For an investment firm with just 14 employees and a name that deliberately flies under the radar, Content Partners packs a punch as a leading rights holder in Hollywood.
The Wilshire, Los Angeles-based company, founded by former Brillstein CEO Steven Blum and former William Morris agency COO Steven Cram, owns half of the company’s total. Christian Solidarity International A procedural franchise (over 800 episodes) as part of 3,000 hours of television featuring portions of the studio’s film library totaling over 800 films, including the entire Revolution Studios catalog (military action film Black Hawk Downfeature by Martin Scorsese HugoNatalie Portman drama Black swan And Vin Diesel xXx Action series among them).
Since 2006, the company has quietly worked with all the major studios and many of the city’s powerful players to buy back-end revenue shares from talent and production companies after projects complete their initial runs, amassing a huge portfolio of titles in the process. Having a stake in what you see as premium movies, TV shows or music IP for long-term monetization is their stock in trade. Its partial or complete holdings have increased by more than 300 film titles over the past few years.
She now has a significant expansion of capital available for her company for future acquisitions. Investment giant Carlyle’s Global Credit platform said Tuesday it has introduced a new single-asset continuity tool that gives content partners access to financing for growth while allowing existing investors the option to withdraw cash or participate in more projects with the company.
“We are pleased to support the success of our content partners and look forward to continuing our partnership as the company enters its next phase of growth with this new capital,” said the aptly named Benjamin Fund, a partner at Carlyle. “Content Partners has built an outstanding platform focused on high-quality film and television assets. The portfolio features what we believe are long-term, largely uncorrelated cash flows that we believe are well positioned to continue to benefit from continued demand for premium library content. We look forward to partnering with the team to build on this success in the years to come.”
“Content Partners is excited about the successful closing of this ongoing vehicle, which provides meaningful new capital to fuel our continued acquisition momentum while providing existing investors with attractive liquidity options,” said a joint statement from Content Partners CEO Steven Cram, CFO Steven Blum and President John Maass.
The three executives added: “We appreciate the continued strong support from Carlyle and are confident that this transaction will help us strengthen our position as the leading independent owner of premium film and television studio assets. We are eager to build on this momentum by continuing to pursue compelling film and television opportunities that will expand our market-leading library and deliver outstanding value over the long term.”
The Carlyle deal marks the latest move for the company, which in 2024 launched a credit investment division called Content Partners Capital led by film finance veteran Alphonse Lourdeau. That unit has deals with the since-revived Relativity Media as well as independent film and TV studio Electric Entertainment and finance company Media Capital Technologies.
Content Partners is also dipping its toes into the micro-drama space, signing a licensing deal with startup GammaTime, run by former Miramax CEO Bill Block, to adapt select episodes from its long-running true crime docuseries Forensic files (to which you own the rights) as vertical video content for the application.
The company’s newest addition to its executive ranks this year is former WME chief business officer Ben Karam, son of the company’s co-founder, who joins as vice president.
