Distribution veterans Rob Herholz and Susan Curran have launched a new Toronto-based distribution firm called United Front Entertainment.

The new outfit will focus on distributing content across all platforms and genres for the Canadian market, with a view to eventually expanding operations to the U.S. and internationally.

There is an opportunity in the current Canadian distribution landscape, say Curran and Herholz  (who previously served as director of marketing and acquisitions, and executive director of sales and acquisitions, respectively at Anchor Bay Canada).

“There’s been so much consolidation in the industry over the past five or six years – with mid-level companies like Alliance, Maple Pictures, and Phase 4 being rolled into eOne – that the mid-distribution level has been eliminated,” Herholz, told Playback Daily. “Now you have the studios and eOne, and a group of smaller boutique distributors. But you don’t really have anyone in the centre and that is where we aspire to begin.”

Aside from purely distribution, United Front will also be involved with projects from the script and development stages, which is something that greatly excites the duo.

Herholz and Curran will be joined by other former members of Anchor Bay Canada, after the distributor’s parent company, Starz, shuttered Anchor Bay’s Canadian arm to run its operations out of the U.S. The three additional members of the company will be announced in the coming weeks.

United Front has already partnered with Toronto-based prodco Lightbox Pictures, with the companies set to collaborate on developing, acquiring and producing content. Lightbox’s Wilson DaSilva, Jessica Martins and Bryan Davies are also founding partners in United Front.

Having previously worked for a U.S. company based in Canada, the pair felt their hands were tied on occasions due to the corporate bureaucracy of big-company life. In their new firm, they said they can be more nimble and move more quickly to approach the projects they wish to pursue.