Silver Screen Partners L.P.
TypeLimited Partnership
FoundedJune 8, 1983 (1983-06-08)[1]
FounderRoland W. Betts
Defunct1992 (1992)
FateDissolved
SuccessorTouchwood Pacific Partners
Total equity
  • Partners: $83 million
  • Partners II: $193 million
  • Partners III: $300 million
  • Partners IV:
Owner
Divisions
  • Silver Screen Partners, L.P.
  • Silver Screen Partners II, L.P.
  • Silver Screen Partners III, L.P.
  • Silver Screen Partners IV, L.P.

Silver Screen Partners refers to four limited partnerships[lower-alpha 1] organized as an alternative funding source for film production originally formed by American investor Roland W. Betts as a collaboration with cable television network HBO in 1983. The managing general partner for the partnerships was Silver Screen Management, Inc.[2]

Silver Screen Partners entered into an agreement with The Walt Disney Company beginning in 1985 to collaborate with the Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Hollywood Pictures, and Touchstone Pictures studios to produce works such as The Great Mouse Detective; Return to Oz; The Black Cauldron; Volunteers; Down and Out in Beverly Hills; Three Men and a Baby; Good Morning, Vietnam; Cocktail; Oliver & Company; Dead Poets Society; Who Framed Roger Rabbit; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; Turner & Hooch; The Little Mermaid; Pretty Woman; Dick Tracy; The Rescuers Down Under; Beauty and the Beast; and Encino Man. Despite a string of successful films, Silver Screen Partners became defunct in 1992.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush was a member of Silver Screen Management, Inc.'s board of directors from 1983 to 1993. This became a part of the campaign issue over Hollywood's "pervasiveness of violence", centered around Silver Screen Management Board's approval of the highly violent horror-suspense film The Hitcher, when Bush ran for president in 2000.[3]

History

The original Silver Screen Partners L.P. was organized by New York film investment broker Roland W. Betts to fund movies for HBO on April 19, 1983, and officially formed in Delaware on June 8 of that year.[1] The limited partnerships (13,000) sold through EF Hutton were oversubscribed and raised $83 million. HBO made a 50 percent guarantee on their investment for exclusive cable rights. Another 40% was guaranteed by Thorn EMI, a British firm, for foreign distribution and foreign TV and videocassette markets. Additional income was lined up for domestic videocassette sales.[4] HBO's film division was just starting out so film output was slow.[5] For the Silver Screen/HBO films, the partnership was active in the process from selecting film pitches and negotiating release dates with the distributor. In 1984, the first HBO/Silver Screen movie, Flashpoint, was released through TriStar Pictures as were all the HBO/Silver Screen films.[4]

Silver Screen Partners II, L.P. began financing films for The Walt Disney Company in 1985 with $193 million[6] from 20,000 limited partners. Silver Screen was hands-off with Disney given its name and new management team led by Michael Eisner, formerly at Paramount. HBO was expecting that Silver Screen would return to them for its third limited partnership.[4] However, in January 1987, Silver Screen Partners III began financing movies for Disney with $300 million raised, the largest amount raised for a film financing limited partnership by EF Hutton.[6]

Silver Screen's fourth limited partnership, Silver Screen Partners IV, was also set up to finance Disney's studios. On October 23, 1990, The Walt Disney Company formed Touchwood Pacific Partners which supplanted the Silver Screen Partnership series as their movie studios' primary source of funding.[7]

In 1991, Silver Screen Partners III, L.P. was among a group of production companies were sued for copyright infringement over Who Framed Roger Rabbit's "End Title" song.[8]

Structure

The partnerships paid for the movie's production costs and shared in the gross dollars in all markets from theater to television. Limited partners received their return before the production company could defray any of their expenses. This is preferred by investors as it guarantees some return if the film fails or has budget overrun and from the producer's overhead. Profits from a single film cannot be used to cover losses on other films, making the partnership somewhat risky.[5]

