Industry veteran Charles Falzon is a free agent, along with a handful of his former staffers who were laid off in early September as a result of U.K.-based HIT Entertainment’s recent takeover of Gullane Entertainment.

Falzon, founder of Toronto’s Catalyst Entertainment, took on full-time duties as Gullane president just over a year ago (followed by four years as commercial director), relinquishing his title as CEO of Catalyst, which has since merged with Cambium Entertainment to form Cambium Catalyst International.

Since joining Gullane on an exclusive basis, Falzon and CEO William Harris have been fighting hard to rebuff acquisition proposals from HIT.

‘The reality was that it was going to be ultimately inevitable that the two companies would be merging or one would be acquiring the other,’ says Falzon, who finally succumbed to a takeover deal in July, worth roughly US$215.2 million, following the support of major shareholders Britt Allcroft and Angus Wright.

‘We realized that this was in the best interest of the shareholders, that holding out for another two years for a better price wouldn’t be smart. We needed to compete with the Disneys and Warners of the world.’

On Aug. 28, Falzon and Harris stepped down from their posts.

‘It’s been a year of real evolution,’ says the 20-year television veteran. ‘One shouldn’t stand in the way of business or you’ll end up with a bunch of lame-duck operations.’

Moving up and on, Falzon has also stepped down from the boards of both Gullane and CCI, helmed by president and CEO Arnie Zipursky, cashing in an estimated $5 million in options, shares and private stock.

Intending to recreate himself within what he describes as an ever-shifting industry, Falzon is looking to executive produce targeted, well-branded properties – shows that have life beyond TV, that transcend public funding requirements and are not necessarily Canadian.

‘I am a bridge between the creative talent here, in L.A. and the U.K., and finance studios, licensing companies and distributors around the world,’ he says. ‘I don’t need to do quantity. I’m genuinely looking for the right projects – I’m working on instinct.’

He is currently in discussion on two projects, one from L.A. and one from the U.K., which he hopes to work on in conjunction with CCI.

CCI currently has a first-look distribution deal with Gullane that spans, roughly, another year, but it is uncertain what the relationship will be with HIT beyond that point.

‘Gullane was a favored studio and important link for Catalyst and CCI. We had also provided a place where Gullane connected in Canada – my assumption is that HIT would continue on that basis,’ says Falzon, not dismissing the possibility that another Canadian producer/distributor could swoop in and seize the opportunity once the deal expires.

However, the combination of Cambium and Catalyst makes CCI a leader in Canadian family production, bringing together a library of more than 1,000 hours. There also remains a handful of properties (Ekhart, for example) on which Gullane shares distribution with the Canadian entity.

Gullane and CCI operations are jointly housed in Toronto, but HIT’s takeover has meant a handful of redundancies, resulting in the layoff of about five Gullane employees in Toronto, mostly from marketing and communications. The distribution and finance departments have so far been left intact. But key employees in the company’s New York and U.K. offices have been laid off, including its senior VP of entertainment and senior VP of business affairs. Whether Gullane’s Toronto office will eventually dissolve remains in question.

The acquisition creates a US$775-million entertainment studio, combining HIT’s popular children’s properties like Barney the Dinosaur and Bob the Builder with Gullane’s Thomas the Tank Engine.

In an unrelated move, HIT recently launched HIT Entertainment Canada, a Toronto-based video/ DVD/audio sales office.