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CJOH-TV Ottawa is doing its bit to provide a window of opportunity for local indie producers. This month the station launched Laurier LaPierre Presents, an eight-part documentary series.

The subject of the first program in the strand, the late Gordon Sparling who passed away last month at age 93, would approve.

The individual programs in the showcase are all produced by local independent producers, and are consummately topped and tailed by the charismatic and witty broadcaster Laurier LaPierre.

The series was born when executive producer Robert Wilson was pondering ways to maximize the potential of the excellent programs cjoh’s development fund had yielded. On deliberating how best to present the assorted one-offs, Wilson decided the biggest bang for the buck would be realized from a presentation series, and that the promotional benefit would escalate exponentially with the added credibility of a distinguished personality like LaPierre…And there was this 6:30 Sunday evening time slot available… Hmmm…

The first program in the series, Speaking of Movies, produced by Alan White of Corvideocom and directed/ written by Michael Ostroff of Cine Metu, captures the memories of pioneer filmmaker Sparling, Canada’s first creative film director who produced over 200 films and broke into the Hollywood loop with his theatrical shorts.

‘When you’re working in a region that’s off the beaten path, it’s hard to get regional production going in a big way,’ says White, who has done about a program a year for cjoh, including Quick March and Red Serge, which aired on the CTV Television Network series Canada In View.

‘cjoh has done a lot in the last five years to encourage regional producers to develop ideas; Bob Wilson is a very accessible guy,’ says White, who commends the local station for being a valuable resource for the local production community.

Wilson says the series was designed specifically to get productions out there and moving by providing a conduit to airtime and production through acquisition dollars. The station also provides promotional support, including on-air plugs, for the series.

And if the ratings are decent, the master plan is to come back with 13 additional episodes next year. ‘We already have six ideas for next year that are doable,’ says Wilson.

‘Sparling faced in the ’30s what Canadians still face in the ’90s – Americans’ control of the screens,’ says White, adding: ‘I hope a show like this creates more political will to address these issues.’

Well, cjoh is listening, and as Canada’s regional production communities continue to mature, stations are finding their mutually beneficial working relationships with local producers yield not only a supply of fresh domestic views, but increasingly sophisticated product.

‘We’ve got a lot of local talent,’ says Wilson, musing over his plans for the series.