Sunday 30 September 2012

Intandem raises $10 million for '10 Things'






LONDON -- The U.K.'s Intandem Films has completed the $10 million financing for Gil Junger's ''10 Things I Hate About Life,'' which will start shooting this November in Los Angeles.

The romantic comedy is not a sequel to the 1999 pic ''10 Things I Hate About You,'' starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, which Junger directed but did not write.

''10 Things I Hate About Life,'' written and directed by Junger, is described as a brand new story in a similar spirit, about two people who meet when they are trying to commit suicide in a scenic spot.

It's produced by Andrew Lazar of Mad Chance Prods, alongside Junger and Intandem CEO Gary Smith.

Hayley Atwell, who was originally announced in the lead role, is no longer involved in the film because of scheduling issues. Marcia Ross is currently casting the pic.

Intandem, which is publicly listed on the U.K.'s Alternative Investment Market, has raised $6.5 million from U.K. investors via the Enterprise Investment Scheme, which provides tax relief for start-up capital in new ventures.

It also received $1.75 million from the California Film Commission for shooting on location in L.A. and raised $1.6 million from pre-sales to Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. The U.K. release will be handled by Intandem's new British distribution arm, headed by former Disney exec Robert Mitchell.

The EIS fund-raising was organized by Ben White of White and Company. White takes an exec producer credit, alongside Intandem's head of production Sepideh Bakhtiari.

This is the first time Intandem has tapped EIS funds.

Smith told Variety that the U.K. government's decision in April to increase the EIS ceiling from 2 million ($3.2 million) to $8 million per project has made the scheme far more useful and attractive for financing commercial movies.

Although the investors and the production company must be British, the cash can be used to make films anywhere in the world. Intandem plans to raise EIS coin for three more American projects by next April.


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