Maple Pictures has installed veteran releasing executive Jim Sherry as its new co-director to help land new output deals with Hollywood suppliers.

Sherry’s lock on the top job has been in the air for some time while he consulted for the Toronto distributor. After months of negotiations, he replaces Brad Pelman as co-president of Maple, working alongside Laurie May.

May and Pelman formed Maple Pictures in 2005 by acquiring Lionsgate’s former Canadian distribution arm.

As part of a new power-sharing arrangement, Pelman becomes COO of Maple Pictures, and head of new distribution label Maple Films.

‘Jim brings a level of distribution expertise to our company, and relationships that Maple can greatly benefit from,’ Pelman said Tuesday, with an eye to new output deals for Maple beyond its plum Lionsgate deal.

‘There are only a few and singular number [of suppliers] that we can attract. And like any other business, relationships are what those opportunities are measured by,’ Pelman added.

Sherry has his work cut out for him at Maple, as hard economic times have hurt the specialty movie releasing business.

He brings to Maple a Rolodex filled with North American movie suppliers assembled during a long posting at Motion Picture Distribution LP.

Sherry also knows volume, as he released around 90 pictures annually at MPD, compared to the 25 to 30 titles usually handled by Maple.

He left MPD last year after it was acquired by Goldman Sachs & Co. and relaunched as Alliance Films, with Victor Loewy back in charge.

Future output deals are expected to include Miramax Films, for which Maple has handled two titles in Canada, including the Mike Leigh comedy Happy-Go-Lucky, launched at the just-concluded Toronto International Film Festival.

Pelman offered no news on the prospect of a tie-up with Miramax after the U.S. studio did not renew its previous agreement with Alliance Films at the end of last year.

Other possible suppliers that Maple hopes to pick off could include Focus Features and Overture Films.

Pelman said Sherry was assured before he agreed on the new power-sharing arrangement at Maple that the distributor could secure the necessary banking lines for P&A spends around new output deals.

‘Our balance sheet and our past history has given a number of banking partnerships comfort, and financing our business plan will not be a difficulty for us,’ Pelman said.

U.S. distributors typically acquire the North American rights to movies, and then sub-license them in Canada via output deals with local partners.

Beyond its Lionsgate slate, Maple has found recent success at the Canadian box office with indie pickups including The Forbidden Kingdom, starring Jet Li, and the Jason Statham-starrer The Bank Job, which was acquired from Arclight Films.

Besides overseeing the day-to-day running of Maple Pictures, Pelman will also handle Maple Films, which aims to service genre-specific titles from Lionsgate and other suppliers.