films that can be sold at a festival. And the larger budget ones where the cost of our participation is offset by retaining 100% of the foreign film sales, and leveraging Section 181 and tradable tax credits to investors to minimize risk.
The Company would like all candidates to have a verifiable track record of success in being able to raise capital one on one from high net worth alternative investors, family offices, wealth managers, tax shelter investors, corporate tax credit buyers, private equity, mezzanine & senior debt funds, and international IPO's for a fund such as this and to have the strength, determination, relationships, focus, and follow through to close such a fund within 4-6 weeks from a limited number of investors(1-5), with additional follow on funds to follow either privately or as part of exit IPO.
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