Toronto-based commercial giant Partners’ Film Company has given birth to a new affiliate production company, a move which co-incides with the death of its partnership with established shop Radke Films.

Partners’ newly created commercial production company is being helmed by executive producer Tina Petridis, formerly of Radke Films. She has a five-year deal with Partners’.

Partners’ and Radke will end their affiliation as of October 31, when the existing contract between the two companies was to have come up for renewal.

Partners’, Canada’s largest commercial production entities, has spawned a number of affiliated companies in Toronto, including production houses Jolly Roger, Imported Artists, Revolver, The Directors Company, Videogenics and editing shop Panic & Bob. Partners’ has had a stake in Radke Films since the latter company was formed in 1992 by director Richard Radke, who died in May 1994. At that time, Edie Weiss, then general manager, assumed the leadership role at Radke.

Under the existing arrangement, Partners’ had owned 30% of Radke, with Weiss controlling the remaining 70%. The October contract renegotiation would mark the third in the history of the two shops, over which time Radke has become a significant player in the commercial industry.

Petridis, who joined Radke shortly after the company’s inception, will be established in a new company outside Partners’ headquarters, which is likely to be the company’s former prop shop on Richmond Street, down the road from the Partners’ complex. No details have been announced regarding the roster of the new shop or its name.

While the ramifications of a Partners’/Radke split are under debate, one insider likens the situation to ‘breakup of the Soviet Union.’