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"You know we're fan boys too," says Terminator enthusiast Derek Anderson. Only rather than spending weekends dressing up in silly costumes at conventions, he and his business partner, Victor Kubicek, bought the rights to their favourite film franchise and are now wooing institutions and high net-worth individuals in
Europe and the US, seeking investors for a hedge fund based around it.
The Halcyon fund - named after the company the two men own and run - will be formally launched next month. It will be run out of New York and Los Angeles, and among those most closely involved in it will be the former Universal Pictures finance director Bahman Naraghi, who has investment banking credentials through his work at CrEdit Lyonnais, where he headed the entertainment group.
The new hedge fund's investors will get a piece of the forthcoming Terminator 4 (so far sans Arnold Schwarzenegger), the game based on it, and associated spin-offs, among them a TV series, the Sarah Connor Chronicles.
It will also seek to invest in future "intellectual property assets", including, possibly, films based on the work of the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. His novels inspired at least one genuine classic film (Blade Runner), as well as big-budget, big-star vehicles (Minority Report, Total Recall), art-house indie hits (A Scanner Darkly) and the odd B movie (Screamers).
Anderson and Kubicek profess to be big fans of Dick and went to talk to his estate. The rights they secured have in effect given them first refusal to produce any new films based on his works. That is no mean achievement: Dick's novels are hot property in the film industry, and this is the first time the writer's family have agreed to enter into such a deal.
"We don't think there's anything out there like this," says Anderson.
"Hedge funds have invested in films before, but they are usually part of the studio slate and provide financing for a limited number of products. They are production funds. This is a fund that is designed to capitalise on intellectual property on an ongoing basis.
"We see those funds [that invest only in production] as higher risk than what our fund will do, which is the management and development of intellectual property.
"There will be opportunities to acquire and invest in this sort of asset. It won't just be Terminator."
Before setting up Halcyon, Anderson, now 40, owned In the Mix, a marketing and advertising firm, and Epiphany, a marketing and communications agency.
At these two companies, he worked with a slew of brands and big names, including LVMH, Alexander McQueen, Guerlain, CondE Nast, Unilever, Diesel, MAC Cosmetics, Aveda, Dove and, ahem, Playboy Enterprises.
He met Halcyon's co-founder Kubicek through friends. The latter is just 26, bearded, with long hair and the sort of looks that would be more appropriate in an LA rock band than on the trading floor of the American Stock Exchange. But he has held a seat on the exchange since 2002.
The two happened upon the Terminator rights after hearing rumours that they might be for sale. Using their business connections they quietly raised money (they won't say how much) by approaching various private equity firms. They secured the deal with a couple of hours to spare before a 24-hour deadline ran out.
Thus Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins was born; its budget now stands at around US$200 million. While it is partly funded by the pre-sale of the new Terminator's distribution rights, that sort of number would still seem to make the project a big risk for an independent studio.
It might get Arnold Schwarzenegger only for a cameo, if at all, but it does have a big star attached - Christian Bale. Its director, the enigmatically named McG, does, it is fair to say, have something to prove after making Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.
- INDEPENDENT