The fracas surrounding White Pine Pictures’ political documentary Premier: The Unscripted Kathleen Wynne got significantly more heated this week with the publication of excerpts in The Toronto Star and its website.

The Toronto daily newspaper ran a cover story Thursday on the documentary, which was to profile Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in the run-up to the Ontario budget this year. The film, which is still in post, was put on ice after a dispute regarding clearances and insurance led to TVO cancelling its agreement to broadcast the documentary.

The Toronto Star story was accompanied with text excerpts of clips from the unfinished doc, which White Pine alleged yesterday were given to the newspaper without permission. In a statement to media, White Pine president Peter Raymont accused the paper of “theft and re-use of stolen property” and that the footage “misrepresents what viewers will see in the documentary itself.”

In a statement released to Playback later that day, Toronto Star editor in chief Michael Cooke defended the decision to publish the clips.

“This is a political film about political figures using public money and the film was not made available for what are believed to be political reasons. This is a compelling rationale that the film was newsworthy and it was treated as such. With the expiration of that specific news cycle, we’ve now removed the two video clips.”

The film’s future has been in doubt for weeks since TVO released a statement saying not only was it cancelling its commitment to broadcast the doc, it was demanding White Pine refund what TVO had already invested in the film via its licence fee. However, in Thursday’s press release, Raymont said he is in the final stages of a new agreement to broadcast the film.

“White Pine Pictures’ president Peter Raymont announced today that he will shortly conclude negotiations regarding the broadcast of his company’s much anticipated documentary…A fall airdate is anticipated.” 

A White Pine spokesperson confirmed to Playback Daily the company is in talks with a national broadcaster, but declined to provide further details.

White Pine Pictures characterized the clips appearing on the Star‘s website as “an unauthorized, copyrighted version of the documentary,” and declined to speculate on how the Star obtained a copy of the film. Following the publication of the article, TVO released a statement reiterating what it told White Pine Pictures when the pubcaster notified the producer it was exiting the project. TVO also said in its statement that it did not have a copy of the doc.

“White Pine Pictures continues to be the owner of the content of the project. TVO does not have copies of the project in our possession,” the statement from TVO read.

In a press conference held after the publication of The Toronto Star article, Premier Wynne said she has not seen any of the footage from the documentary, and her team was working with White Pine as recently as Tuesday to get the necessary release forms signed so the doc could go to broadcast.

“They have been working to get it released, and we have not been blocking that. We have been eager to get the documentation done and get the release signed. I hope that it will be released and the public will be able to see it,” Wynne said.

– Image courtesy of Shutterstock

– with files from Katie Bailey