Calgary: Alberta Filmworks principals Jordy Randall, Tom Cox and Doug MacLeod have teamed up with Michael Jacobs of MarVista Entertainment, a U.S.-based distributor of dramatic and children’s television with offices in L.A., Boston and Barcelona, to provide a new boutique distribution option for Canadian producers.

With output deals and bulk international sales becoming increasingly rare, Calgary-based AF saw a need in the Canadian industry for a smaller distribution option that works with individual productions to enhance international sales potential, without sacrificing the needs of the domestic broadcaster.

According to Randall and Cox, new opportunities in distribution opened when companies such as Fireworks Entertainment moved away from TV distribution. They say a boutique approach is what Canadian producers need to succeed in the current international market.

‘The industry is moving back to a very project-by-project sensibility. Distribution and production tonnage is not happening anymore,’ Randall says. ‘We’ve seen big companies get out of both and there aren’t the margins on either side for companies of that size to make enough money to make it worthwhile. I think now the only way to survive is to be small.’

AF recently got involved with MarVista while looking for international distribution for its dramatic series Tom Stone. Jacobs repackaged the series with a more American-style cache, focusing on it as an action cop drama for the international marketplace. It was a strategy AF saw a demand for in Canada, where producers struggle to reflect domestic culture and maintain Canadian-content requirements, while remaining attractive in the international market.

‘Our number-one responsibility is to our Canadian broadcasters and Canadian funding agents, but because there’s not enough money in the Canadian system, we can’t seem to escape the need for money from outside the country,’ says Randall.

Since signing on with Jacobs, AF has sold Tom Stone to international markets in Romania, Thailand, China and the Middle East, and is in negotiations with broadcasters in France and eastern Europe.

The new distribution coventure will focus on dramatic and children’s productions that are fully or mostly financed, and although no deals have yet been solidified, Randall says the partners are optimistic because it’s early in the game and they have already had significant interest from independent producers across the country. *

-www.albertafilmworks.com

-www.marvista.net