• Los Angeles Times , Tuesday, October 14, 2008 10:45 AM

Under a seven-year distribution agreement, Universal Pictures will receive an 8% fee for releasing about six films a year produced by Steven Spielberg's reconstituted DreamWorks studio. But Spielberg's and partner Stacey Snider's ambitious plans to fund their venture have been slowed by the global credit crisis.

India's Reliance ADA Group has agreed to invest $500 million to $550 million for a 50% equity stake. But the venture still needs to raise some $700 million to $750 million in debt, Claudia Eller writes. Lead bank JPMorgan Chase reportedly has suspended its plans to syndicate the debt until markets rebound, but that is not expected to hinder DreamWorks' plan to begin buying scripts and developing new movie projects.

Spielberg and Snider hope to launch their studio formally in January and to retain its DreamWorks name. But they will continue to have close ties to Paramount Pictures, where the studio has been based since 2006. As part of the separation agreement, Paramount has the right to co-finance and co-distribute about three dozen projects that DreamWorks has had in development.

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