How Stone financed 'W'

It starts with Bill Block, the one-time ICM hotshot, one-time head of Artisan (remember them?) and now co-CEO of QED International, a film financing, sales and production company in Bev Hills. QED is backed by $10 million in private equity, according to Variety, but the company's first releases - "The Hunting Party" and "The Lucky Ones" – have been underwhelming performers. Block says he thought Oliver Stone’s treatment of Bush’s rise to power would appeal to middle America. So how does he raise the $30 million for "W"? From Portfolio.com:

To round up money for the film's incidental costs, Block organized a handful of dinners at last February's Berlin Film Festival and introduced Stone to foreign financiers. Among them were a Shanghai-based investor who also manages Chinese actors and who secured small roles for two Chinese actresses in exchange for his stake in W.; an Australian firm that agreed to cover marketing costs; and a German group that bought the German distribution rights.

By the end of the week, Stone had all of his money in place and was set to start preproduction on the film. In May, Lionsgate came on as the distributor; shooting began the same time, with a push to get the film into theaters before November to take advantage of election-generated publicity. While early trailers show a young George W. Bush dancing drunk on a bar, smoking, and gambling, W. producer Moritz Borman says the film is not political. "The Bush-bashing, we've [already] seen," says Borman. "Let Michael Moore make another documentary. This is a film about a man."