The advance of three Canadian directors, Bronwen Hughes, Kari Skogland and Eliza Barry, into feature directing at roughly the same time seems notable. That the three women are former commercial directors, and that all have done tours of duty at The Partners’ Film Company may seem like a mini-phenomenon, but Partners’ head Don McLean says it reflects changes which have occurred over the past 10 years in the industry at large.

With assurances there was no Partners’ Feature Directors Boot Camp or food additive, McLean plays down the role of the company in the current successes of the three women.

‘Partners’ doesn’t hire men or women to turn them into feature directors. We’re looking for people to do commercials,’ he says. ‘But talent will out and sooner or later, particularly now, they will move onward.’

McLean says the past five to 10 years have seen an increase in the number of English-Canadian commercial directors who have been able to make the transition to features, and now studios are mining the rich deposits of commercial talent.

‘Studios are looking at these talented people and seeing a real source and they’re chasing them,’ he says. McLean says commercial directors are finding it easier to parlay their skills and confidence into making movie deals, and the success rate is higher for those who do.

While Quebec has traditionally been an environment where directors could work in both film and commercials, McLean says English Canada had no such history.

‘It took longer for it to happen in English Canada, because strangely, here we didn’t have a bunch of established feature directors who had the reputation to carry them into commercials.’

When the first directors did make the transition, like Jeremiah Chechik and the late Phillip Borsos, who began commercial work after directing Bethune: The Making of a Hero, McLean says after years of ignoring them, agencies were prepared to look at Canadian feature directors, and subsequently, studios at commercial stars.

McLean does admit that Partners’ has been very receptive to female talent and now represents about nine female directors including Hughes, Skogland, Floria Sigismondi and Barbara Cole – representation which didn’t happen 10 years ago. But he is quick to laud the talents and determination of directors like Hughes and Skogland who have largely cut their own path.

Partners’ was originally set to invest in Skogland’s film, The Size of Watermelons, but last-minute problems with distribution sent the project to l.a. The company ended up providing marginal assistance, including inexpensive recanned film stock.

With the additional notoriety involved in directing features, McLean says Partners’ and other production companies benefit from the continued association with directors who have expanded their repertoire and who continue to do commercials. He also points out the overall benefit of crossover talent to the commercial production industry.

‘Anything these people do outside commercials is good for everyone,’ he says. ‘If they can get a feature now and then it sustains their interest or longevity in commercials. Doing commercials non-stop can be draining. We grind them down.’