François Macerola has been named head of Quebec’s film financing agency SODEC, after weeks of speculation that the 65-year-old former Telefilm Canada executive was in the running for the job. The appointment is effective Nov. 30.

In an exclusive interview with Playback Daily, Macerola said his priority is SODEC’s books, which, along with the agency’s former director Jean-Guy Chaput, were the subject of a spending scandal last May.

‘The first thing I’m going to do is read the report,’ Macerola told Playback Daily from his office at Cirque du Soleil in Montreal, where he is an executive producer of multimillion-dollar Las Vegas and Asia productions. ”I’m interested in sound fiscal management.”

Former SODEC head Chaput was thrust into the media spotlight after Quebec’s auditor general accused him of overspending and sloppy accounting. While Chaput’s supporters maintained he was hung out to dry by his political opponents, he was publicly criticized by the Charest government and asked by the agency’s board to step down.

Although Macerola says it’s too soon for him to articulate a vision for SODEC, he intends to meet with the creative community in the first weeks after his appointment.

‘I want to listen to what people have to say and find out which programs work,” says the executive, who is also interested in facilitating international coproductions. ”The Quebec market is small. I think there is a lot of potential to work with countries in the European Union.”

Macerola spent six years of his career at Cirque, first as VP of legal affairs then as exec producer. He was director general of Telefilm from 1995 to 2001, after which he was appointed interim chairman of the board. He briefly left Telefilm to run as a Liberal candidate in the 1998 Quebec provincial election, but was defeated.