Salter Street Films

Salter Street Films was a Canadian television and film production company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

History

The company was founded by brothers Paul and Michael Donovan in 1983. Paul Donovan was trained as a director at the London Film School; Michael graduated from Dalhousie University’s Law School and began as a producer of Paul's film projects. Salter Street Films was named after the street in Halifax where Paul and Michael had been living.

The company began life with early problems. Its first major feature film was '' Def-Con 4'' (1985) which eventually became profitable, but other pictures such as '' George's Island'' (1989), '' Buried on Sunday'' (1992) and '' Paint Cans'' (1994), though critically acclaimed, were money-losers. The company's salvation turned out to be the science fiction series '' Lexx'', which was a hit in Germany, Russia and Eastern Europe. This Canadian-German co-production went on to become a lucrative money-maker through international sales and was one of the first shows to develop a cult following almost exclusively through the Internet.

Concurrently, the Donovan brothers found success with the satirical '' This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' becoming a hit on CBC Television as well as other series such as '' CODCO'', ''Emily of New Moon'', ''Made in Canada'', '' Blackfly'', the children's series ''Pirates'' and the special '' Rick Mercer's Talking To Americans''. These shows found homes on the CBC as well as other Canadian networks and cable channels. Salter Street also created the Stop motion children's show '' Poko'' which is still in production. In 1994, it has a 20% interest in The Popcorn Channel, which was set to be on the air in the first quarter of 1995. In the 1990s, it meant to mine European co-production with four television movies, which were planning on to be in production in 1995.

Based on their reputation for political satire, American documentary film-maker Michael Moore approached Salter Street to produce his '' Bowling for Columbine'' project. Michael Donovan agreed, and arranged financing in Canada and Germany. The documentary won both the Anniversary Prize at Cannes and the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

In 2000, a year after the Donovan brothers had taken the company public, Salter Street Films was awarded the broadcast licence for the Independent Film Channel by the CRTC. This potentially lucrative award, combined with SSF's reputation as a content-provider, attracted interest from the powerful media corporation Alliance Atlantis. Alliance Atlantis bought Salter Street from the majority shareholders the following year.Alliance Atlantis buys Salter Street Films
February 12, 2001, CBC News Paul and Michael Donovan remained on as producers.

Acquisition and close

In 2003, two years after the purchase, Alliance Atlantis closed the operation, transferring Salter Street's ongoing television productions to Alliance.
Paul Donovan has continued as an independent producer and director. In May 2004, Michael Donovan formed the Halifax Film Company with many of the former Salter Street employees. In 2006, Halifax Film merged with Decode Entertainment to form DHX Media (Now WildBrain).

References

External links

Salter.com
official Webpage of Salter Street Films (archived 2002-06-03)

{{Authority control

Defunct film and television production companies of Canada
Cinema of Nova Scotia
Companies based in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Mass media companies established in 1983
Mass media companies disestablished in 2003
1983 establishments in Nova Scotia
2003 disestablishments in Nova Scotia
Lexx
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Former Corus Entertainment subsidiaries
Alliance Atlantis