The Banff World Television Festival has become one of the premiere forums for TV producers, docmakers and show creators to generate buzz for their work through its various pitch competitions and opportunities, having helped spawn titles including Being Ian, Puppets Who Kill and the upcoming kids series Roll Play.

With shows like Survivor and the CSI franchise making it the most-watched network in the U.S., CBS Television will receive the Banff World Television Festival’s Outstanding Achievement Award.

Searching for guidance on money and content in mobile entertainment, some 200 producers and broadcasters put their heads together at the first Playback Mobile Forum, held in Toronto on May 11.

Kirk Shaw says his Insight Film Studios will produce 28 TV movies in 2006 – almost double the 17 it made last year – and all to be shot in Vancouver.

According to Tom O’Brien, the pieces are almost in place to shoot the feature comedy Gay Like Me?, but the actor-turned-producer and his partners in Vancouver’s Irreverent Media are waiting for soundtrack issues to be cleared up before they give director Bruce McDonald the nod to start rolling.

Despite an edition that saw a significant upturn in attendance, an appearance by legendary filmmaker Warner Herzog, a first-time Canadian director winning one of the top prizes, and 100 films to choose from, buyer reaction was mixed at the 2006 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Director Jean-Marc Vallée didn’t realize the special features on the English-Canada DVD release of his French-language hit C.R.A.Z.Y. weren’t subtitled until he read it in the papers.

Calgary: Samuel L. Jackson, Alan Alda and Josh Hartnett (Sin City) are headed to Calgary to star in the Yari Film Group/Phoenix Pictures effort Resurrecting the Champ, according to Variety. The film, scheduled to begin shooting in mid-June, is based on a series of articles by Los Angeles Times reporter J.R. Moehringer, who befriended a homeless man claiming to be a former boxing champion. Champ will be directed by Rod Lurie (Commander in Chief, The Contender) and produced by Bob Yuri, Marc Frydman (The Contender), and the Phoenix trio of Arnold Messer, Brad Fischer and Mike Medavoy.

Saskatoon: Thomega Entertainment has teamed with Regina-based production heavyweight Minds Eye Pictures to develop the new feature In Seclusion, a psychological thriller about a family put in jeopardy when they mistakenly become involved in an FBI investigation.

Iroquois ON-based Ross Video took home an award at the 4th annual Awards for Innovation in Media, presented on April 27, closing this year’s NAB.

Tech giant Autodesk has had nearly seven months to decide how it would position its newly acquired line of Alias products, including Maya 3D animation and FX software, in tandem with its own 3ds Max release. The systems were formerly fierce rivals, but Autodesk has decided to keep them on their own courses, while also allowing them to talk to one another.