Not even a week after its bitter split with Paramount, Cruise/Wagner Productions (C/W) has partnered with First and Goal, an investment firm headed by Washington Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder, homebuilding and mortgage banking company NVR chair Dwight Schar and Six Flags prexy-CEO Mark Shapiro.

According to Variety, the deal gives C/W development and overhead costs for two years, with the option to renew long term. A dollar amount was not disclosed. The pact is said to be part one of a three-step process for C/W in setting up an independently operated production shingle post-Paramount. The other two parts of the deal include distribution and finance elements.

Wagner and Shapiro separately hinted to Variety that while the pact is only for overhead and development, this new financial arrangement could morph into something more substantial -- either creatively or with increased investments -- in the near future.

The arrangement will be nonexclusive and allow C/W to work with all studios; it won't affect Cruise's ability to star in films for any other shingles or studios.

The deal comes one week after Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone stunned Cruise, Wagner and the rest of Hollywood when he announced that his studio would not be renewing the C/W pact, citing Cruise's unacceptable behavior.