Co-productions Allow New Opportunities

Canada currently has co-production agreements in place with 57 countries. The number of Canadian producers who are entering into co-productions is growing quickly, now accounting for more than half a billion dollars of industry activity annually.

Why Get Involved In an Inter-national Co-production? An international co-production allows producers from different countries to pool creative and financial resources. Some specific benefits of co-productions include:
The ability to combine the knowledge, creativity and experience of multiple producers;
Access to key creatives (ie. director, composer, music supervisor, performers) from a foreign country that would not normally be available;
The potential to obtain foreign talent at a reduced rate (ie. through a foreign agent, rather than a US agent);
Access to new markets;
The opportunity to significantly increase the production budget
What to look for in a Partner A foreign partner only makes sense if their participation will enhance your project. Good communication and mutual trust are also essential. Some questions to ask yourself as you are sizing up a potential partner:

Are we on the same wavelength with the project?

Are they responsive? For example, do your e-mails get returned quickly?

Is this someone that I want a long-term relationship with?

Ultimately, you will spend many hours working with your partner on your project. As with dating, if there are early warning signs, things will usually only get worse over time.

Working with your Partner From the outset, decide who will be the “lead” producer, who will handle creative and financial decisions and who will deal with the majority of the paperwork. Naturally, you will be collaborating on most, if not all major issues, but it must be clear who will have the final say. Usually the producer who has control of the property on which the production will be based or who is the majority investor, will take the lead. Some co-producers successfully share all decision-making. However, this may not be practical in many situations and creates the risk of a stalemate where the partners disagree.

To sell well internationally, your production needs a director and cast who can generate excitement in foreign audiences. Your foreign co-producer should be able to assist in identifying above-the-line personnel that have a profile outside of North America. For example, international markets favour established actors rather than fresh new faces.

What you need to do to get “Certified” Each co-producer is responsible for applying to the authorities in their respective country. In Canada, that authority is the Telefilm Canada Co-Production office. Once you have partnered, you will need to provide Telefilm with:

Incorporation papers for each production company involved;
Resumes for any confirmed “key creative” (including your partner);
A financing plan;
Co-production Agreement;
Chain of Title documents;
A preliminary budget/breakdown of Canadian and Foreign amounts;
A Recoupment Proposal

More Things to Consider If a project will be developed by the co-production, it should be clear where the rights will revert if the partnership is terminated. It is usually less complicated if a property is developed by one of the parties before a co-production is established.
Producer fees, corporate overhead and copyright ownership should be split in a way that reflects the financial contribution and services provided by each of the parties but also takes into consideration the time and effort of the parties during development.

Telefilm Canada has created a Co-Production Guide that is a valuable resource to a first time co-producer. You can also visit their web site at (www.telefilm.gc.ca) to learn more about co-productions.