The agency is backing the new division launched by the former head of StudioCanal in the UK.
As agency investments heat up, CAA is giving financial backing to Danny Perkins' Elysian Film Group, the film and TV producer launched by the former head of StudioCanal in the U.K. as it starts a new distribution arm.
The new company, Elysian Film Group Distribution, will receive an unspecified minority investment from the Los Angeles-based entertainment and sports agency and will have its launch at the European Film Market in Berlin.
The deal marks the first time that CAA has worked with a U.K. partner to create a distribution company. Additional investors are expected to be announced in the future.
"There is a place in the U.K. market for a dynamic, new distribution company, built on the idea of supporting independent voices," said Maha Dakhil and Roeg Sutherland, co-heads of CAA's International Film Group, in a joint statement.
Elysian Film Group Distribution will focus on a slate aimed at mainstream U.K. cinemagoers. Perkins headed up the U.K. arm of European powerhouse StudioCanal for eight years before leaving in 2018 to set up his own production company.
In his time at StudioCanal, Perkins helped spearhead its U.K. arm into becoming one of the most important financiers and producers in the country, overseeing its $500 million global box office Paddington franchise with Heyday Films and forging similarly close ties with companies like animation giant Aardman, Working Title (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Legend) and See-Saw Films (Macbeth).
Also in the agency world, Paradigm earlier this month unveiled a strategic investment in U.K. sync and sound branding agency Pitch & Sync, to expand its music representation practice. And Endeavor Content said it has taken a minority stake in The Ink Factory and struck a first-look deal for film and TV projects from the London and Los Angeles-baed studio behind The Night Manager and Fighting With My Family.
