Montreal: One of Canada’s biggest labor funds is negotiating with American producer Edward R. Pressman (American Psycho, Wall Street) to make 12 big-budget films in Montreal over the next five years.

If signed, the deal could bring $490 million worth of Hollywood films to Quebec soil, says Mario Tremblay, VP of public affairs and communications for Fonds de solidarité. ‘It’s venture capital. The idea is that we provide equity that Mr. Pressman can leverage with creditors to finance the productions,’ he says.

Fonds de solidarité is an open-end mutual fund managed by Quebec’s powerful Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec, which represents more than 500,000 people in dozens of unions across the province. It invests in Quebec-based companies and seeks to protect jobs – unionized ones preferably – while it earns a return for its shareholders.

The province has had a hard time attracting Hollywood shoots for a number of years.

‘We know Americans who used to come here aren’t anymore. So we want to try to bring productions here,’ says Tremblay.

Talks are currently underway. Tremblay wouldn’t elaborate on details of the deal or when it might be finalized. ‘It’s a long and complicated process to work it out. We have lots of conditions,’ he says.

A call to Pressman’s office wasn’t returned by press time, but he told Montreal’s French-language daily La Presse that a long-term financing deal with the Fonds was a producer’s dream, akin to the arrangement between David O. Selznick (Gone with the Wind) and his partner Jock Whitney, which financed all of Selznick’s films.

‘Whitney gave Selznick the chance to make all the films he wanted. That’s a model that’s hard to beat. But this Quebec deal would be a bit like that,’ Pressman said.