Several Just for Laughs (JPR) creditors are convinced that they will never see the color of their money again, which is now forcing them to consider difficult choices. This is the case of Duceppe, one of Montreal’s main theaters, to which the company owes more than $250,000. A significant amount for such a cultural organization.
Amélie Duceppe, the general director of the theater, provides an illustration: “$250,000 represents approximately the budget for sets for our original productions during the entire year. It’s as if we decided not to have any more sets for the entire next season. »
A year and a half ago, Duceppe partnered with JPR to present pieces during its festival. “It was Just for Laughs who approached us. We thought it was a good idea, as it would allow us to present comedies, a genre that the public really likes, but that institutions are more reluctant to finance. Ultimately, this partnership with Just for Laughs would even allow the export of some of our pieces,” explains Amélie Duceppe.
Ultimately, only one piece was presented as part of this collaboration: Mama, by Nathalie Doummar, on display during last year’s festival. All artists and technicians who worked on this show were paid. But Duceppe never received the envelope due from JPR, despite repeated calls made in recent months.
“This is the first time that a situation like this has presented itself to us. They [les dirigeants de JPR] saved time. I started asking myself questions in November. Then, in January, they finally admitted they were having liquidity problems. They told me to wait three weeks, and then after those three weeks, we were told to wait again. We had no choice but to send a formal notice,” says the director of this non-profit organization.
“Unsecured” debts
The Just for Laughs Group finally took shelter from its creditors last week, thereby laying off 70% of its workforce and canceling the festival planned for next July.
According to documents filed Tuesday in court, Gestion Just for Laughs, one of the group’s divisions, owes nearly $16.7 million to the National Bank. Added to this is a debt of 1.9 million to be repaid to the Business Development Bank of Canada and another, of 2.5 million, to be remitted to the Société de Développement des Entreprises Culturelles, SODEC. These are the three secured creditors, who JPR is obliged to repay as a priority since the company took out a mortgage loan with them.
Then follow a host of small and medium-sized “unsecured” creditors, who will probably never receive their dues. Duceppe is one of them. “Our annual budget is around $8 million. So $250,000 may not be what’s going to put us in trouble, but it’s still a significant amount. It’s a safety cushion that has just blown. It is certain that this will have consequences. Not for next year, because our programming is already done. But yes, we will have to make choices for the following year,” laments Amélie Duceppe.
Among the main unsecured creditors are also several entities linked to the CH Group or Bell, which share 51% of the Just for Laughs Group. JPR owes, among other things, $611,000 to Spectra, the organizing company of the Francos and the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
Small amounts, big consequences
JPR also has an overdue balance of $720,000 with the Cartier advertising agency. The executives of this company did not wish to grant an interview Thursday.
The duty was, however, able to speak to several small creditors. Some say it took a while before worrying about late payments in the fall, because Just for Laughs has always had a reputation for taking time before untying its purse strings. But they are taking the insolvency process launched last week by JPR very seriously.
“For an SME like mine, what Just for Laughs owes me represents a person’s annual salary,” explains a contract worker who did not wish to be named for fear of being shunned by the Quebec entertainment industry. events.
Co-founder of Orangead, a small company specializing in marketing, Jack Blouin also expects to lose big in the financial setbacks of Just for Laughs: the former Quebec flagship owes him $43,000 for a contract he honored during from last summer’s festival. “It is extremely important as a sum for a start-up like ours, which has a cash flow quite tight. Because $43,000 is more than the margin we had: we will be forced to borrow again. Honestly, it puts us in trouble,” he admits without tongue in cheek.