Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in our Dec. 3 print edition.
The movie version of “Cleopatra” was a Hollywood epic in the days of yore. Now, a Tinseltown production company has an epic $550 million to work with and the money has an Egyptian connection.
The local player is Insomnia Media Group, based at Universal Studios with about 20 employees, and the huge chunk of change, called the Borak Media 7 Entertainment Fund, is from Egypt-based Borak Holding. Insomnia will retain majority ownership of the company and use the money for film projects and acquisitions.
The deal has its roots in an international encounter that took place a dozen years ago. Bret Saxon, Insomnia’s co-founder and chairman, met Ayman Kandeel, chairman of Borak Holding, in Los Angeles when they were working on real estate and energy investments.
Borak’s business interests also include a large resort under construction in Egypt as well as other real estate, finance and energy holdings in the Middle East.
“The timing of all this is not an accident,” Saxon said. “With oil being as expensive as it is now, there is a lot of extra money in that region.”
He said that the investment comes with fewer restrictions and requirements than usual, so provisos regarding distribution and stars are less of an issue.
Saxon and three partners previously raised $40 million of their own, with each kicking in $10 million, after leaving a television production deal at Fox, but making the leap to $550 million was a big deal.
“It’s an enormous amount to manage,” Saxon said. “Now we have a big responsibility to manage that and make the money work.”
Founded by Saxon and business partner Jeff Bowler in 1999, Insomnia long specialized in television financing and programming services before expanding in the recent years to include film production and talent representation.
Things took off when the company won the rights to Napster Inc. founder Shawn Fanning’s story, and then collaborated with MTV on the made-for-TV movie in 1999. A multiyear television deal with Fox followed. When that deal ended about three years ago, Saxon and his partners decided to broaden the company’s scope and moved the operation to Universal Studios near Burbank. Expanded offices for the production company are currently under construction on the lot.
Until now, Insomnia had focused on largely complete film and TV projects that were past the development stage. But the big influx of cash affords the production outfit the means to further broaden its scope, and it is bringing on film and TV development teams to handle that process.
Insomnia acquired Los Angeles-based talent management firm Syndicate in 2006 as a talent pool for the group’s film and television properties.
Borak and Insomnia are presently in development on an unnamed $70 million war epic that will be shot in Egypt, Morocco and Los Angeles, unless the actors or directors guilds strike.
Insomnia’s upcoming comedy feature “The Grand,” a comedy about a poker tournament in Las Vegas, featuring Woody Harrelson, Ray Romano, Cheryl Hines and Dennis Farina, hits theaters in January.
