Meteor-meets-Earth MOW Anna’s Storm wraps after four weeks of shooting at Front Street Pictures

VANCOUVER: Jennifer Garner is back in B.C. and returned to work on Valentine’s Day with Juno, a romantic-comedy about a woman’s attempts to adopt a child.

VANCOUVER: Chris Haddock and Nicholas Campbell are working together once again, this time on The Quality of Life – A Dominic Da Vinci Movie, an MOW that continues the evolution of Vancouver’s coroner-turned-mayor for CBC.

Latest installment reteams stars Campbell, Ratner and Gallagher with the franchise’s never-say-die producer and creator

Romantic comedy underway in Vancouver with stars of Alias and The Tracey Fragments

An application for a new English-language pay television service is putting the spotlight on competition and the CRTC’s pay-TV policies.

Year two for the Broadcaster Envelopes initiative at the Canadian Television Fund shows, in a final tally, $129.5 million has been allocated to independent producers by Canada’s French- and English-language broadcasters in 2005 – the lion’s share going to the French market, where 21 broadcasters divvied up $68.9 million, or 53%, among children’s, documentaries, drama and variety programs.

Vancouver: The Collector, a sophomore series for CHUM shot in Vancouver by No Equal Entertainment, collected another 30 Leo Award nominations for 2005 – set to be celebrated May 27 and 28 – upping substantially the record-setting 21 nods from last year.

Vancouver: At press time, Stargate SG-1 was in production with its seventh episode of its ninth season – yet another season of 22 one-hours ordered by Sci Fi Channel that keeps the successful franchise alive. For those of you counting, that’s at least two more seasons than most observers and many insiders gave the series.

Telefilm Canada, the Canadian Television Fund and the Department of Canadian Heritage are closing in on an agreement that stands to rewrite the federal system for television funding, possibly by handing the entire TV file to either Telefilm or the CTF.
A decision is expected from Heritage Minister Liza Frulla sometime before the Banff World Television Festival in June, and although no one is willing to predict the outcome, there are four options under consideration.

The not-so-sunny French Riviera inspired a sunny disposition among producers and buyers at this year’s MIPTV, a spring market marked by an upswing in sales of drama, animation and tween-aimed comedies.
‘It was upbeat and very, very busy,’ says Lise Corriveau, Telefilm Canada’s director of international festivals and markets, noting that the event shows ample evidence that the international television industry continues to mend. ‘We were swamped. It’s safe to say the market has picked up on a permanent basis.’

Children’s and information programming will be big as Canadian producers and distributors get ready to parlez with customers in Cannes, France, at the annual MIPTV trade spectacle, April 11-15.