The environment plays a starring role in this year’s VIFF through the fest’s new Climate for Change series.

What do you get when you cross 22 emerging Canadian filmmakers with directors John Sayles and Don McKellar and select TIFF guests for four days?

Partners Shawn Williamson and Stephen Hegyes of Vancouver-based indie film and TV prodco Brightlight Pictures have scored a hat trick with three world premieres unspooling at this year’s festival.

What do you get when you cross 22 emerging Canadian filmmakers with directors John Sayles and Don McKellar and select TIFF guests for four days?

Vancouver: Kirk Shaw’s Insight Film Studios has rocketed to the top of the Canadian production biz, but the shop’s non-union approach to making films and TV shows may soon be coming to an end, if IATSE has its way.

VANCOUVER — Stage 3 Media launched its sci-fi series Sanctuary directly into the Guinness Book of World Records, which notes that it has the ‘highest budget for a direct-to-web broadcast.’

Douglas Coupland is playing games with producers Larry Sugar and J.B. Sugar. The author of Generation X, Souvenir of Canada and Everything’s Gone Green is exec producing the adaptation of his game-themed novel JPod with the father and son principals of No Equal Entertainment for CBC and, according to J.B. Sugar, a web component may also be in the works.

Vancouver talents Sol Guy and Josh Thome are hip-hopping around the world with celebrities such as Joaquin Phoenix, Cameron Diaz, Mos Def, Charlize Theron and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers to make 4Real, a doc series for CTV and MTV about young people using art and culture to change their worlds.

Vancouver: Film is bust and TV is booming in Vancouver this year.

Trade mission to Shanghai ends with West Coast reps upbeat about overseas copro and animation opportunities. Rainmaker, Brightlight planning to return

New college-set series About a Girl underway at Vancouver shop for this fall on Global and The N

The makers of the Douglas Coupland book-turned-series JPod hope to expand the game-themed title onto the web