20 — Sunday, May 31, 1992 —- North Shore News AEROCK FOX has a gun to his head. The 45-year-old West Van- couverite must come up with $5.8 million by the end of next month or he stands to lose a golden op- portunity to pull off a first for the B.C. film industry. Fox is president of First Pacific Pictures, a newly-formed com- pany that intends to finance and produce profitable American-style feature films right here in B.C. NAME: Aerock Fox BORN: Montreal RESIDENCE: West Vancouver EDUCATION: University of B.C. grad OCCUPATION: President and CEO, First Pacific Pictures (VCC) Inc. FAMILY: Married; two sons It’s the first film company in the province to obtain a 30% provincial tax credit with Venture Capital Corp. status (which temoves standard Canadian con- tent restrictions contained in fed- eral tax shelters). But Fox will lose the credit if. he doesn’t secure the funds by June 30. — “We're treading new ground,’’ Fox says as he loosens his tie and relaxes in his waterfront West Bay home after a gruelling day on the job. - . . “It’s a slow process educating people. Brokers are used to selling things very quickly. It was easy getting our friends and relatives to New film company is trying for B.C. first By Evelyn Jacob News Reporter invest in First Pacific, but getting the word out is tougher.”’ It’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the earliest Fox has been home in months. The boyish-looking fa- ther of two and former high school counsellor has been work- ing hard to get his dream off the ground, and the long hours are starting to show. He's got a fot riding on the deal: two years worth of work and half a million dollars just to get the company started, with no guarantees he'll be able to raise the $5.8 million he needs, It doesn’t help that the history of film-making in Canada has had more valleys than peaks. A lot of investors, says Fox, were turned off the business in the past when the films they invested in sat in cans gathering dust, never to be distributed. He says it’s time Canadians start producing films that make money. “There have been some excep- tions — Porky’s did very well (I’m quickly reminded that we're not talking about art, but film as investment). But culturally-criven films have a mandate to develop regional stories, and the trouble with that is, they’re often difficult to translate world-wide. “And there’s also a limit to the amount of money you can get. if you're lucky you can raise be- tween one and 2% million from Telefilm Canada and maybe Aerock Fox: In his own words ‘How did you get interested in the film business? ‘‘l started in the automotive distribution business --with my father — that’s where I ‘got the bug about distribution. _ And I’ve always been interested in ’ movies. I have 700 films of my own in my library.’’ - How did you go about setting up First Pacific Pictures? ‘‘I used the same formula as I did with Video .One. With Video One, 1 went looking for a partner in Los Angeles, and he opened all the doors for me.” What’s in this for Lance Hool? “‘He made all his pictures for other people. Now, he'll be doing it for our company. He'll be get- ting a piece of the action.” What shape is the Canadian film industry in? ‘People think there’s a film industry here. A lot of people are employed and there are a few producing films, but pretty well no one in the’ international Bringing Quality to Life. North Vv Shore Family YMCA marketplace. And raost films in Canada are still being made by American companies.”” What makes your venture attrac- tive to investors? ‘‘For one, the investors of the $5.8 million are not at risk at all until we secure the stars and the pre-sales. The $5.8 million is put into a trust ac- count and none of it will be spent until then. “It's quite an education pro- cess, because this is the first time something like this has been done in B.C. It’s difficult to sell, because most people think it’s a write-off, but it’s not. A write- off is like a deferral. A tax credit is cash.” What are your favorite films? “Human interest movies like Co- coon and Driving Miss Daisy.” photo Cindy Goodman AEROCK FOX is treading new ground with First Pacific Pictures, a film company that is the first in B.C. to receive a 30% provincial tax credit with Venture Capital Corporation status. another half million from B.C. Film. The most you can get is $5_ million, and very few people get that. “We want to make films that compete in the international mar- ketplace, and to do that, we've got to spend at least $7-8 mil- lion.”’ So why is Fox so confident he will succeed? Because, he responds, he’s buiit in a safety net that narrows the risk. For one, he’s brought in Amer- ican producer Lance Hool (Miss- ing in Action, Pure Luck) to pro- duce First Pacific Picture’s first film, Final Cut. “I wanted to find someone who’s been through the wars, someone who’s made movies suc- cessfully. It’s hard to find some- one like that, because they don’t need you.”’ Missing in Action cost $3 mil- lion and raked in a cool $30 mil- fion. He points out that none of Hool’s movies have lost money. With a spiel reminiscent of the - opening scene from Robert Altman’s The Player, Fox describes Final Cut as a cross be- tween ‘‘Silence of the Lambs and Lethal Weapon with an Alfred Hitchcock feel. It’s the kind of movie that translates well in al! countries. and it will do well on THE FRowe OF barliré Foe On y SG. TENDER Rory BEEF tl7n OREACE Rawle SECVEO CUBE) SuriDAy MIGHT: LYF MBE DI21IVE ae arr G26- 893 video,’’ he says. ‘‘It’s a safe det.”” And then there's foreign sales. First Pacific Picture’s foreign sales agent is trying to firm up $4 mil- lion. Add that to $5.8 million and it should be more than enough. If anything, Fox’s track record: alone should help convince in- vestors that he means business. He built his former company, Video One, into the largest pre- recorded video cassette distributor in Canada. By the time he sold his shares in the publicly traded com- pany in 1986 it posted gross aa- nual sales of $80 million. A new, high-tech concept in air cooling, Fan equipped. Pumps cold air into the room. First Pacific Pictures, he believes, has even greater poten- tial. : Although he has managed to raise well over half of the $5.8 million so far, he can’t predict © how investors will react in the next few weeks. It’s hard not to feel just a Ettle nervous; ; “*At one point I had’ seven law- yers on the phone at: the same time,”* he says, still shaken from the ‘conference -call from = hell. “My counselling skills really came in handy."’ Windows stay open! Works wits