Intriguing notes from Labatt

The operators of Avion Films, including three of the partners who left The Partners’ Film Company earlier this year, are likely bemused to note that their former bosses at John Labatt Limited do not consider them a major competitive threat to Partners’. So says a passage in Labatt’s 1994 Annual Report: ‘Parts of the entertainment businesses were also restructured in 1994,’ it notes at one point.

Later, under the subhead ‘Challenges and Uncertainties,’ it addresses the Partners’ restructuring thusly: ‘Following the buyout of the minority interests in Partners (sic) Canada, certain individuals left the company with the intention of forming a competitive business. The impact on Partners Canada, however, is expected to be minimal.’

For Avion, and Partners’ other competitors in this and other markets, there is another interesting note in the annual report. In the section titled ‘Outlook’, it reads: ‘Partners Canada intends to improve its margins through a focus on more integrated operations with the episodic activities of Skyvision and direct cost control. An increase in the number of film directors under contract is expected to result in continued volume gains in the u.s. commercial production business during fiscal 1995.’

MeanwhileÉ

Speaking of directors, Damast Gordon and Associates is now representing Danny Izzard, formerly of Shooter’s. dga’s Susi Patterson says Izzard is one of the contingent of Canadian directors working out of Canada.

Toronto’s Imported Artists has signed a new director, too, named Jack DeSort. A former stills photog, DeSort jumped into film with partner Bob Fisher at DeSort Fisher Productions and later teamed with Sam Schapiro at DeSort and Sam Productions. A specialist with kids, DeSort has a couple of famous kid spots to his credit, including ‘My bologna has a first name, it’s o-s-c-a-rÉ’ and some Life Cereal ads, including Mikey. You remember Mikey, he hated everything.

Digital spin-off

Toronto’s The Post Producers has jumped into the realm of bits and bytes in a dedicated fashion with the launch of a spin-off company, Post Producers Digital. Post Producers is uptown in North York, but its Digital offspring is downtown at 70 Richmond East, offering non-linear editing courtesy the Avid 1000. The team of editors at Digital is led by Al Mitchell, president of The Post Producers. Mitchell reports that his new company is already busy at work on a series bound for tsn, Women in Sports.

Baby talk

And on a final, more personal note, Jo-ann Cook (nee Brownsey) of The Animation House has welcomed a new ‘animated character,’ baby Dustin Charles Cook. At 7 lbs. 13 oz., he fills the medium-sized baby bill – Street can confirm this from empirical evidence of the personal kind. The House reports mom, babe and dad Bill are all fine, adding that until Jo-ann returns to work (of the outside-the-home variety), John Burtcher is filling in for her.