Playback is scouring the Canadian industry for novel approaches to production financing that sidestep the Canadian Television Fund. Plan B will be a semi-regular, ongoing feature that profiles the people, strategies, ideas, conflicts and successes that prove that Canadian production can thrive without government handouts.

Producer Harvey Kahn is aware of the federal production funds like Telefilm Canada; he just hasn’t had the time to look into them.

The Vancouver-based producer – a U.S.-born dual citizen – is producing his fourth independent feature in Vancouver, Wicked Season, which he directed until it wrapped July 6.

It’s his second production since Kahn moved his family here from the Seattle area last year when it was clear his career was moving north.

And with two more productions scheduled for B.C. in calendar 2002, he is quite possibly the worst nightmare for the Blame Canada-fomenting Film and Television Action Committee. He may also be a model of viability for Canadian producers who need to develop a different – or more specifically non-government-dependent – business model.

‘I was trained in the U.S. industry and understand the U.S. film market’s sensibilities,’ says Kahn.

Wicked Season – which is about a grieving couple who take refuge in a Pacific Northwest cabin to deal with a loss only to become drawn into a local crime – is the first low-budget feature to be funded by a private blind pool set up by a U.S. investment banker in 2001, a luxury, says Kahn, given the dire situation of international film financing.

Front Street Films LLC, the fund named after Kahn’s Santa Monica-based company Front Street Productions, brings together investors from previous productions and new investors into a kitty that started with US$3 million last year, but has commitments to complete the initial financing goal of US$5 million.

The upshot, says Kahn, is that he no longer has to look for funding on a project-by-project basis. ‘It’s just as hard to finance three films as one,’ he says.

Front Street features are budgeted at between US$1 million and US$1.5 million, usually. The fund allows Kahn to draw up to 40% of a production’s budget, which means he can produce eight movies at the US$1.5-million level before looking for more money or a fund top-up.

As a speculative investment, the Front Street fund may or may not provide returns to investors, says Kahn. However, being optimistic, the fund does project a return to investors of 25% to 30%, with 85% of a film’s revenue funneling back to the fund within two years of a film’s delivery.

Beyond the 40% budget cap, the fund does not limit his creativity, says Kahn, and allows him to pursue any project he wants.

Another 25% to 50% of a production budget comes from L.A.-based Carole Curb Nimoy (wife of Leonard Nimoy) of foreign distributor Curb Entertainment, with whom Kahn has a loose multi-picture deal. As a Canadian-content production, Wicked Season will pick up the balance of its US$1.5-million budget from the federal and provincial tax credits.

Since 1999, project-by-project variations of this formula have allowed Kahn to produce in Vancouver The Proposal with Jennifer Esposito, Out of Line with Jennifer Beals and Pressure with Kerr Smith, all of which went straight to video.

In Wicked Season, Canadians Nathan Fillion (who stars in Joss Whedon’s new series Firefly), Chandra West (The Salton Sea) and Emmanuelle Vaugier (Suddenly Naked) are the leads. The sole American star is Daniel Baldwin.

The challenge, says Kahn, is to create a hybrid storyline – one that combines, perhaps, multiple genres that allow the filmmaker to explore character as well as action elements so as to be both artistically and commercially redeeming. In Wicked Season, he explains, the lead characters are dealing with grief at the same time as they fight for survival in a twisty thriller.

‘As the business climate gets tougher, we have to try and protect ourselves from the rough waters by doing more commercial projects,’ says Kahn, responding to questions about the depressed international film market. ‘This means creating a hybrid that nods to the commercial on one level, but also offers roles that are meaty to actors and appeal to audiences that gravitate to substantive, emotional dramas.’

Canada’s tax incentives and Vancouver’s quality of life make the compelling arguments for Kahn to locate on the West Coast and pursue an independent production career. He is also impressed with the maturity of the local crews.

Meanwhile, the concept of risk-reward allows Kahn to attract talent at lower prices to projects that may not get made otherwise. Baldwin, for instance, is working for less with a back-end kicker coming if the film does well in distribution.

‘It’s been a good experience,’ says Kahn. ‘We love Vancouver. And we enjoy a lot of creative freedom. We’re doing material studios wouldn’t touch so we don’t have to deal with committees.’

Next up for Kahn is Percy, a pre-World War II drama about an arsonist that is written by Canadian Lionel Chetwynd.

If you have any ideas or leads for the Plan B series, please send them to syaffe@brunico.com.