East-West forges Steel bond

Consultants work fast, acquire 'Killing,' 'Fourth Angel'

By DANA HARRIS

Steel

HOLLYWOOD -- Russian distrib East-West Creative Associates has hired Gordon Steel's the Steel Co. as its Stateside analyst and consultant. Steel will seek acquisitions for EWCA as well as potential relationships with studios and other domestic partners.

Steel has already acquired two titles for the company, "Killing Me Softly," starring Heather Graham, and "The Fourth Angel."

EWCA, which also handles UIP product for Russia, is headed by general director Eugene Beginin. He said the number of titles EWCA will acquire annually is entirely dependent on the availability of "quality product."

Every distributor wants quality titles for its pipeline, but for a Russian distrib, high quality is its only weapon in a piracy-driven marketplace. The number of theaters in Russia has dwindled to less than 1,000 since Perestroika, with just 200 titles imported annually.

Meanwhile, there has been a commensurate spike in the availability of low-cost, high-quality pirated video product. A pirated title costs one-half to one-third the price of a theater ticket.

Exhib picture brightens

Beginin said he hopes Russia's exhibition fortunes will soon take a turn for the better. The number of screens has begun to show a small annual increase, and an 11-screen multiplex is slated to open next year.

EWCA was founded in 1989 as a 50/50 joint venture between the U.K.'s Central Independent Television and three Russian media interests: the government-backed State Committee for Cinematography, leading weekly Ogonyok and independent musical company Contemporary Opera.

The Steel Co. also reps Les Films L'Elysee in Benelux, Germany's VCL and Scandinavia's Scanbox Entertainment.