Credo closes its doors

After 28 years of film and television production, Winnipeg’s Credo Entertainment Corporation filed for receivership on June 12. Five days later, Credo announced to the industry that it was closing its doors.

Insufficient cash reserves and future prospects to service the company’s existing debt load were cited in a prepared statement as reasons for the company’s closure.

The community is saddened by the loss of one of Manitoba’s oldest production companies, but RoseAnna Schick, executive director of the Manitoba Motion Picture Industry Association, says the closure is not indicative of trends in the Manitoba production scene.

At press time, Credo president Derek Mazur refused to comment on the closure.

Among its many credits, Credo is the producer of Pioneer Quest and Head Over Wheels.

U8TV shuts down

Weeks after Life Network pulled the plug on U8TV’s nightly, half-hour The Lofters program, the struggling Internet network was forced to close its doors, putting roughly 30 people out of work.

The network, wholly financed by Alliance Atlantis, spent the past month seeking alternative modes of funding to keep the operation alive, but failed to do so by the time the last The Lofters episode aired on Life June 15.

‘Both the [Web and TV] sides of the business are concluding, although we’re looking to keep some sort of presence on the Web,’ says AAC spokesperson Kym Robertson.

On June 17, the approximately 30 full-time staff were told that their employment was concluded effective immediately, and the lofters themselves, eight young people living in the downtown Toronto loft, were asked to leave the building.

‘We were very cognizant that a small number of the folks affected were actually living in the loft and we made sure no one was without a place to stay last night. We’ve made some arrangements to ensure that they had some help with the transition,’ said Robertson on June 18.

Zev Shalev, U8TV cofounder and executive producer, was saddened by the closure, but says, ‘If it’s going to end, it might as well end while it’s a success.’

Sextant down to five

Troubled Sextant Entertainment Group of Vancouver, which sought bankruptcy protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on June 5, has laid off another 35 people in the corporate, visual effects, distribution and production departments – essentially everyone except for senior executives. As of June 14, president Matthew O’Connor, VP and CFO Shamsh Kassam and VP Tom Rowe were among the five people remaining.

At press time, the CCAA was allowing the company to investigate strategic financings, says Kassam, but he was unclear how the layoffs would affect production.

Distribs launch JV Media

TVA Films, a subsidiary of Group TVA, and Lions Gate Films Corp., part of Lions Gate Entertainment, have formed JV Media, a joint-venture operation to market and distribute theatrical, video/DVD and television product throughout English-speaking Canada.

The new venture is headed by operational director Brad Pelman with oversight from Lions Gate executives Wayne Levin and Laurie May, and TVA executives Pierre Lampron and Marie Claude Poulin. The company is based at Lions Gate Films’ offices in Toronto.

JV Media will also coordinate the sale of both companies’ TV libraries.

The venture draws on ‘a vast pooled library of nearly 7,000 titles – more than 1,800 from Lions Gate and 5,000 from TVA.’

In the Quebec market, TVA Films and Christal Films Distribution recently pooled release and marketing resources in Topaze Communications.

CTV nabs The Osbourne’s

On June 11, a week after the announcement of fall lineups, CTV added the MTV smash hit The Osbournes to its new schedule, which may prove to be the broadcaster’s biggest hit next season. CTV has sublicensed Canadian rights to seasons one and two from MTV Canada, owned and operated by Craig Broadcast Systems in Calgary, with an option on the third season.

After launching on MTV in the U.S. on March 5, The Osbournes pulled in record-breaking audiences, with more than 30 million viewers in the first four weeks. The reality sitcom follows the day-to day routine of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, his wife and their two children.

CTV has yet to announce a start date for the series.

Canucks score at Worldwide Short Film Festival

The Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival, which wrapped on June 9, screened 182 shorts from 39 countries. Following is a list of Canadian winners, who will also be eligible for consideration for the Genie and Academy Awards:

Stephanie Morgenstern wins the Sun Life Financial Award for best Canadian short for Remembrance; Lara Fitzgerald wins the Kodak Award for best cinematography in a Canadian short for Scenes D’Enfants; Britt Randle wins best experimental short for Eve; Julia Kwan wins the Audience Award for favorite short for Three Sisters on Moon Lake; and David Widdicombe wins the Screenplay Giveaway Prize for Santa Baby.

DTV transition framework

The CRTC has announced a regulatory framework for the transition to digital over-the-air television.

The commission says the new DTV framework (PN 2002-31) will ensure a smooth and efficient transition for the broadcasting and production industries and viewers based on market forces and appropriate incentives.

Policy highlights include:

* Existing broadcasters will be given the first opportunity to apply for licences to broadcast digitally, but if they fail to do so in a reasonable amount of time, the CRTC will consider other applicants for the relevant frequencies.

* Transitional digital licences will authorize broadcasters to offer a certain amount of programming not offered on their analog transmitters – up to 14 hours per week – on their digital transmitters, provided it is high-definition and that at least half of it is Canadian. Broadcasters should also ensure that, by the end of December 2007, two-thirds of their schedules are available in the high-definition format.

The CRTC has also issued a call for comments (PN 2002-32) on proposed policy principles governing the distribution of DTV services during the transition period.

The Simpsons headlines 20th JFL festival

Following hit engagements in London’s West End and at the Edinburgh Festival, The Simpsons – in the Flesh is among the more than 100 English-language shows on tap at this year’s 20th edition of the Just For Laughs Festival, July 11-21.

The Simpsons will be hosted by creator Matt Groening, with performances by cast members.

This year’s comedy festival headiners and show hosts include Joan Rivers, Wayne Brady, Howie Mandel, Denis Leary, Mike MacDonald, Norm Crosby, Jeaneane Garofalo, Mark McKinney, Spalding Gray, Kevin Hearn, Robert Dubac, Bobby Slayton, Tracy Morgan, Margaret Smith and Bill Maher.

The program also includes a long- and short-form film series and a tribute to the late, great Bill Hicks.

Festival programming is produced and distributed by Rozon/Just For Laughs.

Remstar deals go coast to coast

Remstar Distribution has signed multi-picture output deals with three Canadian production companies, Montreal’s Transfilm, Toronto’s Chesler/Perlmutter Productions and Vancouver’s Rampage Entertainment.

The deal with Transfilm producer Claude Leger covers Canadian distribution rights for all film and TV product over the next four years, including current TV productions Robinson Crusoe, filming in Cuba, and the French Resistance biopic Jean Moulin. Earlier pickups include the big-budget miniseries coproduction Napoleon and the feature films Aime ton pere and Grey Owl.

The deal with producers Lewis B. Chesler and David M. Perlmutter covers Canadian distribution rights to all C/P product, including Tempo, which recently wrapped production in Paris, and three new family-oriented adventures, Touching Wild Horses, Cybermutt and Time of the Wolf.

The Montreal-based distrib also signed a two-year, four-picture Canadian rights output agreement with producer Gavin Wilding of Rampage. Last year, Remstar picked up the Anne Wheeler comedy Suddenly Naked, produced by Wilding and slated for release later this summer.