‘The Night Manager’ Producer The Ink Factory Secures $180M in Funding

An increase in funding means greater focus on creative and global partnerships .

The Night Manager producer The Ink Factory has secured $180m in funding as it looks to step up its development and production capabilities. The company has struck a combination of deals including equity investment as well as a slate financing arrangement.

The deals will allow The Ink Factory, run by Co-CEO’s Simon and Stephen Cornwell, to become an independent global studio.

It has closed a second round of equity financing with its first round investors, as well as an equity co-investment partnership with 127 Wall Productions and a slate financing deal with Natixis Coficiné, which cash flowed The Night Manager.

Hotel Artemis, the Drew Pearce-directed crime thriller that stars Jodie Foster, Jeff Goldblum, Sterling K. Brown and Dave Bautista, is the first project to be financed by The Ink Factory through its partnerships with 127 Wall and Coficiné under the new arrangement. Separately, The Little Drummer Girl, the Florence Pugh-fronted, Park Chan-wook directed adaptation of the John le Carré novel for BBC and AMC, will also be financed through the new deal.

The funding will allow The Ink Factory, which was initially set up to exploit the IP of John Le Carre, real name David Cornwell and father of Stephen and Simon, to expand its intellectual property acquisition activities and accelerate the expansion of the company’s operations in the digital arena from its headquarters in London and Los Angeles.

Simon Cornwell said “We are thrilled to be partnering with 127 Wall to build on the fabulous platform provided by John le Carré’s extraordinary body of work. On top of this, we are already in development on projects with other exciting authors and storytellers. Across the board, we are looking forward to producing, financing and delivering creative, distinctive work across established and emerging mediums. We are also delighted that Coficiné, good partners on The Night Manager, have chosen to extend and broaden our partnership as well.”

Arthur Wang, Co-Chairman of 127 Wall added: “We are delighted to partner with the talented team at The Ink Factory to bring intelligent and engaging stories to TV and movie audiences around the world. We are especially excited by the creative and commercial dimensions of our collaboration, including in the growing markets in our home base in Asia.”

Christophe Vidal, Director of Natixis Coficiné, said: “Both my colleague, Edwige Rolin, and I have much enjoyed working with The Ink Factory on The Night Manager. Natixis Coficiné looks forward to supporting the financing of Hotel Artemis and The Little Drummer Girl, as well as the broader growth of Ink Factory’s slate in the coming years.”