Riff Raff Entertainment, co-founded by actor Jude Law and creative partner Ben Jackson, has received a multi-million dollar capital injection from Calculus Capital. At the same time, Stephen Fuss has joined as ceo.
Together with its first look deal with New Republic Pictures inked in 2021, the investment provides Riff Raff with funds to acquire new material and attach writers across both sides of the Atlantic.
Riff Raff Entertainment was set up in 2017 and has a slate including a Sharon Horgan-scripted contemporary comedy set in London, the political drama Best of Enemies, to be written and directed by David O’Russell, and a major new TV drama scripted by Succession and Better Call Saul writer Jonathan Glatzer. Riff Raff’s first project, the psychological drama True Things, co-produced with BBC Films, stars Ruth Wilson and Tom Burke. Directed by Harry Wootliff, it premiered at 2021 Venice International Film Festival. Picturehouse released it in the UK earlier this year.
Media attorney Fuss previously oversaw the worldwide film and television division at Ingenious Media, investing over $750m into film and tv projects, including major US studio pictures Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Descendants, The Maze Runner, and Fault in Our Stars and independent films Carol Suffragette and Brooklyn. In 2018, he set up Stargrove Pictures, which was selected by the British Film Institute to help spearhead a new venture capital fund for the UK creative industries.
This is the seventh investment made by Calculus on behalf of the Calculus Creative Content EIS Fund, which was launched in 2019 by Calculus, with Stargrove Pictures as its media advisor, in association with the British Film Institute (BFI). The BFI, as a charity, has no financial interest in the fund, but initiated the project to help a new wave of investors in the UK to support the growth of UK film companies. Previous investments include Colin Firth’s Raindog Films and Gaby Tanner/Troy Lum production company Brouhaha Entertainment.
John Glencross of Calculus Capital said, “Jude’s achievements as an internationally recognised and acclaimed actor, allied to his and the team’s determination to become a major production house, creates a powerful combination. Riff Raff is developing a slate of premium film and TV content which will appeal to audiences worldwide.
The deal was arranged by CAA Media Finance.
Pippa Considine
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