‘A producer walks a tightrope, balancing the financing and the creative,’ said Icon Productions president Bruce Davey, kicking off tiff’s Rogers Symposium as the keynote speaker Sept. 13.

Davey and Mel Gibson’s Icon is the l.a.-based company behind Felicia’s Journey, a coproduction with Alliance Atlantis Pictures which opened the 1999 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. An Ideal Husband, another Icon title, is also screening at tiff.

Icon’s eclectic array of pictures includes Hamlet, Payback, Braveheart, Forever Young, The Man Without A Face and Anna Karenina.

Discussing his role in the 10-year-old company in a one-on-one interview with Brian Linehan, Davey marked the importance of monitoring all aspects of production and keeping all sides happy – the bankers and studios, the directors and creative team – often through compromise and negotiation.

Icon operates both feature film and television arms, as well as an international distribution and foreign film sales arm, both based in London, Eng., and a record label which handles all of its soundtracks. Icon is also partnering with Fox Filmed Entertainment in Australia.

Icon holds onto foreign rights for the projects it takes on. Its catalogue of over 250 titles includes the Majestic Film Library.

‘The libraries give us a revenue stream so we can get involved in the movies we want to make,’ said Davey.

The sales division is purposely kept small, he said. ‘We don’t look to sell too many films; if we sell five films a year, that’s a lot.’

Davey added that he has no plans to open a u.s. distribution outfit. ‘It requires a lot of capital. I will leave that to the experts.’

The relationship between the two partners began when Gibson came to Davey, an entertainment account/business manager in Sydney, Australia, as a potential client.

Gibson and Davey’s first project together was Hamlet. After all the studios passed on the script, they decided to open their own company, raise the money and produce the film independently.

On the financing front, Davey’s mantra is ‘If you can’t presell 110%, don’t go into production.’

He also noted that the international market is becoming increasingly important for financing films. Whereas 10 years ago 60% of the financing kitty could be picked up domestically, the situation has flipped, with foreign sales now worth that amount. Davey predicts the domestic portion will fall to 25% over the next few years as sales to China and Latin America pick up.

Relaying the story of Icon’s partnership with Atom Egoyan, Davey explained that he first met Egoyan several years ago when a script Davey had with Warner Bros. caught the attention of the Canadian director. While nothing came of this particular project, a couple of years ago the William Trevor novel Felicia’s Journey came to Icon and Davey suggested sending it to Egoyan.

Egoyan wanted to change the location to Canada, suggesting that Felicia travel from Victoria to Vancouver. Davey, however, had made an agreement with Trevor to be faithful to the story as it unraveled in the novel. Davey sent Egoyan to visit Trevor and the Ireland location was agreed upon.

Summing up his experience screening Felicia’s Journey as the opening night film at tiff, Davey said: ‘It’s the premiere festival. Cannes is a complete zoo. One wonders why one goes…more to sell your film, not show it. But this is a festival for film lovers.’