Canada: The New Indie Co-Production Partner of Choice?

 Despite the many frustrations of the flux US filmmaking currently finds itself in, the independent production circuit is holding up strong, with foreign partners now becoming the go-to way to get media made. Brandon Blake, check the entertainment lawyer Los Angeles with Blake & Wang P.A., looks at how co-productions are now helping to scale and expand productions’ reach globally, with Canada leading the way.





Brandon Blake

Canadian Filmmaking Expansion

Under official local co-production rules, Canadian filmmakers cannot spend more than 25% of their total budgets abroad, meaning that they often need to find foreign partners for additional financing boosts. However, this model can introduce its own complexities along the way, not least of which is the coordination needed to make it work.

Co-productions allow a little more flexibility, especially to look for cheaper areas to shoot without skirting the rules (too much). It can also offer the “scaffolding” needed to open up new territories for the final product.

A Balancing Act


Blake & Wang Lawyers


Not to say that’s easy to do, of course. Inevitably, the more partners included in a project, the greater the demands and coordination. However, it can also be a good way to skip some of the risk-aversion that has settled in the mainstream industry, where indie productions are often the only vehicles willing to take creative risks, and to offset a lot of budgetary restrictions in favor of a few logistical ones instead.

 Will these kinds of creative co-collaborations become a new way for filmmakers to find the new markets and new funding methods that are so essential for the indie industry? It’s certainly working well currently, especially given the volatility in global financing, and it is always good to see independent filmmakers doing what they do best- injecting fresh creativity and new ways of getting things done into the industry.

 

 

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