Peter Emerson
President, International Television

Peter Emerson sold his Oasis International to E1 and, as part the deal, he became E1’s president, international television. He and the former Oasis staff will work out of the Toronto E1 headquarters – once there is room for them.

‘I’m waiting for my office to be built,’ laughs Emerson over the phone from a makeshift office in an E1 boardroom. (International TV sales staff are also located in L.A. and U.K. offices.)

Beyond selling E1’s internal content, Emerson says he is aggressively acquiring international rights to programs from Canadian producers.

‘After Alliance Atlantis left the building, it really opened the doors to foreign companies like BBC Worldwide and Granada to come in and pick up the foreign distribution rights to Canadian shows for a very small percentage of their production budgets,’ he explains. ‘That wasn’t good for the industry – we aren’t building capacity if we don’t hold on to the rights to the finished product.’

While Oasis didn’t have the money to compete with big foreign TV distributors; E1 does. It has the capital to pay competitive distribution advances and will have a major presence at markets to sell these shows.

‘We will be known worldwide as the distribution company with the best product Canada has to offer, and the key supplier of primetime product to the world,’ he says. ‘We want to be the go-to company for Canadian producers selling their shows and keep these libraries in Canada.’

Laszlo Barna
President, Canadian Television

‘I’m a kid in a candy store,’ says the former Barna-Alper Productions president of his new job as E1’s president, Canadian television. ‘I wanted to be part of the adventure of building a large, complicated entertainment company in this country once again.’

Barna reports to John Morayniss, CEO television, and oversees the Toronto TV production group made up of the amalgamated Barna-Alper and Blueprint Entertainment staff, and also works closely with E1’s L.A. and European offices, as well as its in-house distribution unit to finance shows.

‘With these resources, we will be able to do more production that is better financed and supported by international partnerships and distribution,’ says Barna, noting that Entertainment One will produce across all genres and currently has about 250 half-hours in production.

Barna points out that the independent production community will also benefit from the return of a big consolidated player to the Canadian industry.

‘We are interested in coproducing and executive producing with the independent community, and having a relationship with them through distribution to ensure their projects go forward,’ he says. ‘I grew up [in the industry] alongside the Alliance, and then [the] Alliance Atlantis family, and as an independent producer, I thrived on that system – knowing I could walk down the street and their office was open to me. In these difficult financial times, we all need partnerships.’