much talk surrounding the migration of Ron Baxter Smith and Ron Grittani to Kessler Irish Films from Radke Films, both associated with The Partners’ Film Company.

People were a little confused a couple of weeks ago when Baxter Smith’s name appeared in advertising for both Kessler Irish and Radke. For his part, Partners’ president Don McLean is less than pleased with the course of events.

McLean says he tries to encourage the companies ‘not to raid each other,’ and is angry that this move has been handled ‘in a clumsy way.’ But, as per usual, he is keeping hands off in the day-to-day happenings of Partners’ offspring and says it’s ultimately up to the satellites to sort it out amongst themselves.

The move has been particularly painful for Edie Weiss, executive producer at Radke, who brought Baxter Smith up from a successful career in stills photography about two years ago.

But with the Radke roster expanding to include Propaganda Films, Satellite and Ritts/Hayden, word is that both Baxter Smith and Grittani felt they were getting lost in the shuffle and went looking for a smaller shop. Kessler Irish, with two executive producers, a rep, and five Canadian-based directors, was ideal.

Grittani opened Radke’s doors with the late Richard Radke and Weiss when Rawi Sherman Films went under more than three years ago, and today is saying little more than, ‘The time was right.’ Details are still being hashed out, but Grittani will likely start at Kessler Irish Sept. 1.

Baxter Smith has already started at Kessler Irish. He came to Radke off long-term photography assignments with Labatt, Seagrams and Northern Telecom, and a whack of editorial shoots for high-profile u.s. magazines like GQ, Discover and Vogue in Germany. Spots for the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and a powerful aids psa are amongst those on his reel.

With the changed lineup will eventually come a change in the name of the company, a concept that has been bounced around for the last few months since Kessler Irish and Dalton/ Kessler Productions are similar enough in name to sometimes create confusion, says Jane Kessler, executive producer at Kessler Irish.

Baxter Smith, with his background in art, will be helping to come up with the new name and logo, which has become more a priority since The Kessler Group’s financial troubles surfaced, says Kessler.

Jane and commercial veteran Syd Kessler, head of The Kessler Group, are not related and have never met face-to-face. The irony, says Jane, is that although he doesn’t know it, Syd is partly responsible for her getting her first job in the business. In the late ’80s, Jane put a call in to McLean. The first name was strange, but since the second name was well known to him, McLean took the call. The rest, as they say, is history.

Whither Skyvision?

the Partners’ Film Company is definitely going solo, leaving Skyvisionwhere? Skyvision’s Jim Reid is reportedly losing interest and some expect the company will dissolve. Brian Ross and Reid at Skyvision both refused a request for an interview.

The absence of Skyvision is by no means an indication that Partners’ is ending its foray into long-form projects, says Don McLean. Exactly how the company will be structured to include long form in the mix or who will head it up will be decided after the Labatt split concludes, he says.

Revisions revived

with Magic leaving the Clips & Inserts logo behind and taking on higher-end commercial projects, scuttlebutt is that the company has gotten too big for its broomstick to do the low-end revision work. Not true, says director/dop and Magic owner Derek Case.

The title isn’t back (‘too grubby a name – you can’t run your $100,000 commercial through a place called Clips & Inserts,’ says Case), but Magic is making clear that its arms are still open for smaller revisions, pack shots, and adaptations of u.s. work for the Canadian market.

Chris Berry and Ted Parkes, both director/dops, are heading up Magic the Revisionist. Berry is Case’s longtime cameraman and Parkes was previously with Stripes. The house at 60 Sumach has complete post facilities, so there’s no start-up costs, says Case.

Hopefully, the low-end business that evaporated when Magic expanded will come back, says Carmen Dolgay, executive producer at Magic. ‘What happened was, since we couldn’t put our high-end directors on this kind of work, we were letting (clients) down and making them mad. Now we’ve got the place and the people to do the work.’

At the same time, says Case, the company’s creating a place to channel in the more inexperienced directors. ‘It’s a place where they can cut their teeth and it always leads to bigger things – it’s our version of the training ground for the younger people.’

D’Amato pops up at LTB

director George D’Amato has resurfaced at L.T.B. Productions, not Imported Artists as expected, after his contract with Partners’ closed July 31.

Last January, D’Amato was negotiating with Imported to be its first born-and-bred domestic director, until Partners’ Don McLean stepped in and convinced him to finish his term at Partners’.

At ltb, D’Amato’s reel will emphasize his more high-energy spots with graphic storylines versus his ‘real people’ finesse, as in the cibc spots through Padulo Integrated last year.

Speaking of ltb, last issue’s Word reported award-winning director C.B. Harding, based out of Portland, was being repped for the first time in Canada by ltb. Fact is, he was previously represented by Sparks Productions.

Paton opts for Magic

montreal-based director Alastair Paton is no longer represented by Jet Films in Montreal, but has opted for Canada-wide representation through Magic. In the u.s., he’s newly represented at Greenlight in Los Angeles. Rumor is he’s working on a feature film.