Changes coming, says Telefilm

Telefilm Canada has revamped its communications department and will continue to restructure its operations this fall to be more accessible and efficient.

‘We will know more coming September,’ says Telefilm spokeswoman Mélanie Larente. ‘But we are reorganizing the structure nationally to better serve our clients.’

‘Basically we want people to be able to phone up and get answers to their questions right away,’ says Larente. ‘It’s part of our corporate plan.’

Larente said no one will lose their jobs as part of the changes. In its 2006-2011 corporate plan (‘From cinemas to cell phones’) Telefilm set out to respond to the ‘multiplatform challenge.’

As part of the changes in the communications department, Larente is now responsible for dealing with French-speaking media across the country. Montreal-based spokesman Douglas Chow, who was the deputy director of strategic communications, is no longer with Telefilm. As previously announced, he left to head up external communications at TD Meloche Monnex.

Former Hydro-Quebec spokesman Steve Flanagan — one of the public faces of the corporation during the infamous 1998 ice storm — was brought in to restructure the department in April, says Larente. Flanagan is now the interim director of communications. Telefilm will likely find a full-time director in September.

Maria DeRosa, who was the director corporate affairs and communications has also left, says Larente. The communications department now reports directly to EVP Wayne Clarkson.

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This article has been changed. Douglas Chow left Telefilm before the revamp of the communications department.