List of notable Silver Screen Partners films

Title Release Date Co-Production with Budget Gross
FootlooseFebruary 17, 1984Paramount Pictures
FlashpointAugust 31, 1984HBO Films
Heaven Help UsFebruary 8, 1985
Baby: Secret of the Lost LegendMarch 22, 1985Touchstone Pictures$14,972,297
Return to OzJune 21, 1985Walt Disney Pictures$25,000,000$11,137,801
The Black CauldronJuly 24, 1985Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Productions$21,288,692
My Science ProjectAugust 9, 1985Touchstone Pictures$4,122,748
VolunteersAugust 16, 1985HBO Films
The Journey of Natty GannSeptember 27, 1985Walt Disney PicturesN/A$9,708,373
Sweet DreamsOctober 2, 1985HBO Films
One Magic ChristmasNovember 22, 1985Walt Disney PicturesN/A$13,677,222
Head OfficeJanuary 3, 1986HBO Films
Down and Out in Beverly HillsJanuary 31, 1986Touchstone Pictures$14 million$91,411,255
The HitcherFebruary 21, 1986HBO Films
Odd JobsMarch, 1986
Off BeatApril 11, 1986Touchstone Pictures$4,117,061
Ruthless PeopleJune 27, 1986$71,233,101
The Great Mouse DetectiveJuly 2, 1986Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Feature Animation$14 million$38,625,550
Tough GuysOctober 3, 1986Touchstone Pictures$18 million$21,458,229
The Color of MoneyOctober 17, 1986$13,800,000$76,728,982
Outrageous FortuneJanuary 30, 1987$25 million$65,864,741
Tin MenMarch 6, 1987$11,000,000$25,411,386
Ernest Goes to CampMay 22, 1987$3,500,000$23,509,382
Benji the HuntedJune 17, 1987Walt Disney Pictures and Mulberry Square Productions$22,257,624
Adventures in BabysittingJuly 1, 1987Touchstone Pictures$7 million$34,368,475
StakeoutAugust 5, 1987$28,215,000$65,673,233
Can't Buy Me LoveAugust 14, 1987Touchstone Pictures and The Mount Company$31,623,833
Hello AgainNovember 6, 1987Touchstone Pictures$20,419,446
Three Men and a BabyNovember 25, 1987$15 million$167,780,960
Good Morning, VietnamDecember 23, 1987$13 million$123,922,370
Shoot to KillFebruary 12, 1988$29,300,090
D.O.A.March 18, 1988$3.5 million$12,706,478
Return to Snowy RiverApril 15, 1988Walt Disney Pictures, Burrowes Film Group and Hoyts Film Partnership$13,687,027
Big BusinessJune 10, 1988Touchstone Pictures$20 million$40,150,487
Who Framed Roger RabbitJune 22, 1988Touchstone Pictures and Amblin Entertainment$70 million$329,803,958
CocktailJuly 29, 1988Touchstone Pictures and Interscope Communications$6,000,000$171,504,781
The RescueAugust 5, 1988Touchstone Pictures$5,855,392
Heartbreak HotelSeptember 30, 1988$5,509,417
The Good MotherNovember 4, 1988$32 million$4,764,606
Ernest Saves ChristmasNovember 11, 1988$6,000,000 (estimate)$28,202,109
Oliver & CompanyNovember 18, 1988Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Feature Animation$74,151,346
BeachesDecember 21, 1988Touchstone Pictures and All Girl Productions$57,041,866
Three FugitivesJanuary 27, 1989Touchstone Pictures$15,000,000$40,586,886
Disorganized CrimeApril 14, 1989Touchstone Pictures and Kouf/Bigelow Productions$20 million$7,724,000
Dead Poets SocietyJune 9, 1989Touchstone Pictures$16.4 million$235,860,116
Honey, I Shrunk the KidsJune 23, 1989Walt Disney Pictures$18 million$222,724,172
Turner & HoochJuly 28, 1989Touchstone Pictures$42 million$71,079,915
CheetahAugust 18, 1989Walt Disney Pictures$5 million$8,153,677
An Innocent ManOctober 6, 1989Touchstone Pictures and Sandollar Productions$20,047,604
Gross AnatomyOctober 20, 1989Touchstone Pictures$25 million$11,604,598
The Little MermaidNovember 17, 1989Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Feature Animation$40 million$211,343,479
BlazeDecember 13, 1989Touchstone Pictures$18 million$19,131,246
Where the Heart IsFebruary 23, 1990$22 million$1,106,475
Pretty WomanMarch 23, 1990$14 million$463,407,268
