Montreal: U.K.-based Talisman and Montreal digital visual effects producer Tube Studios have announced plans to develop, produce and cofinance a major slate of international film and TV coproductions. In the deal, artists and resources from Ice Storm Digital, a division of Ice Storm Group, have been integrated into Tube.

Talisman, originally a minority shareholder in Ice Storm Group, gained control of the operation when principal production investor Flashpoint (U.K.) ended up in liquidation. Flashpoint’s role was to finance Talisman/Ice Storm productions.

‘In order for us to concentrate on creating [product] we have had to relieve ourselves of the management of Ice Storm Group. It was a forced change in strategy, but personally a damn good thing because I found myself doing nothing but administrating,’ says Talisman producer Neil Dunn.

Dunn says Talisman is close to a deal to sell off its 120,000-square-foot Ice Storm Studios facility (90,000 square feet of studio space), located in the former Angus rail yards. The new studio owners will act as service partners on new Talisman and Talisman/Tube coproductions shot in Montreal.

Talisman and Tube project their film and TV coproduction slate at US$200 million, opening with a slate of four feature films and a TV series.

Dunn says Talisman is negotiating with a German partner (‘a new media fund group made up of old players’) for mainly feature film product and financing. About two-thirds of the slate will be produced in Montreal, including some treaty copros and productions eligible for service tax credits.

Dunn says the films have to qualify for a domestic North American theatrical release, some with studio distribution, and are budgeted at US$10 million and more.

Talisman is open to Canadian partnering opps, says Dunn. ‘We’re [talking to] various people, [including] one of the new development guys over at Lions Gate. The hardest thing to find in this world is really good product.’

Talisman’s international TV and feature film division includes Dunn, managing director Richard Jackson, and a partner who manages Pacific Talisman in California. Talisman recently shot the Gavin Miller feature Complicity and two MOWs for the U.K. market.

F/X artists joining Tube from Ice Storm include visual effects supervisor/compositor Jacques Levesque, Christine Rivard and Michel Frenette. Rene Morel, renowned senior 3D animator on Final Fantasy, has also joined the studio.

Dunn, who is moving back to London, Eng., will maintain an office at Tube. Talisman does not have an equity position in Tube.

Dominique Saint-Louis, Tube VP and COO, says service work remains an important part of the mix.

The shop is producing the visual F/X for the Westar Entertainment feature Ancient Warriors and has finished work on the action film Rollerball and Bears, a large-format film produced by Montreal’s Primesco.

-www.tubestudios.com