Montreal: Industry lawyer Michael Prupas, the principals of Toronto’s Pebblehut Productions, and international financial consultant Edith Myers are partnering with u.s. and international interests to launch Muse Entertainment Enterprises, a new Canadian distribution, production talent and finance-packaging company.

In setting up, Montreal-based Muse has worked out direct distribution and financing links with u.k. distrib Pearson Television International, u.s. affiliate Pearson All-American, and l.a.-based Jaffe/ Braunstein Films, an important supplier of movies and miniseries to u.s. tv.

According to Prupas, president of the company and former senior entertainment partner at national law firm Heenan Blaikie, Muse will seek Canadian projects – with broadcast interest in Canada – looking for help in financing, production and distribution.

‘The goal is to make projects marketable internationally,’ he says.

Toronto-based Pebblehut, now a subsidiary of Muse, is both a service and original program producer and is active in tv movies and miniseries including The Third Twin for cbs, First Do No Harm for abc and The Last Don, produced for Konigberg/Sinetsky. The company is headed by producers Marilyn Stonehouse, Susan Murdoch and Edythe Hall and has some $30 million in production slated for ’98.

‘This is an exciting story for us,’ says Stonehouse. ‘We are also excited about being included in the development of projects.

‘Muse’s distribution services will especially benefit independent Canadian tv producers who are seeking new and vital openings to foreign markets,’ says Prupas.

A Montreal service production entity, akin to Pebblehut, will be established, although original copyright productions are also part of the unfolding picture, he says.

Solidly capitalized

Prupas wouldn’t reveal financing details but says ‘this company is solidly capitalized.’ Muse also intends to establish a film and tv script development division through Pebblehut, he adds.

Michael Jaffe, a director of Muse and president of Jaffe/Braunstein, says Canada has great, but still largely untapped potential. Jaffe points out one-hour u.s. tv series typically pull in 400% to 500% more in revenue advances than equivalent Canadian series.

‘That doesn’t have to be so,’ he says. ‘Canada is the only country in the world that has the ability to produce international-style productions with the same energy and values as the Americans. Nobody has really recognized this in the past.’

Jaffe says the new Quebec production service tax credit is ‘one of the reasons this company [Muse] is Quebec controlled.’

‘We don’t intend to just service product, we intend to be production partners in original programming from Canada in a big way,’ he says. ‘We are going to try to create programming that fits strategically with the needs of the major Canadian broadcasters. They have the same need to generate ratings as anybody else. One of the beauties of this arrangement is that we can make films without an American sale.’

In fact, he says, completed tv projects, as in features, typically get much higher prices in the u.s. market.

Jaffe/Braunstein has been active in Canada, mainly in the Toronto region, since the early 1990s and produced $45 million in mows and miniseries in ’97.

Flesh and Blood

One of the first projects with Muse involvement is the 13-hour Sarrazin/Couture Productions series Flesh and Blood, presold to ctv for the new season. Significantly, financing for the series, budgeted at over $1 million an hour, was completed with a foreign rights sale to Pearson, while u.s. rights, held by the producers, remain open. Pebblehut’s Murdoch is producing along with the series’ creators, Pierre Sarrazin and Suzette Couture.

‘I have to emphasize the creative control remains with Sarrazin/Couture,’ he says. ‘That does not change. This is a Telefilm/ctcpf project.’

Pearson TV International has acquired many Jaffe/Braunstein productions, and recently acquired the Sugar Entertainment (Vidatron) sci-fi series First Wave.

u.k.-based parent Pearson owns an impressive array of publishing interests including Penguin Books, the Financial Times and authoritative international newsweekly The Economist.

In addition to tv production, Muse Film Management Services will offer consulting services in financing, tax credit collection and access to other government incentive programs, and interim financing packaging through Canadian and international banks and other sources.

Former Quebec premier Pierre-Marc Johnson is also a director of Muse.