De Mol’s Cyrte Acquires L.A.-Based Film Producer

CANNES, May 20: Cyrte
Investments, set up by John de Mol, has acquired Los Angeles-based Spitfire Pictures, founded by Nigel
Sinclair and Guy East, and will be merging it with the British studio Hammer
Film Productions.

Cyrte already owns a stake
in Hammer, run by Simon Oakes and Marc Schipper, both former Liberty Global
executives. The legendary British studio was known for its horror classics in
the 50s, 60s and 70s, among them The Quatermass Experiment, Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula, but had been dormant since the 1980s. Oakes and Schipper have been
working to reinvigorate the brand, with the assistance of funding from its
primary backers, Cyrte. With Cyrte’s acquisition of Spitfire, the two
production ventures will be combined, building upon a first-look deal that
Hammer recently signed with Spitfire founders Sinclair and East.

The merged Hammer and
Spitfire will be named HS Media, with a current combined library of over 300
titles. Cyrte intends to provide substantial equity for the new company to
acquire additional libraries and complementary businesses. HS Media will
initially have shareholders equity and facilities in excess of $100 million. It
is also setting up an international sales arm as part of its new distribution
strategy, and is looking to remake some of the classics in the Hammer library.

The company will initially
produce six to eight films per year and will acquire additional pictures for
worldwide distribution. Development and production activities will be run out
of both Los Angeles and London. The group also intends to develop projects for
television. Discussions are already under way with a number of partners,
including the BBC.

Under the terms of the
deal, Spitfire and Hammer will operate as one business with two separate
brands. Sinclair and Oakes will be co-chairmen and co-CEOs (out of Los Angeles
and London, respectively), and East will be president and chairman of the
Executive Board and of the sales and distribution operation. Marc Schipper has
been appointed COO of the group and Andy Mayson has joined as CFO and managing
director of international sales and distribution. Longtime Spitfire executives
Tobin Armbrust and Alex Brunner will join the group management team in Los
Angeles. Armbrust will head up worldwide production and Brunner will head up
U.S. operations.

Spitfire’s current
projects include the 2009 thriller Possession with Sarah Michelle Gellar. Under its first-look
deal with Hammer, Spitfire recently acquired remake rights to Thomas
Alfredson's Tribeca winner Let The Right One In. Spitfire also runs a documentary division that
recently released Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who and the award-winning No Direction Home: Bob
Dylan.

—By Mansha Daswani