Lionsgate and Canadian TV production partner Thunderbird Films have found an executive to head up a new Toronto office for their joint TV venture, Sea to Sky Entertainment.

The announcement is expected to be made this week, and follows Lionsgate and Thunderbird Films pacting to develop TV shows for international broadcast and cable networks.

Vancouver-based Thunderbird CEO and president Tim Gamble told Playback Toronto is where the major Canadian broadcasters are headquartered.

So the joint venture will have a representative in Toronto, gauging the programming needs of domestic networks.

The 50-50 venture Sea to Sky Entertainment has both partners sharing production and distribution costs for series picked up by international TV networks.

“Sea to Sky venture allow us to act like a studio, to work with many distributors, put up distribution advances, and we’ll expand the net of people that we work with,” Gamble explained.