✖

Newly restructured Ottawa Film Office adds board of directors

By Regan Reid
October 3, 2017
Looking to establish itself as a production hub in Ontario, the organization has added 12 new members.

shutterstock_clapboard, directorThe newly established Ottawa Film Office has added a 12-member board of directors.

The office was formerly a part of the economic development group Invest Ottawa. In January, it formally launched as an independent non-profit dedicated to growing the city’s film and television industry.

“An autonomous film office allows its staff to focus on the evolving needs of the film and television industry while having its own identity, marketing and communications strategies, branding, and organizational structure,” Bruce Harvey, Ottawa film commissioner, told Playback Daily. 

Today, the Office announced that Ken Stewart, president and exec producer at Ottawa-based Math Xplosion prodco GAPC Entertainment, has joined the new board, as well as Canadian Film Institute exec director Tom McSorley and Mercury Filmworks’ SVP of business and legal affairs Nicole St. Pierre.

Senior director of destination development at Ottawa Tourism, Catherine Callary, will chair the board, which also includes Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group CEO Bernie Ashe; Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association president Steve Ball; City of Ottawa councillor Jean Cloutier; Edwards PC lawyer Mark Edwards; National Capital Commission’s Daniel Feeny; Algonquin College dean of the faculty of arts, media and design Robyn Heaton; Welch LLP director of business development Bruce Raganold; and the City of Ottawa’s director of economic development and long-range planning, John Smit.

“Each member brings diverse and valuable expertise that will help rejuvenate the Ottawa Film Office, and in turn, help strengthen the overall local film and television industry,” Harvey said in a statement.

“The board looks forward to leading this exciting vision that will help generate results in the recruitment, facilitation, and servicing of film and TV production in Ottawa,” Callary said in a release.

Harvey joined Ottawa’s mayor, Jim Watson, on an economic mission to Los Angeles in September to promote the city as a film and technology hub. The mission attended a reception celebrating Canadian Emmy nominees, and a Consul General dinner with local film and TV leaders.