Former president and interim ceo of Paragon Entertainment, Richard Borchiver, and real estate entrepreneur Paul Wynn (The Wynn Group), have formed a new Toronto production company, Annex Entertainment.

Having been involved in gap financing a number of Canadian productions and bringing access to capital, Wynn will serve as managing director at Annex while Borchiver will serve as president and ceo, heading up production. Producer Damian Lee, who has a number of feature film credits and was most recently with Noble House Communications, is a partner on the feature side. The new company will operate out of Wynn’s offices in Toronto’s Annex neighborhood

‘This will be a low-overhead company,’ says Borchiver when asked about his past experiences at the helm of sinking ship Paragon.

‘As opposed to a public company, which can be accounting/profit driven, we are a cash-driven operation,’ says Borchiver, who adds that Annex will use The Wynn Group’s in-house legal and accounting personnel.

The company’s first project is a $5-million feature titled Woman Wanted, which began principal photography in Winnipeg on July 6.

The Cancon film is directed by and stars Kiefer Sutherland, along with Holly Hunter and Michael Moriarty. Lions Gate Films is expected to distribute in Canada.

Annex has three tv projects slated for production in spring ’99. Two of the projects Merlin: The Quest Begins, a fantasy series skewing slightly younger than Xena: Warrior Princess, and TeamXtreme, about crime-fighting extreme athletes will shoot 22 episodes in New Brunswick, in part due to generous tax credits, says Borchiver.

Both New Brunswick shows will have an as-yet-unnamed local service producer and will be budgeted at $700,000 per episode. The shows will be financed mostly through presales, which Wynn says have already been inked in a number of European and Asian territories.

KMG/Seagall is repping the series worldwide. No Canadian broadcasters have been signed for either show.

Twenty-six half-hours of an animated series based on the Marvel Comics characters Micronauts will also begin in spring ’99 with an unnamed animation coproducer.

When asked if his Paragon stint could hinder the new company’s progress in a relationship-driven business, Borchiver responds, ‘Anybody in the industry knows that Paragon was a widely controlled company. I was not totally in charge, although I did stay until the end, which I felt was the right thing to do.’