Producers Jesse Ikeman and Jeff Glickman have come a long way since launching their Toronto prodco Sudden Storm Productions in 2001 and ‘pounding the pavement’ to get noticed at international film markets.

The pair, who met at a film course at the University of Western Ontario, has no less than four projects on the go, including the latest from horror master George A. Romero, currently shooting at Toronto megastudio Filmport.

‘He’s the god of the genre, and we’re fortunate to be involved and watch him work,’ Glickman tells Playback Daily. The project, currently called the Untitled George Romero Zombie Film, is the first to shoot at Filmport, with Entertainment One on board as the Canadian distributor. Ikeman and Glickman are co-executive producers, alongside producer Paula Devonshire (Ginger Snaps).

‘[Filmport] is an amazing facility… It’s just going to be a force — a place where film production will want to be in Toronto,’ says Ikeman, who looks after the business side of things at Sudden Storm, while Glickman focuses on the creative.

The pair got their start with a short film entitled The Store (2001), based on a play by Canadian playwright Mavor Moore, which was an official selection at the Vancouver International Film Festival and aired on IFC, CBC and WTN.

‘Doing The Store was the testing ground, and from there we realized that we are really good partners and wanted to maintain the partnership,’ Glickman recalls.

Following the launch of Sudden Storm, Glickman (with Ikeman producing) made his feature directorial debut on the suspense drama Killing Zelda Sparks, starring Colm Feore, which sold to territories including Germany, and is being distributed on DVD by Warner Home Video in the U.S.

Along with the Romero film, the pair is currently juggling projects including reality TV series Ten Angry Chicks, going to camera this week with partners Blueprint Entertainment and Barna-Alper Productions. The show, about recently broken-hearted women getting their revenge, will air on Slice.

Ikeman and Glickman are also in pre-production on dark comedy Pomona Queen, based on the novel by Kem Nunn, about a vacuum-cleaner salesman who becomes involved in a homicidal biker’s quest to avenge his brother’s murder.

‘We’re currently trying to lock cast, and hope to go to camera in November,’ says Glickman. Canadian distributor is E1, while Shoreline Entertainment will handle international sales.

Also on tap is the feature Good Vibrations, about a woman who tries to save her struggling small-town toy factory by turning it into a sex toy manufacturer. Sudden Storm plans to shoot in northern Ontario, with E1 also on board as distributor.

Ikeman believes recent market instability will not greatly impact Sudden Storm.

‘If you have a strong business model with a solid story… there’s a market for that,’ he insists.

Adds Glickman: ‘When it comes to market fluctuation – in many ways it’s good to be a producer – you’re not as subject to it as when you are crew, because you always face hurdles to get that project off the ground.’