Mark Damon's MDP Worldwide and its investor/partner Neverland Pictures have entered into a first look production deal with hot LA management and production outift Handprint Entertainment which numbers Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Lopez among its clients.

The first film under the arrangement is The Sixteen Pleasures which will star Kidman as an American woman who is entrusted with a lost volume of erotic sonnets and whose life becomes increasingly wrapped up with the book. Based on the novel by Robert Hellenga, the film is currently being scripted by John Collee, who also adapted Master And Commander by Patrick O'Brian to be filmed by 20th Century Fox and director Peter Weir.

The two companies will also enter into a joint venture partnership on all feature films produced through this new entity. Handprint was founded in 1995 by Benny Medina and Jeff Pollack and quickly recruited other partners such as Jane Berliner and David Guillod. It has a client list of over 150, a satellite office in New York and is currently in production on Fighting Temptation with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films starring Cuba Gooding Jr and Beyonce Knowles.

The deal was announced by Damon and Pollack. "In addition to immediate access to production financing, this partnership will give us greater control in greenlighting projects and ultimately a shorter time frame from development to production," said Pollack in a statement.

Kidman who recently completed Stephen Daldry's The Hours and Lars Von Trier's Dogville is also filming a supporting role in Robert Benton's The Human Stain and will next start shooting Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain with Jude Law and Renee Zellwegger. She will also produce Jane Campion's In The Cut for Pathe and Screen Gems.