Toronto’s Associated Producers (Hollywoodism, Lost Tribes) and Yorkshire Television in the u.k. have formed a new production company, yap. While both companies will continue to produce independently, they now share an informal first-look agreement for each other’s factual output. Properties appealing to both companies will be pursued together under the yap banner.

The agreement acknowledges ap’s drive towards bigger and better. According to ap principal Simcha Jacobovici, the company’s output (including yap productions) will grow from four hours last year to 15 this year, and 24 next. The partnership will also enable ap to tackle series and even mows. Granada, Yorkshire’s parent company, currently produces about 20 mows for u.s. broadcasters annually.

Jacobovici says the move helps to ensure that ap’s future is not tied to ‘the vagaries of Canadian funding.’ While the Canadian funding system lends a helping hand to starting producers, according to Jacobovici it’s not something on which to base long-term financial planning: ‘We see those [funding bodies] as a leg up, and that’s not how we see our business plan. There’s less and less money locally for everybody, whether you’re a u.k. producer or a Canadian. Productions are getting more expensive. The appetite has grown, but the bucks have shrunk.’

ap has managed to tackle many of its big-budget projects to date (Hollywoodism, $1.2 million; Lost Tribes, $1.3 million), through international presales. For Jacobovici, yap is the natural conclusion to this trend.

Already completed under the new label is a 13 x 25-minute series for Animal Planet in the u.s. called O’Shea’s Big Adventure, a series featuring Mark O’Shea wrestling reptiles of all sizes and shapes. Penn and Teller – The Illusionists is a three-part, 52-minute series for the cbc, and tlc in the u.s. The series is a big-budget ($3 million) trip around the world exploring the roots of magic, from the rope trick to snake charmers. Also on the completed slate are Frozen Hearts (52 minutes), Planet Storm (102 minutes) and Stunt School (3 x 52 minutes).

While the first six hours of Scandal! Then and Now is an ap production, it is likely the next seven will come under the yap label. Produced for The History Channel in Canada, the series parallels a scandal from the present with a similar one from the past. Included are the original child murderers Leopold and Loeb, and the first media evangelist, Amy Simple MacPherson. ap is currently on the hunt for a u.s. broadcaster for the first six episodes.

Jacobovici says the partnership is more than just financial. ‘My partner, Elliott Halpern, likes to say that he sometimes feels like he’s in a cartoon [during pitch sessions], when their eyes gloss over and you can see the dollar bills. As a Canadian production company, they don’t see the films we’ve made or the awards we’ve won, all they see is Canadian tax dollars. With Yorkshire, it was different. They looked at us and not our wallet.’

Brendan Christie is associate editor of Playback’s sister publication,

RealScreen.