District 319. It used to be a derelict abandoned theater, skirting the edge of Vancouver’s Chinatown in the heart of Canada’s poorest postal code, a half-block away from the corner of Main and Hastings – aka Pain and Wastings.

Today, it’s the anchor of international production company Infinity Features, housing a private theater and event venue decked out with the finest film and digital projectors, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, 150 red leather club chairs with footrests, life-size, bottom-lit terracotta warriors, and a swishy bar. It is one of the indelible footprints of William Vince, founder of the Academy Award-winning (Capote) Vancouver-based production company, who died last June from sarcoma at the age of 44.

Where better to meet with Vince’s associates, Rob Merilees and Dave Valleau, to talk about the foundation and the future of the prodco, than in the theater’s front row.

Valleau: Bill got this idea in his head when we were in London, and he saw the Electric Cinema on Portobello Road. He saw it and it inspired him. He wanted a place to bring filmmakers together.

Merilees: We used to call it the clubhouse. It was, is, a place for staff to come, watch a movie, have fun.

Valleau: It’s also an example of Bill’s thinking outside of the box. We now own three buildings on the block. It’s so hard to make a living in film, we need a real business to fall back on, and it’s real assets – it helps us when we go to put together financing deals. It’s real.

What’s unreal is Bill not being here. There are so many times when I expect him to walk around the corner, or I get up to walk to his office and ask him a question.

Playback: Bill described Infinity ‘as a packaging company. We can take a film from development, financing and production through to post-production and distribution. We create a platform for everyone to do their best work – but at the end of the day, we’re the ones who are the responsible parent, making sure that it all comes together.’ He appeared to be the parent at the helm of Infinity. What happens now?

Merilees: We’ve had the best and the ultimate worst year. Bill was definitely at the helm, but between Bill and I, we’ve been working partners for about 10 years. In the past couple of years, we brought Dave up as a producing partner within the company.

So basically, what’s happening now, and I don’t mean this in any bad way, is we’ve lost our chief earner – the person who made the biggest movies for our company, the person who originated the company. But the way that Bill and I structured it, and Bill I talked about this as he was sick, was to continue, to keep growing, keep building on the base that he created, and keep the faith.

The new structure is myself, and my new partner will be Dave Valleau. Our goal is to stay independent, and to make sure we make at least one Canadian film a year, as well as to use other non-Canadian financing sources to make films, and not rely on the typical Canadian financing structures.

Valleau: My role will change more because Rob has been producing under the Infinity banner, but I’ve been working more on the big projects with Bill [The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Shattered and Push]. Now I’ll take on a more active role of producing and bringing movies in on my own.

Playback: What’s on your slate right now?

Merilees: In mid-December we mounted a [feature] production with Arclight Films [L.A.] and Escape Factory [Vancouver] called Altitude, directed by Kaare Andrews (Unwritten).

This year, I’m mounting The Biruté Galdikas Story. It’s a great script, written by Ian Weir. We developed it to put it into production for CTV, which we were financed at about $6 million, but we’ve decided to make it into a feature film, and we’re financing it ourselves. I figure it will be a $10-million budget, and Charles Martin Smith (Stone of Destiny) is going to direct. We begin shooting in the spring.

We’re also developing a series of books with Paul Allen’s company Vulcan, and have just done a deal with Katie Ford (Miss Congeniality, Desperate Housewives) to write the first adaptation.

Playback: What’s in the future?

Merilees: Bill was a big believer in the television thing, so that’s what we’re trying to do. We have a lot of television in development. TV has gotten so good. You can do so much with it, especially on cable. It just seems like a natural progression – you can tell so many cool stories.

Valleau: For cash-flow purposes, it’s [also] more stable than features, which take a lot of time to get up and running. If you get a television series that is picked up, it’s more stable over the course of the year. And it’s fun.

Merilees: Bill was all about fun. We will continue to do what he set out to do – make great films. He was our best friend, mentor. His spirit was amazing, always trying to do new things, take risks, and we’re going to continue in the same spirit.