With this month’s Paramount Pictures u.s. video release of two of Salter Street Films’ sci-fi lexx films and a deal in place which will see two more released shortly, the growth of Salter Street is continuing under new president and coo Catherine Tait.

Tait, who joined Salter in the summer from a six-year stint in New York City as executive director of the Independent Feature Project, was in Toronto recently on a press junket.

Though ‘no comment’ is the response to queries as to whether an initial public offering is imminent (discretion is required of a company prior to official announcement of an ipo), speculation is that Tait and other recent Salter staff additions including former Telefilm Canada exec Bill Niven have been brought on board to help smooth the transition of the company from private to public. Salter is also seeking to add a lawyer to its business affairs department.

With productions ranging from the German coproduction of lexx, the miniseries Major Crime, the copro of Emily of New Moon with Montreal’s Cinar, and the series Daily Tips For Modern Living, El Mundo Del Lundo and This Hour Has 22 Minutes (nearing its 100th episode), Salter, founded by brothers Paul and Michael Donovan, more than doubled its revenues in the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 1997 to approximately $20 million.

‘Salter Street is at a point now where it would be very difficult to continue to grow at the rate we’ve been growing because of access to capital,’ says Tait.

And though part of Tait’s mandate is to oversee the growth of Salter, she says that the company philosophy set out by the brothers Donovan will remain unchanged. ‘Sure there will be pressures on the company, but I’m fairly certain what distinguishes us from other companies that are traded publicly in this sector is that from the very beginning, Salter has been committed to the creative content,’ says Tait.

‘If we had wanted to go that route of service production, we would have done it years ago,’ says Tait adding: ‘Michael and Paul have always been clear about what they’re trying to build and that was a production company with unique innovative high-quality programming. So my sense is if there has been support for that and we were able to double revenues last year, then I believe that the market and the investor market is not stupid about high-quality programming.’

With Tait’s area of expertise being feature film, she confirms that though much of Salter’s recent success has been in television production, the company is looking at getting back into making movies.

‘We’re not necessarily looking for unique Canadian stories, but for stories that will work within the context that we’re operating under, so obviously with some link to Canada and the Atlantic region,’ says Tait.

Tait also predicts that the company will add four new interactive titles to the Salter Street Interactive division slate next year, following their first production with the game moat, with mt&t, currently in post-production.

Other expansion plans include the January launch of the Electropolis soundstage and growing Salter Street Digital’s sound facilities to be able to service other productions and the addition of full picture post capabilities.