EXCLUSIVE: Los Angeles-based private equity group Oaktree Capital Management is following its 2023 acquisition of Shout! Studios with a deal for FilmRise, a leading indie distributor of digital streaming content.
Shout! recently acquired Gravitas Ventures. Oaktree, which is on the way to amassing one of the largest independent library catalogs in the industry with about 70,000 movies and episodes, will fold its growing media footprint into a new holding company called Radial Entertainment. Garson Foos, CEO and co-founder of Shout! Studios, will become CEO of Radial Entertainment and Danny Fisher, CEO and co-founder of FilmRise, will become Executive Chairman.
Jared Frandle, Managing Director for Oaktree’s Special Situations strategy, tells Deadline the firm will continue to invest across M&A, content partnerships and expansion of digital streaming channels. The three executives called the merger of FilmRise and Shout! strong on industrial logic with unique and complementary capabilities, assets, and expertise “that interlock to create a complete, end-to-end production, distribution, and streaming business.”
Fisher and his brother founded FilmRise in the kitchen of his Brooklyn home in 2009 out of the ashes of their previous venture, City Lights Media, which went belly up during the financial crisis. It’s since grown into a digital streaming presence, including as an early content provider to Roku starting in 2017. It currently streams over 600 FAST channels and AVOD streaming apps across most third-party platforms.
Founded in 2012 by producers/ financiers Danny Fisher, Jack Fisher and Alan Klingenstein, it offers thousands of licensed and originally produced scripted and unscripted feature films and television episodes across genres. It made a name acquiring popular content that flew under the radar, like Forensic Files and Unsolved Mysteries, but its catalog spans true crime, reality, classics, medical, food, and UK genres. Co-productions include true crime series Bloodline Detectives Hosted by Nancy Grace, currently on season 5.
FilmRise was also early in acquiring and adapting short form creator content from YouTube into long-form episodes for streaming.
Key to its business model is that it works across paid, hybrid and free ad-supported streaming tiers at a time when dual revenue streams are much appreciated. Support from Oaktree will provide “exciting new opportunities to leverage our extensive content libraries and combined operational resources to drive future growth,” said Fisher.
Foos called FilmRise and Shout! together an “entertainment business of exciting scale” and promised “that the spirit and soul of Shout! will flourish in this new organization.” Longstanding indie distributor Shout! operates across streaming, transactional, theatrical, and physical channels with a library of predominantly scripted films including cult-classic, animation, action, westerns and horror.
Foos and Fisher both said that they’ve had frequent interest in their companies in recent years as the media industry shifts and consolidates. After Shout! took the plunge with Oaktree, family-owned and run FilmRise followed.
Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Both executives will continue to own a minority stake in their respective businesses and in Radial. Oaktree, a leading PE firm launched in 1995 and with $203 billion in assets under management, will be the majority owner.
“We believe combining these companies under the Radial umbrella creates a world-class Film & TV media business with scale needed to compete and win in the rapidly evolving landscape of digital entertainment and streaming media,” said Frandle.
Salem Partners acted as the exclusive financial and investment banking advisor to Oaktree and Shout! Studios. Guggenheim Securities acted as the exclusive financial and investment banking advisor to FilmRise. Greenberg Traurig acted as exclusive legal advisors to Shout! Studios. Manatt, Phelps & Phillips acted as exclusive legal advisors to FilmRise.
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