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The joint venture will focus ondistributionas well as film and TVproduction.
Former Fremantle Finance Director Allen Duffy is Chief Finance Officer.
Vuelta HQ will be in Dublin for tax purposes.
David Atlan Jackson and Jerome Levy of Vuelta GroupVuelta
The European market is singular and rich; our ambition is to double down on European commercial productions.
Vuelta Group is the only group to merge unique local distribution expertise with international production capabilities.
We have a plethora of rich stories we wish to tell, while growing our distribution business locally.
We are happy to be part of a family of likeminded entrepreneurs.
It is currently financing and pre-sellingMonsieur Aznavourwith Tahar Rahim.
DEADLINE:What is the ambition behind the company and how did it come about?
We started conversations last year.
DAVID ATLAN-JACKSON: At Backup, we partnered with The Jokers and Cineart as distributors.
With the proliferation of the platforms, things have became even more competitive.
DEADLINE:Where is the U.S. funding from?
The U.S. fund has interests in a number of media ventures, including some that are bigger than us.
Theyre more discreet than that.
DEADLINE:How much is their outlay and how much of the company do they control?
LEVY: We see ourselves as a European company.
In terms of amount, theyve committed tens of millions to the project.
Its more than $50M.
DEADLINE:Whats your background, Jerome?
LEVY: I co-founded investment bank MESA in 2003.
That was sold to investment bank Houlihan Lokey in 2015.
We advised film, TV and music companies, including Endemol, Banijay, Tinopolis, and others.
I sold my stake in Archie last year to a private equity group to focus on this project.
DEADLINE:Why did you call the company Vuelta?
LEVY: We wanted a European name with Latin origin.
Vuelta means to go around, which reflects our content going around the world.
DEADLINE:Why is there no UK element and could there be growth beyond Europe?
The UK distribution market is very challenged too.
Next year well work out if we need to expand to Eastern Europe, Latin America and/or UK.
We dont want to grow too quickly.
LEVY: Its also true that many producers want to hold onto the UK and U.S. for the upside.
ATLAN-JACKSON: The priority is to consolidate in western Europe.
There is caution about who we bring in to see to it theyre the right companies.
We have our targets and so far weve agreed deals with each of our targets on our list.
DEADLINE:Is it a concern that theyre not all aboard already?
ATLAN-JACKSON:It takes time to identify the right partners.
Were very advanced with most companies on our list.
This has moved fast.
In 12 months, we hope to have achieved most of our targets.
DEADLINE:Do you foresee the Hollywood strikes impacting the company?
ATLAN-JACKSON: Not significantly so far.
Acquisitions may be an issue around markets if things continue.
None of us want a strike.
We want a healthy ecosystem.
But the impact isnt as significant for us as U.S. companies.
There may in fact be non-English language projects that travel better during a U.S. strike.
