Montreal: In a series of developments likely to catch many in the local production industry by surprise, Group tva subsidiary TVA International has opened operation offices in Vancouver and Los Angeles and announced a $50-million, multi-year production fund. Simultaneously, tva also announced it has signed a coventure deal to produce at least six made-for-tv movies for Fox Family Channel.

A spokesperson for tva says the $50-million production fund has the blessing of president and ceo Daniel Lamarre and tva’s board of directors. ‘A lot of people [in the production milieu] didn’t take us seriously,’ she says, ‘and now we’re putting our money where our mouth is.’

tva’s production fund will be used to finance a range of tv movies and dramas, in addition to the Fox slate. Third-party producers are expected to be able to access the $50 million in production funds while tva will take distribution rights to fund projects.

The deal with Fox calls for a minimum of six family-based features to premier on the u.s. cable channel. The films are budgeted in the us$2 million (ca$3 million) to us$3 million (ca$4.5 million) range.

vp and exec producer Francois St-Laurent is managing the new Vancouver office while the l.a. office is slated to open shortly. St-Laurent (Arsene Lupin, Les Aventures de la Courte Echelle) will oversee all of TVA International’s production and development.

The new Vancouver operation of tva is contained within the offices of James Shavick Entertainment, a company which will produce eight mows by the end of the summer and is in production (with Fox Family Channel) with 65 half-hours of Addams Family. Producer James Shavick is an a ex-Montrealer who moved to Vancouver almost a decade ago.

St-Laurent, who moved to Vancouver two months ago, says tva has a two-picture deal with Shavick to start with.

The opening volley in the Fox deal is Two of Hearts, a romance comedy exec produced by St-Laurent and produced by Shavick that is currently shooting in Vancouver. Next up is the mow Perfect Little Angels, a Stepford Wives-style tale except with kids. Both air in ’99 and no Canadian tv presales were announced at press time.

St-Laurent would not confirm whether Shavick is in line to produce the subsequent four pictures in the six-picture package that forms the first slate of production in tva’s deal with Fox Family Channel.

‘Vancouver was my first choice,’ says St-Laurent, in explaining why tva landed first on the West Coast in its expansion outside Quebec. ‘There is great energy here and a large pool of wonderful talent. It’s very exciting.’

It’s not clear how tva’s business partnership with Shavick – who describes himself as Fox Family’s favorite supplier in the region – will evolve. ‘Right now,’ says St-Laurent, ‘our relationship is extremely good. Sometimes the best thing is to go out and make projects, then we’ll see.’

For his part, Shavick says he has been approached by certain non-Vancouver suitors, but there are no firm offers on the table to buy the production company. He had no comment about whether tva is one of interested parties.

‘We’re happy with any business we can get, especially business with Canadian broadcasters,’ says Shavick.

The decision to proceed with the $50-million production fund follows the successful production and sale of Shadow of the Bear, a tva family film starring Alan Thicke and Michael Yarmush shot in Quebec last fall under the direction of Mark Soulard.

Nancy Wells, a former senior account manager with Royal Bank has been named gm with TVA International in Montreal. David Heurtel has been named head of business affairs.

Lamarre says the new subsidiary is ready to take on the international market. ‘TVA International now represents a new source of revenue and is in synergy with our role as a broadcaster. This growing [tv movie] market will allow us to develop our expertise outside Quebec.’