Latest in Financing

Lena Waithe is calling on African-American movie stars to do more to support up-and-coming black filmmakers. Waithe, who created Showtime series The Chi and wrote the script for upcoming Universal drama Queen & Slim from director Melina Matsoukas, says A-listers like Denzel Washington and Will Smith should do more to…

Digital scrapbook Pinterest has filed for an initial public offering of stock, joining what should be a busy IPO season for tech stocks. Pinterest is a big site for so-called influencers, who use it to tout fashion, interior design, and travel tips, among other topics. Pinterest said Friday it will list on the New Yo…

EXCLUSIVE: Shaun Sanghani’s SSS Entertainment, producer of films such as the upcoming, Al Pacino-starring World War II drama Axis Sally, has closed a $20 million revolving credit facility with Louisiana-based Red River Bank. SSS Film Capital, a newly created unit, will leverage the new funds for secured and unsecured…

Legion M, billed as the world's “first fan-owned entertainment company,” has promoted David Baxter to vice president of development, where he will oversee the company’s development slate of film, television, and VR projects with COO and head of content, Terri Lubaroff. Baxter has been in the spotlight in recent days…

Meshulam Riklis, a billionaire businessman best known as the husband of actress Pia Zadora and the fulcrum of a Golden Globes scandal in the 1980s, has died in a Tel Aviv hospital, according to his family. He was 95. Riklis was accused of lavishly wooing members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in advance…

Leonardo DiCaprio has reportedly secretly testified before a Washington, DC grand jury as part of a federal investigation into a Malaysian government investment fund. The case, which involves some of the highest members of the Malaysian government and some major U.S. investors, centers on financier Low Taek Jho. Low…

EXCLUSIVE: In a strong eight-figure commitment, Mimran Schur Pictures has taken a minority co-financing stake on two upcoming Sony Pictures Entertainment films. Mimran Schur has come aboard to co-finance Holmes & Watson, the Etan Cohen-directed comedy that stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly and opens December 25…

Franklin Leonard used the prominent stage of the Wall Street Journal’s Tech D.Live conference to announce he’s raising a film fund to produce some of the exceptional screenplays submitted to The Black List. The Black List’s annual survey of Hollywood executives’ favorite unproduced screenplays has a proven track…

Steven Quale (Into the Storm, Aliens of the Deep) is set to direct the upcoming aquatic thriller Alphas, based on the screenplay by Frank Hannah (The Cooler). The deep sea epic centers on a school of great white sharks terrorizing a coastal town. The only hope is a damaged killer whale who has been in solitary…

Johnny Lin’s Filmula and Allen Liu‘s E Stars are teaming to finance U.S. and international movies for distribution in China, the parties said at AFM today. Filmula will produce and co-finance with E Stars films ranging from commercial tentpoles to Oscar-driven material for E Stars to distribute. The deal also will…

EXCLUSIVE: Newly formed production company Name Lending Films has set its inaugural project, Billion Dollar Mirage, with secured funding from aX Films and other private equity. The feature adaptation is based on the yet-to-be-released autobiography, Never Do Business With Princes or Kings, by American banker Glenn…

Epic Games, the maker of top-selling videogame Fortnite, has raised $1.25 billion in new funding from investors including KKR, Iconiq Capital and Smash Ventures. Disney and Endeavor are among those with small stakes in Epic. Chinese conglomerate Tencent owns 40% of the company, which was valued by Bloomberg over the…