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MUMBAI: Global entertainment company Content Media Corporation
has acquired a 50 per cent stake in New York-based production
company Jigsaw Productions, further adding to the company’s
growing investment portfolio.
The
agreement will see Content investing in Jigsaw and working
closely with founder Alex Gibney to build a diversified Production
Company operating across film and television.
Content
will invest in Jigsaw and it will add additional staff, expand
development and increase its production output. Content’s
film, television and digital divisions will act as international
distributor for Jigsaw’s programmes when appropriate.
Jigsaw has produced documentary films, such as ‘Taxi
to the Dark Side’; ‘Client 9: The Rise and Fall
of Eliot Spitzer’; ‘Enron: The Smartest Guys in
the Room’ and ‘Magic Trip’.
Jigsaw
and Gibney have also produced episodic television, such as
The Blues with Martin Scorsese and David Halberstam’s
The Fifties.
Jigsaw
president Alex Gibney said, “We have a prolific documentary
production business here at Jigsaw, and I have wanted for
some time to expand into episodic television, international
rights and additional fiction projects. Content’s investment
in Jigsaw and its sales platform and management team will
give me the resources to do that. I am very excited about
our next steps and the future of Jigsaw, and am delighted
to be in business with Content and its great team.”
Content
CEO John Schmidt said, “This new partnership is a further
example of our continued strategy to expand our portfolio
through collaborations with world-renowned producers. We have
admired Alex Gibney and his work at Jigsaw for many years.
With Alex as a visionary director and producer at the helm,
the company has gained a well-deserved reputation as one of
the world’s greatest documentary companies. Jigsaw has
also generated great episodic television over the years, and
we look forward to providing Alex with the support and resources
to grow and expand production across a variety of genres.”
Content
Media Corporation is based in London and Los Angeles and operates
in the areas of film, television and digital rights. This
new agreement with Jigsaw adds to Content’s investment
stakes in several companies, including Collins Avenue, a reality
television Production Company founded by Jeff Collins and
based in Los Angeles; Phase Four Films, a film distribution
company based in Toronto and operating in the North American
market; and Spirit digital media, a digital studio founded
by Peter Cowley and based in London and Los Angeles.
The
companies will collaborate on a variety of on-going projects,
including an upcoming project for HBO that is produced and
directed by Gibney; Untitled Eagles Project, a documentary
on the legendary band, produced by Gibney and directed by
Alison Ellwood; Finding Fela!, a documentary on the Nigerian
singer; and 740 Park Avenue, a documentary in the series 'Why
Poverty?' Jigsaw is also currently developing two originally
scripted feature films, as well as a miniseries based on the
book Black Banners by Ali Soufan.
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