Cambium Film and Video Productions has found an angel, increased its catalogue and international sales leverage, and is set to participate in the feature film production and distribution business via a joint-venture agreement with u.k.-based entertainment conglomerate Mayfair Entertainment International.

Dubbed a ‘strategic partnership,’ the deal in place adds long-form drama and feature films to Cambium’s library catalogue, to date, 400 hours of children’s and animation programs. In return, Mayfair, a feature film distributor which entered the tv sales market five months ago, adds body to its 100 hours of television offerings. The two companies will share a catalogue at mip-tv in April.

The announcement comes in the wake of two months of speculation that the companies – one a large, publicly traded Canadian distribution company based in London and the other a privately owned, mid-sized Canadian production and distribution company – were contemplating a merger.

Daniel Weinzweig, ceo of Mayfair, describes the deal as having the benefits of a merger without the two companies actually merging, although he adds the possibility still exists.

‘There’s a courting process in most marriages. Whether or not there’s a marriage down the road remains to be seen. But we’re very excited about the strategic partnership, which is an opportunity for both companies to work together to grow their business.’

Although the deal announcement focuses on the merged catalogues, Cambium is well placed to draw on Mayfair’s gap financing pool. The pool budgets for investing in 30 to 40 hours of television per year, based on multi-year financing, plus six to eight features with budgets of up to $12 million.

Arnie Zipursky, chairman and executive producer at Cambium, says Mayfair will provide a fall-back alternative for Cambium’s production financing, although the moneys will only available on an ‘as-needed basis.’ Weinzweig says the financing arrangement is unstructured.

‘It really depends on the quality of the products and the deals Arnie is able to put together, but certainly financing is part of the strategy behind what we’re doing here. There are no caps in place, nor are there any envelopes reserved for Cambium. It’s simply a way of working with them to meet the needs on the production side, which we’ll do when it makes economic sense.’

In the short term, of more importance to Cambium in the deal is having its catalogue better positioned to access the European market where Mayfair has its foothold, says Zipursky. The addition of drama material to its library is also key. ‘High-quality drama is something we haven’t had up to this point and there’s a lot in Mayfair’s pipeline so the catalogue is going to expand exponentially.’

Cambium Releasing’s library includes Nilus the Sandman, The Raggamuffins and Flare tv, a women’s-interest program based on the magazine.

Alison Rayson, head of Mayfair Television Entertainment, says building an animation component into Mayfair’s young catalogue is of equal importance. To date, Mayfair’s television stable includes the comedy-drama series Hospital (Tiger Aspect), itv miniseries The Uninvited (Zenith), mow Pride of Africa (Excelsior Productions) and the acclaimed docudrama The Scott O’Grady Story (bbc and Discovery Communications), as well as between 20 and 30 hours of feature films playing out tv and video rights internationally.

In addition to consolidating sales and distribution activities, the two companies will prioritize searching for coproduction projects. Mayfair is better positioned to facilitate Canadian coproductions now that it’s affiliated with a production base in Canada, says Zipursky.

‘Up to now, if Mayfair wanted to be involved in a coproduction, they’d have to go looking for a Canadian producer and then bargain for the rights. Now we’re able to keep the rights all within the group of companies,’ says Zipursky.

The revenue stream for both companies via their joint activities is derived through what Weinzweig calls a ‘formula we’ve developed that we think is fairly representative of our respective efforts.’

Mayfair Entertainment is a division of Mayfair Media Corporation, which became a de facto Canadian company in 1995 as the result of a reverse takeover. In addition to its feature film and television distribution arm, the group owns a chain of cinemas, live theaters, and pieces of both a film studio and facility house in England.

Last September, Mayfair went public with its gap-financing strategy for television product, supplying gap financing in exchange for international rights outside North America.

While phase one of the strategic partnership is expanding Cambium’s international reach and capitalizing on coproduction opportunities, phase two of the union could see Cambium moving into features with Mayfair, most likely family oriented product. Cambium currently has five features in development, one live-action and four animated features with Vancouver’s Delaney and Friends.

On the television side, Cambium is forecasting its number of animation production hours will triple this year over last, including 13 half-hours each of Nilus the Sandman and The Raggamuffins, a coproduction with Cine-Groupe and One Entertainment, and potentially a series spin-off of Monster By Mistake, a one-off coproduction with Catapult Entertainment.

Zipursky makes the point that the increase in the animation slate is in no way financially dependent on an investment from Mayfair. Hasmi Giakoumis, formerly a feature producer at Nelvana, has been hired to head up animation production.

Cambium’s total production hours, including live action, will increase to 36 hours from 22 hours last year.

Mayfair Entertainment Group is a member of the Britannia Films consortium, one of the u.k.-based consortiums vying for a feature film franchise supported by the British lottery system. The Arts Council of England is expected to announce its decision in May. AV