Inside Move: More 'P' for APG
Ovitz enlists Canton for renewed pic push
A former Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures production topper, Canton became chairman and CEO of APG, sister company to percentery Artists Management Group, on Jan. 24.
He'll oversee development on 50-odd APG projects, and those set up at the recently defunct Canton Co. Two former employees, Barbara Kalish and Michael Gordon, will join him at APG, as will all other current APG employees, including APG prexy Cathy Shulman.
Canton calls his new gig "my most entrepreneurial yet," having hung his shingle on the Warner Bros. lot since 1997. (That producing deal disintegrated last October after financing from Germany's Senator Films evaporated.)
Canton had conversations with MGM about a first-look deal, but talks dissolved last December.
Despite a much-vaunted $200 million production co-venture with StudioCanal, APG has yet to make a splash: Only three APG films have been lensed, none of them with money from the StudioCanal deal. The only fruit borne so far is "Timeline," based on Michael Crichton's novel at Paramount Pictures, now in pre-production.
Given StudioCanal parent Vivendi's buy of Universal, some rightly question if the pact with APG will be renewed at its expiration next July.
But Canton is unfazed: "If they didn't recognize it was time to step things up this way, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation," he says, adding, "We're going to be very competitive."
