Documentary filmmakers Elliott Halpern and Simcha Jacobovici, founding partners of the thriving production house Associated Producers, saw the writing on the wall about three years ago and altered their company’s strategies accordingly.

A testament to their foresight is the current activity at ap’s downtown Toronto offices. Three documentaries (Ebola: Inside an Outbreak, Jesus in Russia and Expulsion and Memory) were completed this month, and at least two more (Ballroom Dancing and Hollywoodism) are in advance stages of development.

As Halpern explains, the new direction his company took in 1993, when government support was starting to wane, was essential to ap’s survival.

‘At the same time the international market was changing radically; we turned a corner. We felt it was an urgent matter for us to try and understand the international market and to make contacts.’

Although ap was known for stories of international interest, such as the 1991 award-winning Deadly Currents about the Arab-Israeli conflict, Halpern calls his filmmaking experience up to that time ‘rather insular,’ both in terms of seeking funding and in understanding the influence of buyers on content and development.

In 1993, when ap first attended the mip-tv television market in Cannes, France, Mundovision’s George Matta was selling Bones of Contention while Halpern was making contact with international strand editors.

Next in line was The Plague Monkeys, a project that, as Halpern says, ‘was the right story at the right time.’

Today, the investigation into the ‘flesh-eating disease’ is one of the highest-grossing Canadian one-hour documentaries in tv sales, and is nominated for four 1995 Gemini Awards. Halpern calls the film a ‘breakthrough’ for the company.

While the last of international tv sales were being finalized, the ebola virus was resurfacing in Zaire.

‘Suddenly we were talking to strand editors in the u.k. and in the u.s., either people who had bought the show and had done very well with it or their competitors who had missed out. That combined with efforts of going to the markets opened a lot of doors for us.’

Although interest in the ebola virus was building at a fierce rate at the time ap was making The Plague Monkeys, the documentary is anything but a current affairs program. ‘Ordinarily, even when we’ve had the opportunity of coattailing on a news story, we’ve really tried to avoid any kind of specific tie-ins,’ says Halpern.

He remembers when the issue first surfaced: he and Jacobovici were completing Deadly Currents at a time when news of the Gulf War was everywhere. ‘We agonized over whether or not in the preamble for the film there should be a reference to the Gulf War, which was the biggest news on the planet at that point.’

They concluded it was best not to refer directly to the war, a decision that extended the life of the documentary considerably, especially since it didn’t air in the u.s. until 1994. ‘It’s indicative of our approach, which is to reach deeper into the material so that we’re looking at issues in a kind of timeless way,’ says Halpern.

The Plague Monkeys was financed in Canada; its follow-up, Ebola: Inside an Outbreak (which aired on cbc Jan. 9), was financed with the cbc, wgbh (which produces Nova for pbs), Channel Four and the Cable Production Fund.

As Halpern notes: ‘That’s a big jump in a two-year period.’ Also in that time, ap has doubled its production output annually, stepping up production to four movies in 1995 from one in 1993, and has increased its staff from five to 15.

Recently, ap placed some dramatic projects on its development slate for the first time. Sigsusson’s Roads, the company’s first effort, is based on the autobiography of Sweim Sigsusson, the man who pioneered a network of northern roads in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario starting in the ’30s. Set back by the recent and tragic death of writer William Edwards, Halpern says they will be moving ahead with the project in the spring.

Also in development are two more dramatic features.

ap’s decision to get into drama is simply a long-standing area of interest, says Halpern. ‘We look toward the British model of documentary production houses that have maintained on the one hand a kind of atelier approach to making films and on the other hand recognize that you have to grow to compete, especially internationally.

‘That’s the strategy we have been pursuing: to create an infrastructure where we can handle multiple productions simultaneously. It’s our strength as documentary producers, and the fact we are reaching new markets (is) giving us a secure base to explore other things.’

Earlier this month, ap finalized a six-picture distribution deal for international rights with Malofilm Distribution. The titles under the agreement are: Northern Justice, a look at Canada’s justice system in the North; Ebola: Inside an Outbreak; the upcoming Sex Cops, about child prostitutes in Nepal and India; Jesus in Russia, which airs on cbc Jan. 30; Expulsion and Memory; and Ballroom Dancing, which will go into production late spring on location in Blackpool, Eng. (the mecca for ballroom dancing) and other locations around the world.

Malofilm held home video rights to Plague Monkeys last summer when discussions were initiated between the two companies for the multi-picture deal.

‘It was a fortuitous circumstance; they were independently coming to the conclusion that there is a growing appetite for documentary production,’ remarks Halpern. ‘Now they are committing a lot of resources to developing something like a documentary distribution label with its own identity.’

The news of Malofilm’s intentions comes at a time when many sources of funding for documentaries are vulnerable, with the possible privatization of tvontario, cuts at the cbc, the National Film Board and Telefilm Canada, as well as the Ontario Film Development Corporation freeze.

Halpern is emphatic that public financial support has been instrumental to the growth of his company. ‘It took a long, long time for us to be in a position where we could start developing relationships that would be of assistance,’ he says. ‘We strongly believe it’s important those agencies continue to play a role. In fact, I think we are proof that they work.’

Halpern is concerned not only for other producers but also for the survival of domestic stories. ‘There are always going to be projects like Northern Justice that Canadians want to tell and without (the funding agencies’) support their stories won’t get told.’

If public funds do diminish significantly, will ap seek a way to mentor new filmmakers?

‘If we’re in a position to, we would like to help other filmmakers develop ideas or tell them how to put together financing,’ says Halpern. ‘We are looking into doing that, and although we are not set up right now, we see that as a real possibility in the future.’

In the meantime, he stresses, ‘It can’t be understated that without the support of the cbc, and particularly the Witness strand, and tvo, I don’t know what would happen. It d’esn’t matter what kind of relationship you have with broadcasters abroad; if you don’t have that critical broadcast support in Canada, then everything becomes impossible.’