Great Point Media Teams With MC Credit Partners on New Film and TV Finance Initiative

By Stewart Clarke

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Britain’s Great Point Media is partnering with U.S.-based institutional investor MC Credit Partners on a finance initiative to fund new film and TV projects. London-based Great Point has committed $80 million to the initiative, and MCCP will invest up to $100 million from the funds under its management.

The first films and TV shows to benefit will be announced early in 2020, Great Point CEO Jim Reeve told Variety. “We hope to build on this with other prospective investors,” he said. “We will be financing new, larger independent films, and TV. Broadly the fund means we can do more, and also gives us the capability to do bigger projects.”

The deal with MCCP was more than a year in the making, and is part of Great Point’s wider investment strategy. The company is an investor in a new New York studio facility under construction, which will have Lionsgate as its anchor tenant, through Great Point Capital Management. Fehmi Zeko is general manager of that fund and helped broker the MCCP deal. Great Point is also investing in production businesses and media-focused tech firms using funding through the British government’s enterprise investment scheme.

“The global film and TV business is growing exponentially, with demand for quality content far outstripping supply,” said Ashok Nayyar, chief investment officer at MCCP. “Great Point has a top team, has demonstrated significant insight into the industry, and has a proven track record for backing winning projects.”

Great Point’s current film slate includes the “The Party” and BIFA-winning movie “The Last Tree.” Its TV projects include Jenna Coleman TV series “The Cry” (pictured) and “The Boy With the Topknot.”

“This commitment from MCCP is recognition of how far we have come and a welcome sign that larger institutions are seeing the investment opportunity within the TV and film sector,” added Robert Halmi, chairman of . “Our ambition is to continue to grow our successful model and look for larger projects that are being made for the studios, traditional broadcasters and new platforms who are all commissioning an increasing amount of original content.”