Private-equity investor Silver Lake is investing $500m in soundstages, hoping to capitalize on a supply issue that has emerged as studios and streaming services shell out billions of dollars in film and TV production: There isn’t enough space to go around.
The half-billion dollars is going toward the expansion of Shadowbox Studios, a production-facility company with stages in London, the Los Angeles area and Atlanta, where movies such as Walt Disney Co.’s “Jungle Cruise” and Sony Pictures Entertainment’s “Jumanji: The Next Level” have been made.
Silver Lake claims that demand remains high for open spaces where creators can produce film, TV shows for streaming services.
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Silver Lake is a global technology investment firm, with more than $88bn in combined assets under management and committed capital and a team of professionals based in North America, Europe, and Asia. Silver Lake’s portfolio companies collectively generate more than $221 billion of revenue annually and employ more than 526,000 people globally.
Shadowbox develops, owns, and operates purpose-built, state-of-the-art soundstage facilities uniquely positioned to meet the needs of a growing industry of creative content producers. With this additional funding, Shadowbox will be able to expand on its established portfolio and scale its offerings to meet the increasing demand for premium soundstages across the globe.
“The combination of Shadowbox’s premier facilities in tier one production hubs and deep relationships across the production landscape allows the company to support the world’s top content producers as they grow their businesses,” said Lee Wittlinger, Managing Director at Silver Lake, who has joined Shadowbox’s board along with Silver Lake Director Chip Schroeder. “Consumer demand for premium film and TV content, coupled with the growing number of producers, has driven outsized demand for soundstage capacity. There is a long runway for the growth of the overall industry, and we are thrilled to partner with Shadowbox to expand the company’s service offerings and deliver premium soundstage facilities in the top global production markets.”
Upon completion of these development projects, Shadowbox will own and operate a portfolio of 68 soundstages and over 4.2 million square feet of leasable area, making it one of the largest operators in the sector. In addition to providing real estate services to its clients, Shadowbox also provides productions with lighting and grip rentals through its wholly owned subsidiary, Lamp Dock, as well as other key on-lot services.
“Supporting large-scale productions with best-in-class service is Shadowbox’s bread and butter. From the company’s roots as a single site operator, we have worked with local communities in the Atlanta, London, and Los Angeles areas to develop more spaces where content creators can express themselves while also providing hundreds of jobs to local markets,” said Adam Fisher, Founder and CEO of Commonwealth Asset Management and a Director of Shadowbox. “Our partnership with Silver Lake represents a major step forward for our Shadowbox platform, not only by providing significant growth capital for the business, but also by expanding our relationships in the entertainment and technology communities which are integral to Shadowbox’s future.”
To better align with its next phase of growth, the company has adopted new branding that embodies the values and creative vision driving the company.
“We chose Shadowbox to represent the company going forward as a symbol of both the physical and imagined spaces supported by our platform,” added Peter Rumbold, Commonwealth’s Head of Real Estate and Director of Shadowbox. “Our state-of-the-art facilities physically exist as ‘shadowboxes’ where our clients can execute their artistic endeavors. We’re pleased to offer some of the world’s top creative talent the space to bring characters and stories to life in premier soundstages backed by best-in-class production services.”
Source: Wall Street Journal
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