Salter Street Films was a Canadian television and film

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and ...

based in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

History

The company was founded by brothers

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

and

Michael Donovan Michael Donovan is a Canadian voice actor and director known for his roles as Suikotsu in ''Inuyasha'' and Zoken Mato in ''Fate/stay night''. He has also directed many animated series and feature films. Roles Animation * ''3-2-1 Penguins!''K ...

in 1983. Paul Donovan was trained as a director at the

London Film School London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.

; Michael graduated from

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

’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 ''Def-Con 4'' is a 1985 Canadian post-apocalyptic film, portraying three astronauts who survive World War III aboard a space station and return to Earth to find greatly changed circumstances. The film's title refers to the Defense Readiness Conditi ...

'' (1985) which eventually became profitable, but other pictures such as '' George's Island'' (1989), ''

Buried on Sunday ''Buried on Sunday'' is a Canadian comedy film, released in 1992. Also known as "Northern Extremes", it was directed by Paul Donovan, and written by Donovan and Bill Fleming. The film stars Paul Gross as Augustus Knickel, the mayor of Solomon Gu ...

'' (1992) and ''

Paint Cans ''Paint Cans'' is a 1994 Canadian comedy film written, produced and directed by Paul Donovan and based on his book of the same name. A satire of Canadian film and television production, the film stars Chas Lawther as Wick Burns, a bureaucrat in ...

'' (1994), though critically acclaimed, were money-losers. The company's salvation turned out to be the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

series ''

Lexx ''Lexx'' (also known as ''LEXX: The Dark Zone Stories'' and ''Tales from a Parallel Universe'') is a science fiction television series created by Lex Gigeroff and brothers Paul and Michael Donovan. It originally aired on April 18, 1997, on Cana ...

'', which was a hit in Germany, Russia and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. 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 The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. Concurrently, the Donovan brothers found success with the satirical ''

This Hour Has 22 Minutes ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' (commonly shortened to ''22 Minutes'' since 2009) is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics wi ...

'' becoming a hit on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

as well as other series such as ''

CODCO ''CODCO'' is a Canadian comedy troupe from Newfoundland, best known for a sketch comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 1988 to 1993.Emily of New Moon ''Emily of New Moon'' is the first in a series of novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery about an orphan girl growing up on Prince Edward Island. Montgomery is also the author of ''Anne of Green Gables'' series. It was first published in 1923. Plot sum ...

'', ''

Made in Canada Made in Canada and Product of Canada (French: Fabriqué au Canada and Produit du Canada) are certification marks designating a claim that Canada is the country of origin of a good. A product label for that good may use these marks, or a qualifi ...

'', '' Blackfly'', the children's series ''Pirates'' and the special ''

Rick Mercer's Talking To Americans ''Talking to Americans'' was a regular feature presented by Rick Mercer on the Canadian political satire show ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'', which was later spun off into a one-hour special that aired on April 1, 2001 on CBC Television.Dana Gee, ...

''. These shows found homes on the CBC as well as other Canadian networks and cable channels. Salter Street also created the

Stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

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 Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

approached Salter Street to produce his ''

Bowling for Columbine ''Bowling for Columbine'' is a 2002 documentary film written, produced, directed, and narrated by Michael Moore. The film explores what Moore suggests are the primary causes for the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and other acts of gun ...

'' project. Michael Donovan agreed, and arranged financing in Canada and Germany. The documentary won both the Anniversary Prize at

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

and the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

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 IFC (formerly known as the Independent Film Channel) is an American basic cable channel owned by AMC Networks, originally launching in 1994 as a TV channel devoted to independent films. The Independent Film Channel originally operated as a com ...

by the

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

. This potentially lucrative award, combined with SSF's reputation as a content-provider, attracted interest from the powerful media corporation

Alliance Atlantis Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (commonly known as Alliance Atlantis and commonly shortened to simply Alliance or Atlantis and formerly traded as TSX:AAC) was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operato ...

. 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,

formed the

Halifax Film Company WildBrain Studios is the in-house television studio arm of Canadian entertainment company WildBrain based in Vancouver which was established in 2016 as DHX Studios. History In January 2016, DHX Media announced that they would be building a 60 ...

with many of the former Salter Street employees. In 2006, Halifax Film merged with Decode Entertainment to form

DHX Media WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of children ...

(Now

WildBrain WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of children' ...

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