Toronto commercial production companies Generator Films and Angel Films have merged and will be operating under the Generator banner after the Labour Day weekend.

According to Generator cofounder and executive producer Michael Cooper, the merger gives his company a chance to better succeed in both its longer format initiatives as well as in its native commercial business with Angel owner Sarah Ker-Hornell as a new partner and executive producer.

‘I felt that to grow the company [we would need to] bring in another person with the experience of Sarah Ker-Hornell, make her a partner and help develop the commercial division,’ says Cooper. ‘It is a pretty straight growth move. It isn’t a money issue. She has her clients and we have our clients and we just become more efficient working together. Our business is always changing and it just allows each of us to focus on one area.’

Ker-Hornell says she is ready to help develop the company’s converged roster of directors.

‘My day-to-day is going to be commercials, but I like being part of an organization that is doing more than one thing, especially with the way the world is shifting and changing,’ says Ker-Hornell.

She adds that the marriage of the two companies makes sense for both, the merger making the new Generator Films a more competitive shop and a more attractive place for directors.

‘It wasn’t one of those situations where people are ringing their hands and uniting to cut overhead,’ says Ker-Hornell. ‘It’s the Angel level of creative and service married with the Generator expertise. It’s the right size, and going in as a partner is the only way that could really work when you have two strong companies with two strong personalities.’

Cooper and Ker-Hornell have a professional relationship dating back to the early 1990s, when Cooper was still at BBDO and Ker-Hornell was an executive producer at The Partners’ Film Company. She says her history with Cooper is one of the major reasons she agreed to the merger.

‘There is a really nice sense of trust,’ she says. ‘At the end of the day, in this business, it is so hard to find that, which is probably the biggest reason more companies are not doing this.’

The new Generator will inevitably have a more diverse and expansive roster of directors. Now that the ink is drying on the deal, Ker-Hornell says she is speaking with her directors and U.S. affiliates about the move, but is not ready to say which of her Angel directors will be making the leap with her.

Cooper insists it is a very sound business move for both Angel and Generator, which is heading into its fifth year.

‘It’s just a way to make the company bigger, and it gets bigger with people,’ says Cooper. ‘It doesn’t mean a new space or that we are some kind of big conglomerate. It means we are bringing two people with different contacts together under one roof.’

-www.generatorfilms.com

-www.angelfilm.com