*Alliance Atlantis Communications has created an acquisitions department and promoted Charlotte Mickie to senior vp acquisitions and development, Alliance Motion Picture Group.

Mickie will head the newly created department, which will operate under the Filmed Entertainment division.

Under Mickie, the department will focus on acquiring independent product at the script stage, as well as finished films from around the world for aac’s international, u.k. and Canadian divisions.

Mickie comes to the position from her post as senior vp Alliance Independent Films, where she was responsible for acquiring Thom Fitzgerald’s The Hanging Garden and Neil LaBute’s In The Company of Men among others.

Meanwhile, aac has made official its senior management teams for the motion picture, Canadian and u.s. tv production and corporate groups.

aac chairman and ceo Michael MacMillan and aac president Lewis Rose introduced 24 executives, many of whom were appointed during the July merger announcement, during a press conference on Sept. 25.

Leading the Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Group is chairman Victor Loewy, with president David Ginsburg, who is based in l.a., and president of Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution, Patrice Theroux.

Seaton McLean, president of Alliance Atlantis Television Production, heads a team with senior vp of tv production Steve Ord; senior vp creative affairs Christine Shipton; senior vp production, tv movies, miniseries Ian McDougall; and senior vp, production, tv series Mary Kahn.

Peter Sussman will continue to be responsible for aac’s l.a. operations as president of Alliance Atlantis Entertainment. New appointments in that area are Jeff Wachtel, president of Alliance Atlantis Television Production ; Judy Ranan, president of Citadel Entertainment, an l.a. movie company aac recently acquired; and John Morayniss, senior vp, business and legal affairs, who will be responsible for the television group in la.

Rounding out the tv group is Ted Riley, president of Alliance Atlantis Television Distribution.

aac will announce further tv distribution appointments after this month’s mipcom.

MacMillan said he expects about 100 layoffs as a result of the merger. It will be carried out through a combination of job elimination, attrition and not filling existing, vacant positions.

* Alexander (Sandy) Crawley, former national president of actra, is the new executive director at the Canadian Screen Training Centre. Crawley replaces Tom Shoebridge, who will now act as founder at the training centre.

* Catalyst Entertainment has promoted Jill Keenleyside to vp, group head of distribution and Stephen Kelley to head of international sales.

* Lions Gate Media has appointed Kevin Beggs as senior vp of drama development. He will be responsible for developing new one-hour dramas focusing on cable, syndication and the international marketplace.

* Ted Rogers, Lloyd Robertson, b.c. radio legend Warren Barker, former president of the Atlantic Association of Broadcasters Donald Brown, Radio Victoriaville president Francois Labbe, CanWest Global’s executive director of corporate affairs Peter Liba and Canadian Communications Foundation president Ross McCreath will be inducted in the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame on Nov. 2 during the Canadian Association of Broadcasterss ’98 convention in Vancouver.

Candidates are nominated annually by Canada’s five private regional broadcasting associations and the cab’s executive committee.