Montreal: The Toronto Dominion Bank has made a strategic decision to move beyond cable and broadcasting and expand its lending services to Canadian film and television producers.

Jack Herrity, a vice-president and manager with td in Montreal, says the move to aggressively court the production industry has the full support of the bank’s top management, and that a just-completed interim financing agreement with Telescene Communications for the $27.5 million tv series Sirens played ‘a seminal role’ in the decision.

‘We want to be part of the growth (in the production industry). We have the experience, the knowledge and the connections,’ says Herrity.

He says the td plans to get its share of the new action in this sector, largely dominated by The Royal Bank.

td has named two primary contacts for film and tv financing: Herrity, manager of the Chabanel St. W. branch in Montreal, and Bob Marrs, manager, business development, corporate accounts group, at the TD Centre branch in Toronto.

Herrity says the bank’s interest in Canadian programming and entertainment software is a logical outgrowth of its investment in communications hardware. The td is already the largest global lender to the cable industry, specifically in North America and the u.k., the largest lender to the North American cellular phone industry, and a major lender to the broadcasting sector.

Marrs says it’s a normal development for ‘more competitive financial services to become available to the Canadian production industry as it becomes more competitive’ and profit-oriented.

Globally, he says, Canada’s role as a supplier of film and tv product has been strengthened by the financial industry’s increased awareness of the value of programming.

Adds Donald Olds, a senior account manager with td in Montreal: ‘The new specialty channels and the worldwide demand from cable and satellite point to an expanded appetite for software (programming).’

No specific figures were available on the line of credit extended to Telescene, but according to Herrity the bank ‘is financing the cost of producing 22 one-hour episodes (and) we can secure ourselves with receivables for up to 75% to 80% of a production’s budget.’

The majority of financing on Sirens is generated by export sales. Half the $27.5 million budget is covered by u.s. sales through All American Communications, the u.s. syndicator, and foreign sales to 34 countries.

Herrity says the federal Export Development Corporation insurance program offers both producers and lenders support in assessing and guaranteeing the value of foreign contracts.

He says the bank is prepared to lend ‘additional monies (to the producers of Sirens) against foreign receivables over a period of time.’ This arrangement, as it matures, ‘would allow the producer to recoup some of the deferrals,’ he adds.

Herrity says he was especially impressed with sogic’s support of Sirens.

Two weeks ago, the Quebec cabinet officially certified the production, a requirement when the guaranteed loan portion of the production tax credit exceeds $2 million.

Olds says he is not concerned with the ‘slight softening’ in demand for publicly traded shares of Canadian production companies.

‘It (going public) happened so quickly,’ says Olds. ‘We expect a lot of growth over five or 10 years. It’s guaranteed because of global demand.’

The TD Securities Group headed up Toronto-based Nelvana’s recent initial public offering.

Herrity says the bank will assess producer requests on a case-by-case basis, and is ready to meet new players in the industry, even if ‘track record’ and ‘character’ are among the bank’s primary loan considerations.