It’s not exactly official yet, but Partners’ u.s.a. has gone solo.

According to Michael Romersa, president of Partners’ u.s.a., the split, which will see the company separating from parent company John Labatt Limited and sister company The Partners’ Film Company in Canada, is all but a done deal.

Labatt and Romersa have agreed on terms, the transaction documents are being drawn up and should be completed in a couple of weeks, with the separation retroactive to March 31.

For more than a year, Romersa has participated in discussions to buy back the Partners’ group from Labatt. But frustrated with the constant wranglings with jll, Romersa decided against any kind of group buyout earlier this year and has taken the four u.s. companies, Fahrenheit Films, Bedford Falls, Petermann Moss and Industrial Artists, out on his own.

‘A great deal of uneasiness set in down here that was becoming detrimental to the morale and the day-to-day operations of this company, and I felt it necessary to take command. If it went on any longer, I thought it might fragment the group, and I didn’t want that to happen,’ says Romersa.

‘I had never really established a relationship with Labatt. The only time I ever really had contact with them was when we began negotiating the buyout. When it came right down to it, I guess they felt it would be a stretch to come down here and run the company, so things moved a little faster.’

The relationship between Partners’ and its soon-to-be-former u.s. counterpart will stay virtually the same, says Don McLean, president of Partners’. Directors from the four houses under the Partners’ u.s.a. umbrella will be repped out of Partners’ Canada and vice versa, says McLean. ‘There simply won’t be a financial relationship.’

The name of Partners’ u.s.a., which acts as the holding company for the four u.s. houses, will soon be replaced with a moniker yet to be decided, says Romersa.

Hello, goodbye

Director Boris Damast was back in town last week, shooting two days for fcb, taking in the Bessies, then going back to l.a. where he’s been as busy as the Long Bar bartender, post awards, since moving home base to the u.s. four months ago.

Repped in l.a. out of Harmony Films and in Canada by Damast Gordon Associates, the veteran director clocked 25 shoot days in the first three months of the year for clients including Haagen-Dazs, Kellogg, at&t, and Life Savers, all u.s. projects.

After four months in the u.s., Damast is finding two major differences between directing Canadian and American spots. The most obvious is the size of the budgets.

u.s. agencies tend to bring the director in earlier in the creative process, says Damast. For one spot, he sat at the table from day one, when all the creatives had was a strategy for the product and a blank piece of paper. That’s not the norm, but they tend to involve the director before anything is carved in stone, whereas in Canada, most commercials are already written, penciled, and laid out on a board by the time the director brings his perspective, says Damast.

Damast continues to work with big-screen writer Mandik Martin, cowriter of Raging Bull and Mean Streets, on On The Edge, a script-in-process since last year. Damast, who is looking at directing the movie, has given Mandik some feedback on the first draft, and will meet with him again in l.a. this summer.

In the meantime, he is looking at several other scripts, with an eye to directing a small independent production, ‘definitely not your typical Hollywood blockbuster.’ Of interest are character-driven stories, a combination of drama and comedy that say something about the human condition, says Damast, ‘like – and I hate to use this example – Pulp Fiction.’

Take a bow

Everyone may be all awarded out, but Stanley Mestel, partner and dop at Avion Films, has won the award for best cinematography on a dramatic short film at this year’s Canadian Society of Cinematographers awards banquet April 29.

Mestel teamed up with Partners’ director Greg Sheppard last June to make Paris Crew, a 30-minute film about a Canadian team of rowers who took on the Brits and the French at Oxford University in 1867.

The Canadians were practically laughed out of the water when they showed up, until they crossed the finish line first, says Mestel. (Any resemblance to a Rob Lowe movie, circa 1984, should be ignored.)

An extension of the ‘Heritage Minutes’ commercial series, Paris Crew was sponsored by the Bronfman Foundation, Telefilm Canada and Global Communications, amongst others.

Shindig

The ‘I’m Too Sexy For My Body’ crowd was out in full carefully-tousled force for a Shin Sugino-sponsored party, in a wrong-side-of-the-tracks warehouse packed with eyes swiveling in unison in search of someone-who-might-be-somebody.

Sugino frontlined the party for Yorkville designer Nina Mdivani, with an eye to giving her designs some exposure in the ad industry.

In addition to the 500-plus people packing the floor, a Citytv camera, the Toronto Star fashion critic, and at least one celebrity hairdresser were spotted.

Sharks circled with dainty morsels in a glam but friendly manner – Shark City being the caterers – and oyster-shuckers kept pace with the slurpers.

Once the drinks were successfully removed from the runway that acted as a temporary table, models-without-hips outsparkled the assembled beautiful people, strutting an elegant, yet fun collection. Elite modeling agency, headed up by Elmer Olsen, unveiled the 30 new pencil-thin and pouty women.

A whimsical note was provided by the unique hair stylings, which included braided horns at the nape of the neck with silly string crowns.

On the move

Eugene Beck, a longtime fixture at L.T.B. Productions, has gone to Avion Films.

The Players Film Company has signed three new directors. Barbara Campbell, out of New York, who specializes in filming babies and young children; l.a.-based Michael Chu, a director/dop with an eye for lighting and graphic quality; and David Culp, also a director/dop, based out of Seattle, with a specialty in physical comedy.

Speaking of Players…

Last issue’s infamous fashion spot out of DDB Needham has gone to The Players David McNally. It’s five days for Finesse, a combination of live action and special effects.