Fledgling Hong Kong-based production and distribution companyBigfoot Entertainment has signed a worldwide production and distribution dealwith Los Angeles-based collective Filmmakers Alliance.

The deal, which was negotiated by Bigfoot president James Hoffmanand Filmmakers Alliance president Jacques Thelemaque and announced last night(18) in Los Angeles, paves the way for the joint creation of independentproduction company FA Productions.

Underthe terms of the deal Bigfoot Entertainment, part of the privatelyowned Bigfoot Group, an IT, communications and educational consortium, willdistribute select FA titles, as well as its own film library.

Bigfoot aims to strike a series of production and distributionpartnerships with international companies, and will set about assembling aslate of high quality, low budget projects.

Thecompany has also announced a line-up of key personnel, including chairman of theboard Michael Gleissner, chief executive officer Kacy Andrews, companypresident and vice president of acquisitions and investments Hoffman, and vicepresident and general council Jeffrey Berkman.

Other top brass are vice president of production Andrew Durbin andexecutive vice president of home video, television and theatrical distributionDawn Robinson. Additional appointments are expected to be announced shortly.

"Bigfoot will initially inject a multi-million dollar investmentin the partnership through its film fund, Bigfoot Partners Ltd, and willleverage FA's talent pool and full-service production-for-hire services toproduce FA member scripts, support completion projects and solicit new scriptsfrom up-and-coming filmmakers," Andrews said in a statement.

"Our relationship with a world-class company such as Bigfootstrengthens our role in working with emerging filmmakers," Thelemaque added.

FilmmakersAlliance is an 11-year-old collective with more than 500 members thatfacilitates production through active participation and shared resources. Italso provides seminars, workshops, discussion forums, writers groups,screenings and other activities to provide informational and creative support.