Hot Tips From Investors

The globe is always being scoured for new sources of production financing, from the Far East to the Middle East, with a surprising amount of independent fare being seeded by Japanese, German or U.K. investors.
Bryan Singer is currently one of the best advertisements around for investing in new talent. The 28 year olds first feature, “Public Access,” was entirely funded by a $250,000 grant from a Japanese conglomerate, Tokuma, based on a short film he screened at the Directors Guild of America.
Accepted into competition at Sundance in 1993, the pic was co-winner of the Grand Jury Prize, but never found U.S. theatrical distribution. Even so, German backed WMG financed the startup of Singer’s next feature, the much larger “The Usual Suspects,” a Gramercy Release starring Gabriel Byrne.”
(since this article was written, Kevin Spacey won the 1995 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor - Ed.)