A deal that was to have seen veteran film producer Peter O’Brian join his Independent Pictures/ Mission Pictures with the publicly traded Noble House Communications has died.

O’Brian, producer of The Grey Fox, My American Cousin and Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog, says the deal was called off when a private placement offering by Noble House failed to raise the financial requirements agreed upon with Noble House president and ceo David Wolinsky. The placement was handled by Toronto brokerage house St. James Securities Partners.

Says O’Brian: ‘Lions Gate and Fireworks recently did offerings, and perhaps for this kind of small-cap startup the timing wasn’t right.’

‘Whether Noble House and I go on, I don’t think that that’s in the plans,’ says O’Brian.

It was announced last October that Mission was to become the film production arm of Noble House headed up by O’Brian, who would fold in Independent in exchange for Noble House stock.

O’Brian, whose films have collectively won 17 Genie Awards, remains the head of Independent and its subsidiary Mission and is currently developing a pair of features, one American and the other Canadian.