Ernest Goes to JailApril 6, 1990$9,000,000$25,029,569
Spaced InvadersApril 27, 1990$5,000,000$15,369,573
Fire BirdsMay 25, 1990$14,760,451
Dick TracyJune 15, 1990$46 million$162,738,726
Betsy's WeddingJune 22, 1990$36 million$19,740,070
Taking Care of BusinessAugust 17, 1990Hollywood Pictures$14 million$20,005,435
Mr. DestinyOctober 12, 1990Touchstone Pictures$19 million$15,379,253
The Rescuers Down UnderNovember 16, 1990Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Feature Animation$27,931,461
Three Men and a Little LadyNovember 21, 1990Touchstone Pictures$71,609,321
Green CardDecember 23, 1990$29,888,235
White FangJanuary 18, 1991Walt Disney Pictures and Hybrid Productions Inc.$14 million$34,793,160
RunFebruary 1, 1991Hollywood Pictures$4,409,328
Scenes from a MallFebruary 22, 1991Touchstone Pictures$3 million$9,563,393
The Marrying ManApril 5, 1991Hollywood Pictures$26 million$12,454,768
OscarApril 26, 1991Touchstone Pictures$35 million$23,562,716
One Good CopMay 3, 1991Hollywood Pictures$11,276,846
Wild Hearts Can't Be BrokenMay 24, 1991Walt Disney Pictures and Pegasus Entertainment$7,294,835
The RocketeerJune 21, 1991Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and The Gordon Company$42,000,000$62,000,000
The DoctorJuly 24, 1991Touchstone Pictures$24 million$38,120,905
V.I. WarshawskiJuly 26, 1991Hollywood Pictures$11,128,309
True IdentityAugust 23, 1991Touchstone Pictures$15 million$4,693,236
DeceivedSeptember 27, 1991$30 million$28,738,096
Ernest Scared StupidOctober 11, 1991$9,600,000$14,143,280
Beauty and the BeastNovember 22, 1991Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Feature Animation$25 million$418,460,691
Blame It on the BellboyMarch 6, 1992Hollywood Pictures$3,104,545
NewsiesApril 10, 1992Walt Disney Pictures$15 million$2,819,485
Encino ManMay 22, 1992Hollywood Pictures$7 million$40.7 million

Notes

  1. Silver Screen Partners, Silver Screen Partners II, Silver Screen Partners III, and Silver Screen Partners IV

References

  1. 1 2 "Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934". SEC.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 29, 1996. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  2. "Form 15 - Silver Screen Partners, L.P." SEC.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. December 29, 1998. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  3. "Bush Has a Tie to Media 'Depravity'". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. September 15, 2000. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 Mathews, Jack (September 20, 1985). "HBO, Disney Take Betts at Fun Odds". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2014-12-21. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  5. 1 2 Fabrikant, Geraldine (September 11, 1990). "Market Place; Silver Screen's Tie with Disney". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Briefly: E. F. Hutton Raised $300 Million for Disney". Los Angeles Times. February 3, 1987. Archived from the original on 2014-05-03. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  7. "Disney, Japan Investors Join in Partnership : Movies: Group Will Become Main Source of Finance for All Live-Action Films at the Company's Three Studios". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. October 23, 1990. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  8. "A Selected Summary of Southern California-Related Business Litigation Developments During the Past Week". Los Angeles Times. United Press International. February 25, 1991. Archived from the original on 2015-02-17. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
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