Canadian production companies were well represented when the Primetime Emmy nominations were announced on July 22 in Los Angeles.

The two-part Alliance Atlantis Communications historical drama Joan of Arc garnered 13 Primetime Emmy nominations, including nominations for best miniseries (Ed Gernon and Peter Sussman, executive producers), best lead actress in a miniseries or tv movie (Leelee Sobieski in the role of Joan of Arc), best supporting actress (both Jacqueline Bisset and Olympia Dukakis), and best supporting actor (Peter O’Toole). Joan of Arc director Christian Duguay is also nominated.

aac produced the us$25M series in association with cbs, cbc and Europe’s Endemol Entertainment.

Joan of Arc craft nominees include: Michael Joy, production designer; Shannon Grover and Martin Martinec, art directors; Deidre Bowen, Suzie Glicksman and Fern Orenstein, casting; John Hay, costume design; Ralph Brunjes, picture editor; Jan Archibald, key hairstylist and Benjamin Robin, hairstylist; Melissa Purino, Tomoko Hidaka, key makeup artists; and Lou Solakofski and Orest Sushko, rerecording mixers.

Dukakis picked up a second Emmy nomination, for best lead actress in a miniseries or tv movie for her role as Anna Madrigal in Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the City, a Showtime Network miniseries produced by Montreal’s Productions La Fete.

aac also picked up a nomination for best visual effects in a series for the episode ‘Machine Dreams’ from the series Total Recall 2070, produced in association with WIC Entertainment, Germany’s ProSieben Media and Showtime in the u.s. The effects were created by Toronto’s gvfx, which is also up an Emmy (see Virtual Innovations, p. VI-3).

West Coast Emmy news has Pacific Motion Pictures and Rainmaker Entertainment (finally en route to their official divorce) scoring independent nominations: pmp’s The Baby Dance is up for four trophies and Rainmaker’s post-production division is up for two.

The Baby Dance, about a wealthy couple trying to adopt a baby from a poor woman, earned nominations in the categories of best movie for television, best director, best writer and best performance by an actress (Stockard Channing).

pmp produced the mow in partnership with Jodie Foster’s Egg Pictures and Hallmark Entertainment for Showtime.

Rainmaker has been recognized for work on Max Q, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Touchstone Television for abc, in the category of special visual effects for a miniseries or a movie. First Wave, produced by Sugar Entertainment, a division of Peace Arch Entertainment, was nominated in the category of main title design.

This year’s Emmy nominations are a first for Rainmaker, however, pmp was nominated in 1997 for work on the miniseries In Cold Blood.

Winnipeg’s Chris Bond of Frantic Films is also up for the special effects Emmy. The Frantic president and creative director was part of the effects team that has been nominated for outstanding visual effects for a miniseries or movie for Stephen King’s Storm of the Century. Bond served as compositor on the project.

The 1999 Emmys will be presented Sept. 12 in Los Angeles.

Eith files from Ian Edwards and Dustin Dinoff.