Content Media buys 50% of Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions

June 6, 2012 by Adam Benzine

Alex Gibney

London-headquartered Content Media Corporation is to acquire 50% of New York-based Jigsaw Productions, the indie set up by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney (pictured), as part of a “far-reaching deal” between the two companies.

The agreement, for an undisclosed sum, will see Content investing in Jigsaw and working closely with Gibney to build a diversified production company operating across film and TV, with Jigsaw adding additional staff and expanding development to increase its production output.

Content’s film, television and digital divisions will act as international distributor for Jigsaw’s programs when appropriate, the companies said.

“We have a prolific documentary production business here at Jigsaw, and I have wanted for some time to expand into episodic television, international rights and additional fiction projects,” Gibney said in a statement. “Content’s investment in Jigsaw and its sales platform and management team will give me the resources to do that.”

Content CEO John Schmidt added: “This new partnership is a further example of our continued strategy to expand our portfolio through collaborations with world-renowned producers.

“We have admired Alex Gibney and his work at Jigsaw for many years. With Alex as a visionary director and producer at the helm, the company has gained a well-deserved reputation as one of the world’s greatest documentary companies.

“Jigsaw has also generated great episodic television over the years, and we look forward to providing Alex with the support and resources to grow and expand production across a variety of genres.”

Content Media is based in London, with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto.

The deal adds to its previous investment stakes in several companies, including Collins Avenue, a reality prodco founded by Jeff Collins and based in Los Angeles; Phase Four Films, a film distributor based in Toronto and operating in the North American market; and Spirit Digital Media, a studio founded by Peter Cowley, based in London and LA.

Going forward, Jigsaw and Content will collaborate on a variety of ongoing projects, including an as-yet-untitled HBO project that is being produced and directed by Gibney; Untitled Eagles Project, a documentary on the American band, produced by Gibney and directed by Alison Ellwood; Finding Fela!, a doc on the titular Nigerian singer; and Park Avenue, a doc that forms part of the Why Poverty? Series.

Jigsaw is also currently developing two original scripted feature films, as well as a mini-series based on the book Black Banners by Ali Soufan.

Gibney’s past docs include The Last Gladiators, Magic Trip, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, the Oscar-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and the 2008 Oscar-winner Taxi to the Dark Side.

Tags: Alex Gibney, Jigsaw Productions