As reported by: Yahoo
Heralding the start of an unusual entrepreneurial relationship, Tom Cruise and his producing partner said Monday they have joined forces with a new investment partnership that will fund the duo's production endeavors for the next two years.

The announcement comes less than a week after Viacom Inc. and its Paramount Pictures unit publicly revealed they had ended negotiations to renew the studio's 14-year deal with Cruise/Wagner Prods., which Cruise runs with Paula Wagner.

In comments unprecedented for their bluntness, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone said last Tuesday that Cruise had committed "creative suicide." Wagner quickly countered that C/W was not planning to renew anyway, and planned to seek other options, including a deal with hedge funds to provide about $100 million in financing.

Their new deal is with Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins; Dwight Schar, chairman of homebuilder NVR Inc.; and Mark Shapiro, president and CEO of Six Flags Inc., the amusement park chain where Snyder serves as chairman of the board.

Snyder, Schar and Shapiro have formed an investment partnership, First and Goal Llc., which will invest in C/W, providing the actor-producer's production company with development and overhead funds under a two-year deal with the option to renew long term. The deal was brokered by Cruise's agency, Creative Artists Agency.

Shapiro, who established ESPN Original Entertainment, ESPN's in-house film and production arm, will oversee First and Goal's initial investment with C/W.


Article By: Yahoo