Montreal: The principal buyers of Behaviour Distribution’s assets, David Reckziegel and John Hamilton, have joined forces with distrib veteran Pierre Brousseau to form Seville Pictures, an integrated production and distribution company.

Brousseau, the new company’s senior vp distribution, says the partnership brings together Hamilton’s production expertise and Reckziegel’s financing and managing talents. Hamilton is Seville’s vp production. Reckziegel is president. There are other minority investors in Seville, including BHVR Communications chairman Richard Szalwinski, who has about 19% of the new operation.

The company anticipates about a dozen theatrical releases in its first year.

Seville opens with the former Behaviour/Malofilm library, a staff of 30, including six in Toronto, and a developed slate of new Canadian and international feature film releases.

The library includes some 400 titles, 50 of which are actively exploitable, says Brousseau.

‘We’ve retained the entire staff of 23. Nobody has lost their job,’ he says.

Seville expects a small reduction in 2000 in its Telefilm Canada Distribution Fund envelope, which was $1.8 million in ’99 for the former Behaviour Distribution. Brousseau, former senior vp distribution with Behaviour, says he did not use the entire Distribution Fund line in ’99/2000.

In production, Hamilton expects to produce at least two features next summer. The company recently optioned rights to the book series Replica, which Hamilton says has the makings of a promising sci-fi youth tv series. Rights to Replica had been held by Columbia TriStar.

Hamilton says the new partnership ‘is a really good fit and Pierre, David and I are actually having a lot of fun.’

Seville properties

Seville has acquired rights to Eric Nicolas’ Academic Misconduct, Max Sartor’s The Dolce Vitas, Lucy Phillips’ Pretty Vacant and Paul Quarrington’s hockey fable Logan in Overtime, expected to shoot in the winter of 2001.

Other Seville deals with Canadian producers include Treasure Island with Peter Simpson of Toronto’s Norstar, Lea Pool’s Wives of Bath with Greg Dummett and Lorraine Richard of Montreal’s Cite-Amerique, Wild Mustard with Gretha Rose and Lawrie Rotenberg of Charlottetown’s Cellar Door Productions, and Emile Gaudreault and Marc Brunet’s Nuit de Noces with producer Denise Robert of Montreal’s Cinemaginaire.

Brousseau says Seville has committed $1 million for the world rights to Wild Mustard, ‘one of the best [feature] scripts I’ve read in the past five years.’ Brousseau will be in the u.k. in mid-January to discuss the projects with potential coproduction partners.

International acquisitions include Stephane Brize’s Le bleu des villes, Sam Karman’s Kennedy and Me, u.k. director John Duigan’s Paranoia, Aussie director John Polson’s Siam Sunset and the third entry in the Deepa Metha trilogy, Water.

Upcoming winter theatrical releases include Gore Vidal’s Caligula and the Filmline International thriller Eye of the Beholder.

Brousseau says he’s pursuing new deals with players in France – typically with French financial participation in English-language production and coproductions – the u.k. and increasingly Germany.

‘I’m looking for independent product that can work on a planetary level,’ says the distrib.

Within a year, Seville will establish an international sales division and expand its television sales unit. The company recently hired former Sullivan Entertainment sales exec Jeff Grottick as vp, video, based in Toronto.

Seville has joined cafde. The company is located at 147, rue St-Paul in Vieux Montreal.