29 November, 2005
Source: Worldscreen.com
John Schmidt, CEO, ContentFilm
Greg Philips, President, Fireworks International
In the international distribution business it is said over and over that a sales team must believe in their product. Nowhere has this yielded better results than at Fireworks International, the London-based concern that used to be the sales arm of the Canadian media company CanWest Global and was purchased last summer by ContentFilm, a company that finances and sells feature films.
Its catalogue included the series Zoe Busiek: Wild Card; action-adventure series like Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda and Mutant X; youth series like Black Hole High; and U.S. network mini-series and TV movies such as Blonde and A Wrinkle in Time. Yet CanWest decided to pull out of the production business and shut down its international distribution, handled by Fireworks.
But that library of more than 2,000 hours-240 TV properties and 40 movies-was extremely attractive to ContentFilm, which believed in its value and saw a happy marriage between TV and film product. “When we began the Fireworks deal, we were highly enamored with the economics of the deal,” says John Schmidt, CEO of ContentFilm. “And more and more, the fit between their library and our films became obvious.”
Schmidt knows something about quality product, having co-founded October Films, one of the most successful independent film companies of the 1990s, whose credits include Secrets and Lies, The Apostle and Breaking the Waves. October Films was sold to USA Networks and Schmidt went on to co-found ContentFilm in September, 2001.
After buying the U.K. producer/distributor Winchester Entertainment a couple of years ago, Schmidt wanted to broaden ContentFilm’s base of product, which is why he was interested in Fireworks. As negotiations progressed, Schmidt says he discovered that the people at Fireworks were as valuable as the assets. The team at Fireworks is headed by Greg Philips, the company’s president. And it is here that Schmidt’s belief in quality content and Philip’s loyalty to his catalogue made for one very happy ending.
While Schmidt had been building his company, Philips was worried about his. Philips joined Fireworks six years ago and said that the first four years were very positive, “as we built our catalogue and the reputation of the company, the product we had either made or [were representing] had been successful with our clients.”
“Then we hit a two-year wall, where for reasons only they can fully account for, CanWest decided they didn’t want to support the division going forward, they wanted to get rid of it,” continues Philips. There were two possible outcomes for Fireworks at that point: it would be shut down, or someone would buy it. But if the library did get purchased, would the people be included in the package?
“Because of dogged enthusiasm, extremely good product, a super team and sheer will, we all stayed together and kept it going,” explains Philips. “I said to everyone, ‘Look, someone has to be smart enough to pick up the assets and do something with them. We can’t guarantee that everyone will remain, let alone me, but if someone sees the opportunity [Fireworks offers], let’s make it the best possible for them and perhaps they’ll see the wisdom of keeping us all around and rebuilding.’ And ContentFilm came around and saw just that.”
Both Schmidt and Philips are eager to pump fresh product into the catalogue they both value so much. Philips envisions creating programming similar to what Fireworks already has as well as bringing in new ideas, which could be specials, series of shorter lengths or different types of half-hour series, he explains.
Fireworks’ offering will be guided by what buyers have always wanted, “the best quality, most commercial and freshest programming,” says Philips, “that is what they have always wanted.” He is especially grateful to his clients. “They were always loyal, always supportive, and always urging us to hang in there and keep going.” Philips expects to have new projects to present to buyers in the coming weeks.
