Even before Sept. 11, North America was feeling the effects of an economic slowdown. Subsequent to the events of that day, it is widely perceived that we are in a full-blown recession. And due to increased news coverage preempting season premieres of popular TV shows, and the expensive commercials slated to run with them, there is a backlog of commercials waiting to air on both sides of the border.
According to Hugh Dow, president of M2 Universal, the media arm of agency MacLaren McCann, Toronto, many of these spots will still air, unless their content has been deemed controversial or insensitive relating to the recent terrorist attacks.

BBDO Canada’s Craig Cooper can’t understand why it takes so much money to make a 30-second commercial. Based in Toronto, the agency’s senior VP and creative director (a title he shares with Scott Dube), says he is ‘personally shocked’ by how much it costs to execute even the simplest ideas. He adds that he wouldn’t be so vocal about the budgets if the money went to making the spots the best they can be.

Toronto post and design shop Crush Inc. has added the Discreet flint graphics and F/X system to its arsenal of high-tech gear. Crush president and co-owner Gary Thomas says the new machine is already being used substantially in the shop’s day-to-day operations.

Calgary’s Alberta Filmworks is teaming with Montreal’s Galafilm to produce Agent of Influence, an MOW for CTV.
The coproduction, which begins shooting Oct. 29 in Calgary, is being executive produced by Randy Bradshaw and Doug MacLeod on the Filmworks side and Galafilm’s Arnie Gelbart and Francine Allaire. Bradshaw is also acting as producer. ‘I have two hats to wear on this one,’ he says. ‘It’s kind of fun because I’ve never done it before, so I am enjoying it.’

Halifax’s Second Wave Productions is once again teaming with Toronto’s Triptych Media to produce The Bay of Love and Sorrows, currently filming in New Brunswick. The feature film marks the third project delivered by the partners. The companies have come together before on The Hanging Garden and The Bookfair Murders.

Generator Films director Zach Math has received a lot of attention in this, his first full year as a commercial director. In addition to being a finalist at this year’s Saatchi & Saatchi/Playback First Cut Awards, he placed two spots, ‘Nerd Club’ and ‘Tiny Sparrow of Love,’ among this year’s 10 Top Spots. It was his work on ‘Tiny Sparrow’ that garnered him the highest grade among directors in this year’s competition.

Toronto-based Flashcut editor Chris Parkins was able to really show his chops on the spot ‘Umbrella’ (Top Spot #3) for Ford of Canada. Directed by Jean-Marc Piche of Montreal’s Cinelande, the 60-second ad (later cut down to two :30s) displays some impressive cutting and morphing, which Parkins credits largely to inferno artist Mike Morey (then with Manta DSP, now with Stealing Time Editing).

For the third consecutive year, Toronto’s Spin Productions has come out on top in the Top Spots F/X and animation category. Spin designer Hiep Pham gets the nod for his work on The Bay’s Fashion Cares spot. The spot, entitled ‘Fun With Fashion,’ features the after-work exploits of some tough-looking, blue-collar guys getting ready for a fashionable – and feminine – night on the town.

Halifax: It’s a quiet September day on the campus of Halifax’s Dalhousie University, but its popular female dormitory, Shirreff Hall, is bustling with equipment trucks blocking the drive, crew members frantically running in and out of the building’s front door and confused students trying to figure out why it is so difficult to get to the cafeteria for dinner.
While most students are genuinely oblivious to what is going on, one man is looking very much at ease in a brown leather jacket, two cameras slung over his shoulder. He wanders around, chats on his cell phone from time to time, and takes pictures. He is actor Colm Feore, and he is looking eerily similar to the man he is portraying on this day and the many days to follow. He has the daunting task of playing Pierre Elliot Trudeau in the first biographical miniseries ever produced on the late prime minister.

This year’s Gemini nominees for best overall sound in a dramatic program or series range from a police drama with homegrown sounds to a period piece shot in Montreal but set in 1940s Germany.

The first time Ottawa-born, L.A.-based composer Ron Sures tried to watch footage from the Big Motion Pictures MOW Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111, he had to turn it off after five minutes.

In 1979, Montreal copywriter Alvin Wasserman headed west to Vancouver to further his career in advertising. More than two decades later, as the president and creative director of Wasserman & Partners, he sees major advertisers leaving the West Coast market despite its long-standing reputation for strong creative.