It’s a typical sun drenched, big sky prairie morning as Wayne Sheldon drives into the heart of Winnipeg from his farm just north of town. He’s on his cell phone lining up a three-camera shoot for a local production company. They chat about whether to post their show in a linear suite or in Avid. A leader in production in Manitoba. Next call is from The Discovery Channel needing a crew; then it’s his production manager on the line about the series they’re shooting. And as Wayne pulls into the midcan parking lot, he’s finishing up with CBC and then talking to TSN about cameras for tonight’s football game.

It’s a long way from 1960 when Wayne first rolled into town from rural Manitoba, looking for work. He scored a job with film pioneer Ken Davey. Then it was on to Cinelabs where he was manager. By 1977 it was time to go out on his own and Midcanada (then Rainbow) Video Services was born.

‘I offered my services as a process lab and was doing work as a freelance camera operator,’ Wayne says. ‘TV stations could literally bring us film at 5:00 p.m. and still have it as a late-breaking story on the six o’clock news.’

Wayne has always had a reputation for being able to do the impossible partly because he’s never been afraid to invest in the future — acquiring the technology that the market demands. Getting the first freelance Betacam in town was no exception.

‘We had a contract shooting the Canadian Football League games in 1986 and they wanted to switch to tape,’ Wayne recalls. ‘I was in Vancouver on a Thursday picking up the camera and gear, reading the manuals on the way home and shooting the game on Friday.’

‘Once you start into it, you have no choice but to keep going,’ Wayne explains. ‘If you get five phone calls asking for the same service, you better be the first one in town who buys the new technology.’

Today, Wayne has a multi-million dollar investment encompassing seven broadcast betacam packages including the high end D700 camera, eight edit suites including digital, linear and non-linear editing, Pro Tools audio production, complete animation, layout and design, 70 dubbing decks and transfer, and CD Rom production.

With midcan established as Manitoba’s premier technical service and post-production facility, it now acts as the Winnipeg bureau for several broadcasters and specialty services such as TSN, The Weather Network and The Discovery Channel. midcan has also acquired ongoing relationships with many of North America’s top broadcasters and freelance producers. Networks such as CBC, CTV, ABC, NBC, YTV and WTN, as well as numerous local and national production companies are part of midcan’s ‘frequent flyers club.’ Also along for the ride are numerous corporate and commercial clients, like Ducks Unlimited, Quality Records, Ford Canada and AT+T, just to name a few.

For Wayne, mastering the technical service and post-production end of the business was not enough. The advent of desk top edit suites has brought a cascade of people into the market who can potentially keep their productions self-contained without needing much in the way of outside services.

So, last year, responding in the way he has done for the past twenty years, Wayne made yet another bold move. He turned Midcanada Video Services into midcan Production Services — combining the most established technical talent in the province with a newly created production team.

‘We had to move into the production side so we could have more control.’ Wayne explains, ‘So when there’s a bid out there we can have a seat at the table, get the production and keep the wheels spinning in our edit suites.’

A major part of this plan brought Kevin Dunn on board as midcan’s new manager of marketing and production. Dunn, who brings 15 years of broadcast production, creative and marketing expertise with him, was given the task to market midcan and to create a pool of producers to generate as much national and regional business as possible.

‘These guys at midcan — Wayne, the shooters, the editors, technicians and graphic artists — have done amazingly well servicing the production side for twenty years,’ says Dunn. ‘They’ve been so busy they haven’t had the time to blow their own horns.’

Dunn’s first task was to crank out a midcan brochure, profile and demo tape as part of the repositioning of the company’s provincial, national and international marketing initiatives. His next step was to get some productions going — projects produced by Dunn himself and by independent producers teaming up with midcan.

Some of the local production companies working with midcan include Flat Out Pictures Inc., The Peer Group, Directors Group, Malanka Productions and Credo Entertainment.

‘We saw an opportunity here to not necessarily take over production in Winnipeg, but to guide it,’ explains Dunn. ‘It’s really a dream come true to be able to step into a situation where I can combine the best people with the best gear to produce great productions we can call our own.’

Under Dunn’s guidance, midcan is now producing and developing several projects — from network series to commercial deals to government contracts. Dunn recently wrapped up another twenty-six shows of ‘Router Workshop’ (a how to program for doable woodworking projects), which airs on 150 U.S. PBS stations.

He is now working on all the commercial production for Travel Channel International, two network children’s shows, a series of government videos and several other midcan projects.

‘There was nowhere else to turn when a major project came along,’ says Dunn. ‘midcan had to become a full service facility, being able to take on any project of any size from start to finish.’

For midcan president Wayne Sheldon, it’s all just a natural progression for his company. Now that he has assembled Manitoba’s most sought after group of free lance shooters, editors, technicians and graphic artists, venturing into the production end has given midcan ‘a niche in which we can provide a service nobody around here is capable of,’ says Wayne.

When it comes to competing with other production houses in Toronto, Vancouver and elsewhere in North America, midcan has always tried ‘to be a notch above the people out of town in order to get the work,’ says Wayne. With the revamping of the company’s marketing and creative pursuits, Wayne says midcan is attracting more national and international work, and making a lasting impression on clients.

Wayne describes a recent experience with John Aaron Productions, who used midcan to post their documentary on the making of the feature movie ‘Avro Arrow – The Legend of the Arrow.’ ‘After it was done,’ says Wayne, ‘the show’s producer said midcan proved to be as good if not better than any other post house he’s worked at.’

The reaction was just as positive when a group of producers from Nashville cut some shows earlier this year at midcan. midcan’s marketing and creative director Kevin Dunn says the out of town clients like midcan’s competitive price and quality of service.

Earlier this year, midcan secured an extensive contract with the Manitoba Government to cover the Flood of the Century from meltdown to crest to clean up. As well as producing a full length documentary on the subject, midcan put together a series of public service announcements for national distribution, which allowed the province of Manitoba to thank the rest of the country for their support during the flood.

‘We may not have Robson Avenue or Yonge Street,’ says Dunn, ‘but we’ll continue to treat our clients first class, from the time they roll into the airport until the time they leave.’

It’s late into the evening and the edit suites and studio at midcan are still firing. Wayne is pouring over next week’s schedule, trying to fit in a multi-camera shoot for TSN at the Canada Summer Games. The book has others scrawled in — CBC, The Discovery Channel, Flat Out Pictures.

One look around the shop reveals the many unsung heroes of this twentieth anniversary story — those in the trenches at midcan day after day. Shooters like Kim Bell and Fred Mislawchuk, editors Tony Wytnick and Bruce Little, computer artist Brad Hoplock, technical manager Lawrence Garry, just to name a few. It’s not uncommon to see many midcan personnel still burning the midnight oil long after the sun has set.

But when asked about midcan’s success over the years, they all point to Wayne Sheldon. They call him ‘modest and hard working … one of the most respected men in the business.’

‘It seems Wayne has never made a bad decision,’ says Dunn. ‘He’s not afraid to invest in the future and take risks.’

One thing Wayne might be afraid of is to take some time off. One figures that after 20 years in business, a day off would be in order.

‘Day off?’ Wayne laughs. ‘Who’s the joker who told you I was taking a day off?’

And with that, Wayne gets back on the phone to tie up a few loose ends before heading on home for the night.