M.A.N.T.I.S. awaits union vote

while UBCP links with Teamsters

Vancouver: The producers, cast and crew of the Universal television series m.a.n.t.i.s. are anxiously awaiting the final outcome of a strike vote taken early this month by members of IATSE Local 891. Business agent for the union, Tom Adair, says the contract with Universal is currently being voted for ratification by union members and he’s hopeful it will be accepted.

Final votes are expected to be tallied by Oct. 26.

In other labor news, the Union of B.C. Performers voted in favor of affiliating with Teamsters Canada. The vote, conducted late last month by mail-out ballot, was ratified by an overwhelming 70% of ubcp members. Both unions say the affiliation agreement will allow each organization to retain its autonomy.

For the past four years, the 1,400-member ubcp has been locked in a jurisdictional battle with actra, the 10,000-member national performers guild.

Peter Partridge, president of the ubcp, says his members ‘have attained a hard-won autonomy over their own affairs. This affiliation will support them in their right to continue to participate in the growth and development of the b.c. film industry.’

actra b.c. president Steve Adams says the Teamster affiliation will make future reconciliation between actra and ubcp even more difficult.

‘Now we’re miles apart and this won’t bring us any closer,’ says Adams. ‘They think that being with the Teamsters will bring them more clout coming to the table, but I think it just drives a wedge deeper between us.ÉThis action is tantamount to jurisdictional warfare.’

In the pilot seat

Terry McEvoy, former Ottawa film commissioner who relocated to warmer climes in Vancouver last year, has switched from marketing to writing mode and is busy working on Hi-Tech Culture, a one-hour pilot documentary for a potential series on The Discovery Channel.

The series about new technologies and how they affect our lives is being produced by Brian Hamilton and executive produced by Michael Chechik of Omni Productions, creators of The Odyssey, now in its third season on cbc.

The Odyssey, an innovative teen dramatic series, recently joined the u.s. series NYPD Blue as one of only two North American series on the top 10 ‘International Quality tv’ list at the Cologne Television Conference in Germany.

Money, money, money

Former union business agents Alan Krasnick and Pete Mitchell, who linked up to form Vancouver consulting company Compass Research Group earlier this year, are now putting together an employee Venture Capital Corporation. The vcc is being sponsored by IATSE Local 669, Mitchell’s old turf.

Mitchell explains: ‘This is a pool of capital raised to invest in the b.c. motion picture and communications industries. Given the lack of government incentives in this industry in the province, this may just prove to be the only vehicle that is sponsored by the government this year to stimulate indigenous production.’

But British Columbia Film chairman Michael Francis continues to say a film investment program is just around the corner. Prior to the gala screening of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s latest film, Red, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, Francis, flanked by Bill Barlee, b.c. minister of small business, tourism and culture, indicated the government is very intent on getting together some kind of b.c. film investment program in the ‘near future.’

Promises, promises. Call me cynical, but this is an industry based on dreams.

Onward and upward

Over at CanWest Global System, Susan Brinton has just picked up another award and a new title.

Brinton adds program manager of Vancouver’s u.tv to her responsibilities as Western director of Canadian productions for CanWest Global and a Broadcaster of the Future award to her trophy room. The award, sponsored by CanWest Global (‘Who says you can’t win your own company’s awards?’ says Brinton), will provide her with an intensive one-week tv executive course at Northwestern University.

Earlier this year, Brinton spent three months studying in Ottawa, courtesy of the Jeanne Sauve Award for Women In Communications.

Not to be outshone by his daughter, veteran broadcaster (he hates that term) Don Brinton is leaving his Sunshine Coast cottage and stepping back out of retirement yet again to stick-handle CanWest Global’s latest television application over in the u.k.

Now here’s a switch

It’s bad enough that American producers are threatening to take their productions elsewhere, but now even the locals are looking south to get more bang for their film bucks.

Pacific Motion Pictures producer Tom Rowe has just returned from Los Angeles where he was filming the feature A Boy Called Hate with l.a.-based producer Steve Nicolaides (A Few Good Men, Princess Bride).

The film, budgeted at $1.7 million, employed a hybrid of union and non-union crews, says Rowe. ‘Even with the horrendous dollar exchange, it was still cheaper to film in l.a. We couldn’t have done it here for that,’ he says.

Written and directed by first-time helmer Mitch Marcus, A Boy Called Hate stars James Caan, Elliot Gould, Scott Caan and up-and-coming Canadian talent Adam Beach (Dance Me Outside).

Moving in the other direction is former l.a. actress turned agent Laura Rhodes, who came to Vancouver last year to set up International Film Artists. Rhodes’ new agency has found a previously untapped niche – representing cinematographers, screenwriters and directors. Her roster includes many of Playback’s recent ‘Who’s Hot’ properties like dops Ron Orieux and Tobias Schliessler, along with dops Serge Ladouceur, Bruce Worral, Ron Hersey and John Holbrook.

Robin comes bobbing along

It’s confirmed: Robin Williams has been signed to star in the mega-budget TriStar feature Jumanji, set to begin lensing for a whopping 20 weeks in Vancouver later this fall. However, as a result of all the studio stage space required by Jumanji there might not be enough room left for The Assassins, the Richard Donner-directed pic (tentatively starring Sean Connery) that was also planning to film here this fall.

Law conference

And just when you thought you’d had your fill of informative industry events along comes another, the Entertainment & Media Law Conference being held in Vancouver Nov. 3-4. The conference, organized by the Continuing Legal Education Society of B.C., is bringing in speakers from across North America and pitching itelf to industry legal professionals as well as the non-lawyer types with hot sessions like ‘Convergence: Implications of the Multimedia Revolution’ and ‘Censorship: Developments In Film and TV Financing’.