Doing Business Internationally
 To Co-Produce or Not to Co-Produce? |
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| with Robin Cass and Anna Stratton | |
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Page 1 of 2 Anna Stratton and Robin Cass, two of the founders of Triptych Media Inc., one of Canada’s leading independent film production companies, have run the gamut of international co-production deals.They have made them, considered them, refused them and even backed away from them part way through a project.  Deepa Mehta on the set of The Republic of Love Now, with the benefit of hindsight, they say it’s rarely worth it for the maker of a medium-sized (about $3 million), independent, art-house feature to enter into an international co-production deal. Bigger films are another story. For one thing, an international deal increases the budget needed to actually get the film made. Legal, financing, banking and travel costs will be higher in an international co-production than for a feature financed in Canada alone, they say. instead of spending $50,000 on international legal fees, you can spend it on cast And in a feature with a budget of about $3 million, they believe it’s better to spend the money on other costs. “With a budget at $3 million, you’re trying to minimize the money that’s not going on the screen,” says Stratton. “For example, instead of spending $50,000 on international legal fees, you can spend it on cast.” Tips:
Stratton and Cass say that, in addition, it’s possible to finance a feature with a budget of about $3 million within Canada. Producers should be able to cobble together the funds from Telefilm Canada, the Harold Greenberg Fund, provincial grants or equity financing, and advance sales to broadcasters. The exception is Ontario, which cut the provincial grants and equity program to filmmakers in 1996, during the years of Michael Harris’s Progressive Conservative government. Ontario’s filmmaking community has been pressing since for reinstatement. Continued... |
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