Directors play musical chairs

Round and round the directors go, where they’ll stop, few of us knows. Holy roundabout, Batman! It’s been directors-on-the-move month in t.o. with gains for Circle, ltb and Radke (right at the beginning) and losses for Stripes, Circle, ltb and Radke.

The latest moves have seen veteran Gene Beck looking for a change from Circle Productions and moving downtown to LTB Productions, while up-and-comer Jim Weiner departed Stripes for Circle (see story below). Of course, right at the beginning of March, former ltb-ite Phil Kates joined Radke Films and somewhere in there, David McIlvaney left Radke for ltb.

Directors in motion never ceases to be a topic for speculation and rumor. Obviously, as The Partners’ Film Company’s future has yet to be sorted out – and likely will not be before sometime next month – moves by directors and other personnel will be ongoing.

In other ltb developments, principal Wayne Fenske hints that the shop may set up two ‘circles’ of directors to better address client requirements. He says he’d look after a group of established directors (some of whom are expected to join ltb shortly) covering various genres while exec producer William Cranor would work with the younger talents.

A ‘back burner’ activity for Fenske is the development of an imax film to address his passion for trains. The planned title, Romancing the Train, pretty much says it all. By the time this issue comes out, Fenske should be reflecting on a Bangkok to Singapore trip aboard the latest version of the Orient Express, a journey he planned for purposes of researching his movie.

Casting about for financing partners, Fenske, who’s made many filmic excursions over his career, will take his proposal to the annual gathering of imax theater owners in September.

Down the up staircase

after a year and a half at Third Floor Editing, editor Barry Farrell says he’s descending the stairs to set up his own business starting in May. Farrell, who has serviced Doner Schur Peppler clients for some six years, says he’ll have a steady contract with dsp to get him started, but he will be looking for a broad range of clients, including returning to his roots in long-form work.

Having done editing work on director Deepa Mehta’s latest feature, Camilla (starring Jessica Tandy and Bridget Fonda), Farrell is keen to diversify his bookings with feature and tv assignments.

You’re just too darn busy

production houses, take note. Contrary to speculation on the street, Ammarati and Puris execs say they would be happy to hire your top directors, if only they weren’t so solidly booked.

Buzz was that a&p, currently in charge of some coveted Labatt business, was not offering tv boards to certain Canadian spot shops. Not true, says agency chairman and creative director Tom Nelson, adding that he’s the only American creative type at the agency. Furthermore, he says, he shot in Canada before he moved here from the States and he knows there’s talent to be had.

Nelson says that along with ups tv work, his shop is creating more than one pool for Labatt. He says the agency has ‘approached some (six or eight) Canadian directors who have dropped out because of scheduling problems.’

He also makes the point repeatedly that the agency will always search for the director most appropriate for the job, regardless of where that person hangs his or her hat.

But where’s that guy in the TV ads?

taking a break from commercial toil, Toronto-based producer/ composer David Krystal is embroiled in producing the Napoleon cast album, being recorded at McClear. Krystal is working with conductor Donald Chan. Also involved with the Marlene Smith/Ernie Rubenstein project is orchestrator David Cullen, who does all the omnipresent Andrew Lloyd Weber productions. The writers are Andrew Sabiston and Timothy Williams.

Dial-A-Voice

the automated voice directory has arrived. Called The Voice Catalog, the service allows production companies researching voices to telephone one number and hear voices from five Canadian talent agencies: Characters, Nobel Talent, Oscars and Abrams, The Sloan Agency and The Talent Group.

Alan Powell, the man who pulled the service together, says it will allow producers to bypass the stacks of cassettes sitting on their desks and go directly to the voices. Even better, Powell says, is that the service is free for producers. In Toronto, call 222-0954; elsewhere, call 1-800-461-8320.