Thirty years ago, Wayne Sheldon decided to quit his film lab job and start his own company.

Today, the president and founder of Winnipeg’s MidCanada Production Services (MIDCAN) runs a 16,000-square-foot production and Avid-based post facility and employs a core staff of 21. Subdivisions include MidCanada Entertainment and MidCanada Commercial, and Sheldon also heads up prodco Eagle Vision with Lisa Meeches of Meeches Video Productions. Eagle can share in the glow of last year’s Academy Awards, when Capote, on which it received a coproducer credit, landed Philip Seymour Hoffman a best actor Oscar.

For the past quarter century, it’s all happened in a former strip mall.

‘We started with 3,000 square feet, then kept taking over stores as the tenants moved out, until we bought the entire place,’ Sheldon explains.

Sheldon attributes his success to staying ahead of technological change and doing whatever it takes to keep his clients happy.

‘You just pick up the phone when it rings and say ‘yes,’ then do your darnedest to meet their needs,’ he says. ‘That, and making sure that our people become knowledgeable on new technology as it comes out, is what has kept us in the game.’

But there’s more to MIDCAN’s 30-year-run, says Tara Walker, executive director of the Manitoba Motion Picture Industry Association.

‘For the eight years I have been with MMPIA, MidCanada has been the foundation of the production services industry in this province,’ she says. ‘They’ve provided the rental equipment, the people, and the post-production facilities to get things done. MidCanada also treats its people and clients well, and gives back to the community.

‘Wayne has built his business from the ground up – through changing technologies, client requirements, and even into new sectors and areas of the industry. It’s impressive.’

Robert Hardy, CTV’s development manager of western independent productions, adds, ‘Wayne is a fantastic businessman. He has also done a lot to support people as they have built their careers in the industry.’

Sheldon certainly didn’t have such lofty goals when he started MIDCAN as a film processing lab in 1977.

‘I was just trying to get some work,’ he says. ‘We went after CBC local news because they used film back then. We got ourselves an office across from CBC TV Winnipeg at 355 Langside Street so that we could process their film, run it across the alley, and put it on their editor’s desk. As well, they always seemed to be a cameraman short, so I bought a film camera and freelanced for them as required.’

You can chalk up MidCanada’s success to Sheldon’s freelancer work ethic. When the Winnipeg Blue Bombers wanted their coaching films shot and processed, he did that. When they and CBC switched to 3/4′ videotape, he did that, too. When NABET agreed to allow freelancers to shoot video for CBC in the mid-’80s, Sheldon took some of that work. He also hired freelance camera people to shoot for The Weather Network, CP Rail and TSN.

In 1985, Sheldon decided to upgrade by buying a Sony Betacam, then another, and another. He then started renting them out when they weren’t in use and added videotape editing facilities.

‘In 1994, we bought our first Avid nonlinear editor, because we wanted to make sure our people were knowledgeable in this format when it became popular,’ Sheldon says. ‘Then, when other local post houses started getting into nonlinear editing, we went into program production to keep our suites busy.

‘A few years ago, we started buying HD cameras, recorders and editing equipment for the same reason. Now we have Avid Nitris uncompressed HD edit suites, a Dolby 5.1-certified Pro Tools audio facility, and 32 cameras in our rental department.’

MIDCAN recently opened its MidCanada Entertainment production arm in Hamilton, ON, to be closer to the Toronto production and broadcast hub. The Ontario operation is headed up by producer Kevin Dunn, a longtime employee and former member of the MMPIA executive.

Notable credits include As Seen on TV: The K-Tel Story, the CTV doc by Cam Bennett about the phenomenal 1970s Canadian pop culture marketing company, and the doc Avrocar: Saucer Secrets from the Past for Discovery Channel.

It is currently embarking on Dinosaur Resurrection: Secrets of the Mummy Dinosaur, its largest production to date. The doc, which looks to recreate an anatomically correct dinosaur, is a copro with Myth Merchant Films and will air on Discovery in Canada and the U.S. and ARTE France/Germany. Emmy Award winner Michael Jorgensen writes and directs.

Sheldon has been in the biz a long time now, but MIDCAN is showing no signs of age – far from it.

‘I know that I will have to start slowing down and hand off responsibility to my capable staff as time progresses,’ he says. ‘But it is my hope that MIDCAN will remain a central part of the Manitoba production industry for many years to come.’ *

www.midcan.com