– WGC’s first Top Ten

The Writers Guild of Canada will hold its first screenwriting awards program April 14 in Toronto.

Breaking away from the traditional winner/loser approach to awards, the guild is instead offering up the WGC Top Ten Awards. The top 10 will all be valued equally and included in a ‘Ten Best List’ of screenplays.

A jury of wgc members has short-listed 20 scripts from 84 nominees.

tv series scripts vying for inclusion on the top 10 chart are Tony Di Franco’s Lonesome Dove: The Bounty (Canadian Dove Productions), Susin Nielsen’s Madison ‘Home is Where the Sharpes Is’ (Forefront Entertainment); Ken Finkleman’s The Newsroom ‘Dinner at Eight’ (cbc), Andrew Rai Berzin’s Straight Up ‘Jam’ (Alliance/ Back Alley Film Productions), Brad Wright’s The Outer Limits ‘Trial by Fire’ (Atlantis), and Cathy Jones, Rick Mercer, Greg Thomey, Mary Walsh, Paul Bellini and Alan Resnick for This Hour Has 22 Minutes (Salter Street).

tv movie scripts in line for a spot are Janis Cole’s Dangerous Offender (cbc), Pete White’s Legend of the Ruby Silver (Silver Productions), Dennis Foon’s Little Criminals (cbc), Don Truckey, Phil Savath, Alison Grifiths and David Cruise’s Net Worth (cbc); and Pauline Le Bel’s The Song Spinner (Bradshaw MacLeod & Associates).

The lone feature screenplay short-listed is It’s Never Too Late (Allegro Films), written by Donald Martin. The Champagne Safari (Field Seven Films), penned by Steve Lucas, Harold Crooks and John Kramer, is the only doc.

Contending scripts written for children’s shows are Rick Drew’s Goosebumps ‘Go Eat Worms’ (Protocol Entertainment), Wilson Coneybeare’s Kratts Creatures ‘Big Five, Little Five’ (Paragon Entertainment) and Sugith Varughese’s On My Mind ‘The Secret Life of Goldfish’ (The Film Works).

-CSC nominees

The Canadian Society of Cinematographers has announced its list of jury-selected nominees for the 1997 CSC Awards, to be held April 19 in Toronto.

Vying for best tv series cinematography are Philip Earnshaw for Atlantis Films’ Traders ‘Natari Affair,’ Robert McLachlan on Fox-TV’s Millennium ‘Gehenna,’ and Peter Wunstorf for Millennium, the pilot episode, produced by TCFTV Canadian and Fox.

tv drama contenders are Jonathan Freeman, dop on Sullivan/Four Arrows’ Promise the Moon, Rene Ohashi for Tapestry/Filmworks The Arrow, and Michael Storey for J.M. Story Productions’ Captive Heart – The James Mink Story.

In the theatrical feature category, nominees are Peter Benison for cfp’s Bullet to Beijing, Serge Ladouceur for Cine Qua Non Films’ La Nuit du Deluge/Night of the Flood, and Andre Pienaar for Skyvision Partners’ Sadness of Sex.

Dramatic short contenders are Philip Earnshaw for Cleveland Wood’s Last Day for Earth (the Canadian Film Centre), James Gardner for CineNova’s Shipwreck on Skeleton Coast, and John Lesavage for Oblomov Filmworks’ The Boor.

Vying for best doc cinematography are Robert Brooks for Davey Productions’ Helen Lucas – Her Journey – Our Journey, Len Gilday for cbc’s The Nature of Things ‘The Bald Eagle,’ and Pecota and Earnshaw for Sylvia Pecota Studios’ Lacing on The Gloves.

Nominees for the Roy Tash Award for news spot cinematography are Bob Armstrong for cbc Toronto’s Fallen Sparrows, Douglas Gamey for Global News’ Queen’s Park – Student Rally, and Don Scott for cbc Calgary’s Big Fire.

Contenders for the Stan Clinton Award for news essay cinematography are Howard Cooper’s Ghost Hunters for CTV Network, London, Chris Gargus for cbc Toronto’s Playing Pool, and Paul Wing for Taiko Drums out of BBS Ottawa.