Born out of the CFP/Lions Gate Films project Jerry and Tom, director/actor Saul Rubinek, producer Elinor Reid and executive producer Ralph Zimmerman have formed a new production company, Creative Differences, and secured a ‘non-restrictive,’ first-look housekeeping deal with New York indie powerhouse Miramax Films.

The deal is for a minimum of two years and will see the trio receive a sum in ‘the high six figures,’ according to Zimmerman, if a project goes into development.

Zimmerman says Creative Differences hopes to produce a project a year under the agreement and that the company is open to considering outside projects and properties. ‘We’re looking for good projects, scripts or good ideas to adapt,’ says Zimmerman, who expects the features to fall within the $5-million to $20-million budget range. The company will have offices in both l.a. and Toronto.

Zimmerman will continue his role as a manager/agent at Toronto’s Great North Artists Management, where he counts Rubinek, among others, as a client. ‘In the States it’s very common for management companies to produce,’ comments Zimmerman.

Rubinek, a veteran Canadian character actor who has carved out a successful acting career in the u.s., made his directorial debut with Jerry and Tom, based on his one act stage play Tom and Jerry. After hooking up on the screenplay with New York-based screenwriter Rick Cleveland (who incidentally entered into a multi-picture deal with Miramax after the Jerry and Tom screening at Sundance), Rubinek brought the script to Zimmerman who helped seal the sale to the then cfp.

Rubinek, Reid and Zimmerman then assembled an a-list cast for the modestly budgeted picture, including William H. Macy, Charles Durning, Ted Danson, Maury Chakin and Joe Mantegna, who also exec produced. Most of the actors worked for scale or less (Danson reportedly took on his role for a box of cigars).

Whether or not Jerry and Tom is a u.s. or Canadian film is still up for debate. CFP/Lions Gate is a Canadian company and the film was shot in Toronto last summer, with veteran cinematographer Paul Sarossy, but was one of 16 American films that qualified for the official competition at Sundance this year because it was financed out of cfp’s New York offices.

Zimmerman says the film’s us$2.75-million sale of u.s. rights to Miramax that happened during its first screening was due in part to its place among the 16 official competition films. ‘The attention there (at Sundance) is on American films because it’s about the competition,’ says Zimmerman. ‘Being in competition immediately gives a film credibility and focus because the studios trust the judgment of the Sundance Festival.’