Sales agency hopes to mine U.S. productions

With a new anthem of ‘Bring the Productions Home’ on the lips of U.S. marketers and an ever-tightening economy, it would appear to be a lousy time for Canadian production services to go fishing for business south of the border.

But for one new service, there is no better time than the present.

New York-based Oot’naboot, launched by Canadian expat and former Chuck Gammage Animation sales and marketing head Jonathan Block-Verk, has been tallying a list of Canadian clients and pounding the pavement for boards since November.

Block-Verk says the recession could actually bode well for the types of services he is hawking in the Big Apple. ‘People are strapped,’ he says. ‘They are being forced to find alternatives to the expensive houses that they’ve been using in New York.’

The company has so far signed six Canadian service houses and taken receipt of its first boards.

There are plenty of ad agencies that – despite the push for repatriation of production – are being handcuffed with smaller budgets. Such shops would welcome ‘A-level-quality work for B-level budgets,’ Block-Verk says.

Oot’naboot clients include Spin Productions, Chuck Gammage, Guru Animation, Flashcut and Pirate Radio & Television.

While his clients have active salespeople generating work from around the world, none have reps on the ground in New York. ‘It’s very valuable to be in New York. If [a client] needs to see somebody in New York, I’m right here,’ he says.

Partners Kiss in Montreal

Two months after ending its mutual representation deal with Jet Films of Montreal, The Partners’ Film Company has hooked up with Kissfilms to maintain a toehold in La Belle Province.

The new arrangement came on the heels of work the two production houses did on the ‘Canada Loves New York’ spot for which Kissfilm’s Barry Biddle donated time and facilities to complete the required shooting in Montreal.

Beyond sending reels for one another in their respective markets, Partners’ will also run its productions shooting in Montreal through Kissfilms.

‘It’s a tough market,’ says Partners’ president and executive producer Don McLean. ‘You just don’t walk into that market casually.’

The Partners’ chief says he was thinking of setting up a standalone office in Montreal in an attempt to overcome the inherent problem of such partnerships – that the local company always pushes its own directors before those of its associate – but decided to give it one more try.

‘We have always run into the problem – and this is not a complaint, it’s logical – that they have always sold their own people before they would turn to us.’

The Kissfilms relationship is Partners’ fourth such arrangement in Quebec. The company severed a 10-year partnership with La Fabrique d’Images last year to join forces with Jet.

Generator rebrands long-form production group

Generator Film and Video Productions is being rebranded Generator Television.

The long-form arm of Toronto-based commercial production house Generator Films has produced more than 80 half-hours of ad-oriented branded programming since its launch in 1998.

‘There’s all this talk from other commercial producers about getting into this area, but we’ve been in it for two years,’ says Generator president and executive producer Michael Cooper. He says the name change will help associate Generator’s name with television programming as opposed to the more generic ‘Film and Video’ moniker.

The division produces a branded cooking show on CH Hamilton called Moveable Feast. Sponsored by Home and Rural Appliances, it integrates entertainment-oriented content with strong brand linkage. A second series, Who’s Coming For Dinner – with various sponsors including Toyota and the Government of Ontario – will be broadcast on CH in the new year.

Cooper says there are two more branded series set to go in February pending client approval.

untitled opens in Vancouver

Toronto-based commercial production company untitled has opened a second office in Vancouver. According to executive producer James Davis, the Vancouver location has been established to take better advantage of the creative work being generated by Western Canadian agencies, known for their high-concept, low-budget ads.

The new untitled office is situated in a 3,600-square-foot renovated warehouse overlooking Vancouver’s commercial port area.