When Bob Scarabelli died suddenly of a heart attack last September, British Columbia’s film community went into mourning. The loss of homegrown entrepreneur Scarabelli, who started Vancouver post-production house Rainmaker, shook an industry already grappling with its own health problems.

The people at Rainmaker were especially grief-struck, their personal woe compounded by the loss of Scarabelli’s expertise, gleaned from 25 years in the post-production business. But that didn’t mean they were paralyzed, as they had a succession plan in place.

‘I became president right away,’ says Barry Chambers, formerly the company’s GM, who began 25 years ago at Gastown Post and Transfer, which Scarabelli acquired in 1994 to form Rainmaker. Chambers says other Rainmaker managers took on extra sales duties to compensate for the sudden loss. Hugh McKinnon, chairman of the board, became interim CEO of the publicly traded parent company, Rainmaker Income Fund.

Rainmaker has no big plans to change strategic direction in the wake of its founder’s passing, says Chambers. All the same, the company has undergone a flurry of corporate activity, just as the B.C. industry itself has been resuscitated by bolstered provincial tax credits and the Hollywood features, such as the US$75 million I Dream of Jeannie, that they have lured.

The formation of Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects in June put a new face on Rainmaker’s efforts to grow its share of FX-driven films. Heading the new division is president Warren Franklin, who started in 1979 at George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic. His CV as an FX producer and studio executive includes The Abyss, The Terminator and Jurassic Park, as well as MTV’s Liquid Television.

‘I wanted to set up a CGI studio to do animated films and visual effects,’ says Franklin. ‘Having looked overseas in Hong Kong and Singapore, I started really examining the talent pool that was available here in Vancouver, and the financial benefits in terms of the dollar.’

The Vancouver animation pool, he adds, includes Canadians who learned their craft in L.A. but are now on a lifestyle rebound. The gaming industry has also drawn talent to Vancouver that could potentially be tapped for film.

The new division’s ultimate goal, says Franklin, is to create and produce full-length animated feature films. Projects now being scrutinized would take 18 to 20 months to develop.

‘Each feature film will be set up on an individual basis as far as who finances them and who ends up with the ownership,’ says Franklin, with a sense of optimism that might have seemed out of place just seven months ago.

‘It was difficult at the beginning of the year, when the dollar was up around 85 cents,’ says Chambers. ‘[The B.C.] government was slow to increase the production tax credits compared to Ontario and Quebec, so we sagged a bit on the pilot season for TV.’

First-quarter results reflect that slump. Rainmaker lost nearly $1.6 million on revenue of $2.7 million, with revenue down 62% compared to the first three months of 2004. (In 2004, Rainmaker earned $8.4 million on revenue of $28.8 million.)

‘But since the credits came into effect, it’s just boomed out here,’ says Chambers.

Those jacked-up production credits add to Vancouver’s luster, as did the Digital Animation and Visual Effects tax credit, which came into effect about 18 months ago. They’ve helped lure FX-driven features such as I, Robot and Elektra to Rainmaker.

This summer, Rainmaker is working on the Warner Bros. crime thriller Firewall with Harrison Ford, the Sony romantic comedy/drama Catch and Release with Jennifer Garner, and New Line’s horror/action flick Pacific Air with Samuel L. Jackson.

‘With more features coming into town, we’re getting more feature work than we have in the past,’ says Chambers.

However, given the ups and downs weathered by any regional film center, Rainmaker has sought to diversify. Last month it announced the $19-million acquisition of EP Canada and Comweb Film Capital Corp. With offices in Toronto and Vancouver, the companies administer tax credits and payroll services for the film and television industry across Canada. When the transactions close in early August, Mark Prior, the CEO of the two companies, will relocate to Vancouver and become CEO of the Rainmaker Income Fund, discharging McKinnon of his temporary duties.

Chambers says Rainmaker hasn’t yet decided how to market its post-production and payroll services in tandem. ‘But any time there’s a potential, we would certainly offer it.’

-www.rainmaker.com