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TORONTO– Canadian producer/distributor Breakthrough Entertainment has sold equity interests to two top executives, Nat Abraham and Michael McGuigan.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the move allows the company’s co-founders, Ira Levy and Peter Williamson, to recast their 30-year partnership as a next-generation creator and distributor of digital content for the world market.
“There’s a lot of opportunities out there for the creation of content in all genres that we’ve been working in, including feature films and for Breakthrough to expand in digital media and international distribution,” Levy said.
Rather than approach outside lenders for growth capital, Levy and Williamson brought Abraham, president of distribution, and McGuigan, chief financial officer, into the fold as partners to raise cash for market opportunities.
Breakthrough in recent years has worked with American partners on a number of indie comedies, like the Eva Longoria-starring animated primetime comedy Mother Up! for Hulu, and Crash Canyon, an animated primetime adult comedy developed by Joel Cohen (The Simpsons).
The strategy is targeting American broadcasters with homegrown comedies written and produced by Canadian expats in Los Angeles, while also tapping lucrative production subsidies and tax breaks available to local producers.
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