TSL Express Daily News

Vice Media has landed a $75 million credit facility from Western Alliance Bank, with plans to use it to fill out its programming slate.

The transaction is the latest milestone for Vice since its emergence from bankruptcy. Amy Powell, the Paramount and Amazon veteran who joined Vice last May as president of the company’s studio division, intends to use the new financial resources on staffing, acquisitions and development. Plans call for scripted projects, not historically Vice’s signature, to be part of the new mix.

This is all comes as the company plans to invest $500M in content, aided by the credit facility as well as funding from Fortress Investment Group and distribution deals, over the next five years.

While word of the new credit facility and Vice’s corporate backers has appeared elsewhere, Powell shared her outlook on building the programming exclusively with Deadline.

“Our No. 1 focus is to develop IP that has the potential to become a long-term franchise,” Powell said in an interview, citing Jack Ryan, the Amazon Prime Video series she oversaw during her tenure at Paramount.

Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital teamed to acquire Vice out of bankruptcy for $225 million in 2023. The valuation was a small fraction of the company’s former level, boosted into the billions by the rainmaking abilities of co-founder Shane Smith and investments from Disney, Time Warner and other major media companies before the industry’s reckoning with streaming.

The reconstituted Vice aims to focus on genres like crime, music, sports, comedy and counterculture and will continue to produce select films. Powell did not offer a specific staffing target but said she would be adding employees at the studio. “We just want to be thoughtful about it,” she said.

Even with an ambitious outlook, Vice is not aiming to join studios at the top end of the market making pilots for tens of millions of dollars. In addition to a “gritty” and “muscular” tone, Powell said, the approach is reminiscent of the film Paranormal Activity, an early smash for Jason Blum that she helped oversee while working at Paramount Pictures.

“There’s always value to zigging when everyone is zagging,” she said. “When people think differently about content, there’s an opportunity.”

Taylor Sheridan and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine are two examples of clearly executed brands in the series realm, Powell said. She said she is aiming for “bold storytelling and taking risks and challenging conventions.” High on her wish list are “books based on real people and diving into world based on reality or … reflect the diversity of the world that we all live in.”

Western Alliance is a national commercial bank with $85 billion in assets under management and a dedicated entertainment and media division based in Los Angeles.

The announcement of the credit facility follows the company’s distribution deal with ITV Studios and acquisitions of Cuba Pictures (from Curtis Brown and UTA) and London Alley Entertainment, which combined with Pulse Films, creates one of the world’s largest commercials and music video production companies. The company also recently announced Adam Stotsky’s appointment as CEO.

The negotiation and execution of the facility was supported by Andrew Melichar, a strategic advisor to Vice Media along with Susan Williams and Ken Deutsch at Paul Hastings and Jonathan Osborn at Western Alliance along with Chris Spicer and Lauren Epstein at Akin Gump.