In this report we take a look at the activities and game plans of Canada’s public production companies.

In this report:

Alliance p. 40

Atlantis p. 42

Cinar p. 39

Coscient p. 40

Devine p. 42

Greenlight p. 43

Keystone p. 43

Malofilm p. 37

Nelvana p. 38

Paragon p. 40

Alliance Communications, Canada’s largest production house, started off 1996 with news of a $121 million production slate of 56 hours, its busiest development slate to date and headlined by Canada’s only pilot orders from major u.s. networks.

The three tv pilots ordered are Toe Tags for abc, Once A Thief for Fox and Sins of the City for upn.

With 50.1% of its revenues coming from production, as shown in its fiscal 1995 annual report (for the period ended March 31), the company launched two new series, Straight Up for the cbc and Taking the Falls for ctv (which was not renewed after season one), and is in production on season four of North of 60 and season two of Due South.

Although the Mountie sitcom Due South was canceled after one season by cbs, the company got season two off the ground and cbs has since picked up 18 episodes.

Alliance also gained momentum in the area of animation with ReBoot, a computer-animated series for abc and ytv produced by Alliance and BLT Productions of Vancouver through Mainframe Entertainment, a partnership between blt and Alliance.abc has not renewed it (attributed to Disney’s buyout of abc owner Cap Cities) and syndication is being considered to replace the net. Now Mainframe is in production on 26 episodes of Beast Wars, a series based on Hasbro’s Transformer toys which will be launched in Alliance’s fiscal 1997 as part of a syndicated animation strip.

Following an investors’ meeting last April, where more than 78% of the votes cast were in favor of the move, Alliance raised equity in the u.s. by way of a share reclassification that placed non-voting stock on nasdaq. In January, the company was trading on nasdaq after the government eased ownership regulations for production companies, raising the allowable level of foreign ownership from 25% to 33%.

Consolidated revenues for the third quarter ended Dec. 31, 1995 were up 28% to $93,587,000 compared to $73 million for the same period a year earlier. Revenues for the nine months ended Dec. 31 were up 40% to $201 million.

Although Alliance Equicap, the company’s tax shelter arm, showed a first-quarter dip of 45% over the same period the previous year due to the replacement of a tax shelter system with an ritc, in Alliance’s third quarter report, Equicap is listed as one of the two major strengths of the company along with production.

In stock news, the most dramatic swing was when the company lost its bid for Labatt Communications Inc. in the summer of 1995. The company’s stock dropped by 20% in August. Overall, year-end figures showed $12.9 million in earnings or $1.36 per share, up 35% over the previous year.

Alliance and mdp, Mark Damon’s international sales company based in Los Angeles, signed a joint-venture deal to launch an action feature division, Le Monde, at the 1995 afm. Today, despite the disolvement of their formal agreement at MIFED 95, mdp and Alliance continue to work on a slate of features that includes Deadly Currents and Within the Rock.

There has been a considerable shuffling of staff at Alliance since early 1995. George Burger of Heenan Blaikie joined the company as executive vp in February 1995, shortly after the sudden departure of vice-chairman Jay Firestone in January.

coo Gord Haines also departed, while Steven Mendelson and Laurie Pozmantier joined the l.a. office. Mendelson has since left, but Todd Leavitt, formerly of NBC Productions, joined as chairman of Alliance Television, also based in l.a.

In January of this year, the company announced a new directive that will see more emphasis on its l.a. office and an increase in production with and for the American market. Steven DeNure, formerly president of Alliance Productions, moved over to head up the new multimedia division, Alliance Multimedia. Last summer, Andras Hamori rejoined the company as president of Alliance Pictures.

In distribution news, Alliance Releasing shows 68 titles released since last March and box office revenues of about $45 million and counting. The company renewed its lucrative deals with Miramax, New Line and Fine Line with Seven, Mortal Kombat and the Alliance coproduced Johnny Mnemonic at the top of the charts.

In video, and for the 1995 calendar year, wholesale gross was $37 million with Miramax’s Pulp Fiction at 73,000 units and New Line’s Dumb and Dumber at 62,000 units leading the top titles.

In broadcasting, specialty channel Showcase, in which Alliance has a 55% stake, is showing less than $3 million in revenues when paired with the new multimedia division in fiscal 1995. Alliance claims it will see a profit next year. Alliance also holds a 12.4% stake in Budapest 3 and itv.

Alliance, with minority partner ctv, has applied to the ctrc to launch The History and Entertainment Network. The crtc will make its selection of new specialties in the summer.