Starz LLC said Monday that it is starting a movie studio that will make eight to 12 feature-length films a year.

The studio, named Overture Films, will be based in Los Angeles and operate as a subsidiary of Starz, which is owned by Englewood, Colo.-based Liberty Media Corp.

Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett, both former executives of Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios Inc., will run Overture.

Overture expects to produce about 60 percent of its releases, and will begin work by the middle of 2007, the company said.

Overture Films has a multi-year deal in place with Starz Entertainment which will distribute and show the Los Angeles-based studio’s films on the Starz cable channel and on Vongo, a movie download service.