JPL’s prime move

JPL Productions, a Tele-Metropole subsidiary, is the first Quebec broadcast affiliate to move into primetime entertainment production and stake a major claim on Cable Production Fund resources.

Broadcast-affiliate producers, but mainly jpl, have locked on to just under 10% of 1996/97 cpf French-track funding, or $1.3 million.

jpl’s ’96/97 production slate includes Ent’Cadieux, Le Retour and Bungalow Blues, teleromans produced on videotape in studio at Sonolab, a t-m post and studio service company.

A number of management appointments have been announced at jpl. Former Coscient producer Marleen Beaulieu has been named director of production. Michel St-Cyr, previously with Videotron’s defunct tvi unit (interactive television), becomes creative and development officer, and Daniele Bouchard is the new production co-ordinator.

t-m owns and operates a majority of the TVA Network stations, including Montreal flagship station cftm-tv.

Techie talk in Vancouver

Rainmaker Digital Pictures reports resounding success for Canada’s first dvd (digital versatile disk) symposium, which it hosted in Vancouver May 10.

The 220 attendees from the multimedia, investment, entertainment and academic fields clung to the words of experts that included Garrett Smith, executive director, video operations at Paramount Pictures; Andrew Rosen, mpeg compression manager at Microsoft; David Habiger, director of sales, new media, Sonic Solutions; and Dr. Panos Nasiopoulos, Rainmaker’s director of r&d and adjunct professor at ubc.

Speakers stressed that dvd is more than a storage medium and covered issues of mpeg encoding quality and the technical and creative challenges in bringing this emerging technology to the motion picture industry.

Fabulous Footage

U.K.-based Getty Communications has acquired Toronto stock footage company Fabulous Footage.

Fabulous Footage, with offices in Toronto, New York and Boston, supplies stock footage internationally to ad agencies and film and tv producers. It also licenses film and video from tv companies as well as cinematographers and independent production companies.

‘It came down to a question of distribution,’ says Fabulous president Steve Garson. ‘The next great opportunity is Europe.’

Garson says the acquisition will likely mean a future increase in Fabulous’ activities in Canada and elsewhere in terms of sourcing material and distribution with Getty’s worldwide distribution network.

Garson will retain his duties as Fabulous president.

Strike looms

Union representatives of about 7,000 cbc staff have set a strike deadline of May 23 at 11:59 p.m. after rejecting the network’s ‘best offer,’ presented on May 13.

Unions are seeking a commitment on the part of the cbc regarding the issue of contracting out production and the associated loss of jobs.

‘They will not give us straight answers and they will not give us a commitment concerning the future of broadcasting within the corporation,’ says Dan Oldfield, senior staff representative for the Canadian Media Guild, one of three unions, including the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union and the Canadian Broadcast Employees Union, which is poised to strike.

‘The issue of whether jobs will exist inside the cbc for programmers is the significant issue. Their commitments thus far are vague, and when you explore them, they become even less clear,’ he says

A summary of the network’s offer stipulates that the cbc cannot accept ‘specific parameters’ by the unions in this area. The offer says the production of news and current affairs programming will remain ‘predominantly’ in-house, that art and entertainment programming would remain at least 40% in-house, and that the network would consult with unions before contracting out any sports programming.

In an address to staff on May 14, cbc head Perrin Beatty stressed the network’s pressing financial circumstances and that up to $414 million must be trimmed from the budget by 1998. $35 million of those cuts must come from new collective agreements.

Citywalk talk

Toronto-based Famous Players and North York’s Menkes Developments have unveiled plans for the construction in North York of the Citywalk Entertainment Centre, an all-encompassing lifestyle emporium featuring a 10-screen cinema multiplex.

The Famous 10-screen, 4,000-seat cinema on the third floor of the 350,000-square-foot Citywalk complex will feature stadium seating, wall-to-wall screens, digital sound, thx specifications and automated ticketing machines. The $50 million Citywalk structure, scheduled for completion in the spring of 1998, will also feature retail stores and an interactive entertainment venue.

Telefilm task force

A Telefilm Canada task force is expected to sort out operations priorities at the federal funding agency by June.

All 18 of the agency’s operations units and services are being asked to detail current activities and establish priorities in view of this year’s $18.5 million budget reduction. A spokesperson for Telefilm says the real impact of the cuts, including lost revenues, could be as high as $25 million.

The task force report is being co-ordinated by Deborah Drisdell, Telefilm coproduction manager. Management consultancy Ernst & Young is advising.

APFTQ annual meet

L’association des Producteurs de Films et de Television du Quebec will hold its annual convention in Quebec City May 30 to June 1.

Jean Bouchard, apftq communications director, says the producers will outline their ’96/97 policy priorities at the meeting, as well as elect a new board, chairman and sectorial heads.

FCTVM homage

Femmes du cinema, de la television et de la video a Montreal is organizing a homage to women pioneers in film and the centenary of cinema May 28 at the Salle Gesu in Montreal.

The program includes live sketch performances and a salute to actress/producer Francoise Berd, who was instrumental in the early careers of directors Lea Pool, Paule Baillargeon and Jean-Claude Lauzon.

Pay-tv boosts cable profits

Canadian cable companies are faring well according to recent figures from Statistics Canada. In 1995, total cable tv revenue was up 8.7% over 1994 to $2.5 billion. Cable tv earned operating profit of $434 million, up 12.7%.

The overall revenue jump reflects a 20.3% increase in discretionary and other services, such as specialty channels and pay-per-view. Revenue from basic cable rose by 4.7% to $1.8 billion. While the number of cable subscribers in 1995 remained steady at 7.8 million, more (71.1%) are buying pay-tv services than in 1994 (69.4%).