Regina isn’t rolling out the red carpet for just one night when the Gemini Awards broadcast gala comes to town on Sunday, Oct. 28. The Saskatchewan production community is planning a week-long celebration to mark the first time the awards have been handed out in its province.

‘This is our chance to show the industry we can put on one hell of a party,’ says Kevin DeWalt, principal at Minds Eye Pictures, and president of the Saskatchewan Producers Association.

As soon as the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television confirmed in June that the 22nd annual broadcast gala would be held at Regina’s Conexus Arts Centre, the Saskatchewan community reconvened to form a Gemini host committee to plan activities around the event.

A two-prong plan was developed: a week-long program of screenings and studio tours to excite the interest of the Saskatchewan public in the awards; and an industry component to showcase Saskatchewan’s production infrastructure to out-of-town guests.

‘The national television community is coming to Saskatchewan, so this is our opportunity to showcase Regina’s production facilities and give the industry a sense of what Saskatchewan is capable of,’ says Vanessa Bonk, co-chair of the host committee and executive director at the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Association. ‘There is no point in having a big event like this and not capitalizing on it.’

For industry guests in town for the Gemini gala, there are tours of Regina’s Canada Saskatchewan Production Studios. On Sunday morning before the show, a Breakfast with a Buyer networking event offers Saskatchewan producers the opportunity to meet with broadcast executives in town for the awards.

‘It is terrific exposure for our production community to host the Gemini show,’ says Little Mosque on the Prairie producer Michael Snook (WestWind Pictures). ‘It is also great for local producers, as any chance we have to network with our peers across the country and broadcast reps is good for business.’

The local community is also planning parties to bolster the fun quotient. These include equipment and services provider P.S. Prairies’ barbecue on the Saturday afternoon for industry guests, followed that night by a Corner Gas party.

Virginia Thompson, producer at Vérité Films (Corner Gas, renegadepress.com), says the Gemini road show, which last year stopped in B.C., is a smart idea.

‘The reality is that Canadian TV is made across the country, and when an awards show picks up and reaches out to the production community and the public in different cities – like the Juno Awards have done – it creates more of a buzz,’ she says.

Last year, that proved true on a local scale. The awards telecast on Global noted a 420% ratings bump in Vancouver’s 18-49 demo, but nation-wide viewership was on par with 2005’s low 200,000 overall audience. This year, the broadcast goes back to CBC.

SaskFilm, the provincial funding agency and film commission, is planning a post-show wrap party at the soundstage.

‘We are so used to traveling somewhere else to celebrate the accomplishments of our local industry,’ says Susanne Bell, CEO of SaskFilm. ‘[This] is a big thing for our production community – all the gaffers and grips and everyone who works so hard on our shows – to finally be able to participate in the Geminis and celebrate the work they do.’

Saskatchewan is home to Canada’s top TV comedies, Corner Gas and Little Mosque on the Prairie (which divides shooting with Toronto), so the city has decided to host its first-ever Laughing Gas Regina International Comedy Festival in conjunction with the Geminis. Stand-up comics will be performing in bars and clubs in the city over Gemini weekend.

The local industry is also taking advantage of the ample talent in town to host workshops for the production community on the Saturday at the soundstage.

Edmonton-based casting director Carmen Kotyk will lead an auditioning workshop, and the Montreal-based team of director John N. Smith and DOP Pierre Letarte, who, along with Kotyk, worked on the forthcoming CBC mini The Englishman’s Boy, will discuss their respective crafts.

There is also a special effects demonstration, open to the public, by Regina FX expert Paul Noël (X2, X-Men: The Last Stand).

But despite all the local enthusiasm, how many nominees and industry guests will head to Regina for the awards remains to be seen. A spokesman for the Academy says it is still making calls to confirm attendance. He points out that the broadcast gala always sells out, and most nominees attend, as their ticket is complimentary and their airfare is subsidized, although accommodations are not paid for.

In 2006, a full house of 800 people attended the awards in Vancouver. This year the show is being held at a much larger venue, the 2,000-plus-seat Conexus Centre, so the Academy plans to sell tickets to the public for the first time, beginning in October.

The Saskatchewan host committee plans to take this public involvement one step further with a series of screenings of Gemini-nominated Saskatchewan productions (renegadepress.com, Wapos Bay, The Reinventors and Landscape as Muse) in cities and towns across the province, with directors and producers on hand to answer questions.

‘Our goal is to excite the public about the Gemini Awards and Canadian TV,’ says DeWalt. ‘To really revitalize the Geminis we need to get local viewers, press and businesses excited about the event. If you ask people on the street, no one knows what the Gemini Awards are, so we want to make a positive step in terms of giving the event more cachet and public recognition.’

TV, print and radio ads will support the public campaign and let people know about the screenings as well as tours of the soundstage and the CBC and SCN production facilities.

‘I am really excited that the Regina Gemini’s will mark the first time that the awards are actively reaching out to the public,’ says Thompson. ‘Our industry is based around viewers, so the Geminis can have a bigger purpose than just handing out industry awards. It can become a way to engage audiences in Canadian TV.’

Local media outlets will also be publicizing and covering the events.

‘We are expecting great coverage,’ says Bell. ‘When the Academy announced the Gemini Awards were coming to Regina, it made the front page of our local papers. Already, anticipation of the awards show is running high. There is a lot of buzz on the street about the Geminis.’