Rose & Ruby Productions
{{Short description|Canadian sports promotion and film production company}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Rose & Ruby Productions
| owner =
| logo = 200px
| logo_caption = Company logo (1987–92)
| type = Event and film production company
| foundation = 30 June 1977{{cite web | url =https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-business-registry#section-1 | title =Ontario Business Registry; Rose & Ruby Productions | author= | website =ontario.ca | access-date =May 29, 2023}}
| location_city = Toronto, Ontario
| key_people = Damian Lee (President)
David Mitchell (Vice President, until circa 1990){{cite book |author= |title=Metropolitan Toronto City Directory | edition=Central | url=https://archive.org/details/torontocitydir1990cent/page/662/mode/2up |location=Toronto |publisher=R.L. Polk & Co. |page=662 |date=1990}}
| homepage =
| screenshot =
| url =
| registration =
| launch_date =
}}
Rose & Ruby Productions, also known as Rose and Ruby Pictures,{{cite web | url =https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business | title =Rose and Ruby Pictures, Inc. (1395886) | author= | date =5 January 1987 | website =bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov | access-date =18 January 2024}} was a Canadian sports promotion and film production company founded in 1977. It was one of the country's notable producers of televised sports programming before establishing itself as a purveyor of genre movies in the 1980s and early 1990s. For much of its history, the company was anchored by directors Damian Lee and David Mitchell.{{cite book |editor=Thompson, Patricia |date=1989 |url=https://archive.org/details/internationalmot1989jane/mode/2up |title=International Motion Picture Almanac| chapter=The Industry in Canada |location=Quigley Publishing |publisher=New York |pages=669 |isbn=9780900610400 }}{{cite news |last=Algie |first=Jim |date=15 November 1989 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/727152500/ | title=Movie 'space cops' come to Thornbury |newspaper=The Sun Times |location=Owen Sound |page=3 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}}{{cite book |editor=Kipen, David M. |editor2=Bales, Kate |date=1994 |edition=4th |url=https://archive.org/details/filmproducersstu00davi/page/138/mode/2up |title=Film producers, studios, agents, and casting directors guide |location=Los Angeles |publisher=Lone Eagle Publishing |pages=139 |isbn=0943728622}}
History
Rose & Ruby Productions' originally specialized in the organization of competitions for "everyman" athletes, which it placed on television for the benefit of a corporate sponsor, a concept that Lee had popularized in the Canadian market shortly before the creation of Rose & Ruby itself.{{cite news |last=Laverty |first=Gene |date=13 June 1980 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/482658996 | title=Another "ordinary people" event |newspaper=Calgary Herald/TV Times |page=50 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}} Many of these programs were seen on the Canadian version of Wide World of Sports broadcast on the CTV network. The company later graduated to sports featuring professional or established amateur athletes, often for CTV as well.{{cite news |last=Wayne | first=Jayne |date=7 August 1982 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/512135227 | title=Hitachi pioneers jogging sponsorship approach |newspaper=National Post |page=28 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}}{{cite magazine |author= |date=February 1983 |title=National Fitness Test |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_parks-recreation-canada_1983-02_41_1/page/26/mode/2up |magazine=Recreation Canada |location=Vanier City |publisher=Canadian Parcs/Recreation Association |volume=41 |issue=1 |page=27}} In 1977, Rose & Ruby tried to set up a professional tennis tournament for the following March at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens to replace the dormant Rothmans International, but the event did not proceed.{{cite news |last=Ryan |first=Allan |date=20 October 1977 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/947974178/ | title=World's top tennis pros Toronto bound |newspaper=The Toronto Star |page=C1 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}} In 1983, the company also applied to the CRTC for a license to operate a pay sports television channel.{{cite news |last=McKee |first=Ken |date=8 May 1983 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/945837619/ | title=Sportsline hosts bids for pay TV |newspaper=The Toronto Star |page=E3 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}}
While it did not get its own channel, the emergence of premium cable outlets looking to satisfy Canadian content obligations, such as First Choice, opened the door to branch out into fiction content.{{cite news |last=Fitzgerald |first=Paul |date=17 March 1983 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/421994245/ | title=Actors weary as Pay TV goes shopping for 'Canadian content' |newspaper=The Montreal Gazette |page=A-6 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}}{{cite news |last=Adilman |first=Sid |date=21 April 1983 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/948214489/ | title=Eye on Entertainment |newspaper=Toronto Star |page=D1 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}} Rose & Ruby also took advantage of the tax shelter opportunities that were synonymous with Canadian film financing at the time{{cite news |last=Druckman |first=Howard |date=15 June 1985 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/945818308/ | title=Dennis is a one-man movie industry |newspaper=Toronto Star |page=E2 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}}{{cite news |author= |date=1 December 1984 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/494818049/ | title=Limited number of units available; Exceptional investment & tax shelter 'Busted Up' |newspaper=The Sun |location=Vancouver |page=E8 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}} although, according to Lee, the boom of international pre-sales during the second half of the 1980s allowed the company to distance itself from that sometimes stigmatized model. Bodybuilder Franco Columbu, who contributed to several of Rose & Ruby's mid- to late 1980s features, was a partner in the company and was listed as its American representative at the time. In later years, Rose & Ruby also named veteran cameraman and director of photography Curtis Petersen as its Vice President of Production.{{cite book |author= |title=Who's Who in Canadian Film and Television/Qui est qui au cinema et à la télévision au Canada | chapter=Cinematographers/Directeurs photo | url=https://archive.org/details/199192whoswhoinc0000unse/page/54/mode/2up |location=Waterloo |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press; Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television |pages=54–55 |date=1991 |isbn=0889202109|language=en, fr}}
In 1993, Rose & Ruby entered a multi-picture financing partnership with Menahem Golan's 21st Century Films, which was struggling to find banking support. It included National Lampoon's Last Resort (21st Century was initially mentioned as co-producer but later only as international distributor), Death Wish V: The Face of Death and the less commercial Crime and Punishment.{{cite news |last=Honeycutt |first=Kirk |date=14 February 1993 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/822390445/ | title='Death Wish V', fantasies in 21st Century's plans |newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter | via=The Oakland Tribune |page=C-2 {{subscription required|via=newspapers.com}}}}{{cite web | url =https://variety.com/1993/film/news/coreys-top-21st-century-3-film-sked-103790/ | title =Coreys top 21st Century 3-film sked | last1 =Ayscough | first1 =Suzan | date =8 February 1993 | work =Variety | access-date =May 29, 2023}} However, Lee was not credited in the final version of Crime and Punishment, and although he remained on board as producer of the other films, the Rose & Ruby label was phased out from them as well.{{cite book |author= |date=1994 |url=https://archive.org/details/31761115471609/page/16/mode/2up |title=Annual Report 92–93 |chapter=Commitments: Location Promotion & Services |location=Toronto |publisher=Ontario Film Development Corporation |pages=17}} After that batch of Golan collaborations, Lee focused his efforts on another outfit headquartered on the same premises, called Richmond House, to whom former Rose & Ruby associate David Mitchell briefly collaborated early on.{{cite book |editor=Thompson, Patricia (Canada) |date=1997 |url=https://archive.org/details/internationalmot1997quig/page/668/mode/2up |title=International Motion Picture Almanac| chapter=The Industry in Canada |location=Quigley Publishing |publisher=New York |pages=668 |isbn=0900610573}}{{cite web | url =https://hdsound.fr/en_films.html | title =Projects: Films | author= | website =hdsound.fr | language =en | access-date =22 January 2024}}