Vancouver: Whether through divine intervention, a special papal blessing or dumb luck, Canada’s first multicultural sitcom Lord Have Mercy! got the funding it needs from Telefilm Canada after all.

Vancouver: Two productions on Vancouver Island are focusing on local talent to get the jobs done.
Croon, the CHUM Television-backed MOW for The New VI in Victoria, wraps five weeks of production Aug. 16. Directed by Hilary Jones-Farrow and produced by Sarah King (The May Street Group), Croon is a romantic comedy about an older couple who meet and fall in love when they take over a house-cleaning business.
The $1.8-million production is being shot on HDTV by James Tocher of Vancouver-based Digital Film Group and a local crew on location in Victoria.

Vancouver: Any notions that the government-owned The Bridge Studios will provide ongoing revenues to British Columbia’s underfunded domestic producers is moot now that the profitable facility is on the block.
The B.C. government has issued a request for proposals, due Aug. 21, to transfer the 15-year-old Bridge Studios to the private sector.
Among the likely suitors are Vancouver Film Studios, Lions Gate Film Studios, MGM (which is Bridge Studios’ biggest customer), real estate developers, equipment suppliers such as William F. White and perhaps a consortium of B.C.’s film-sector unions. While the government wants Bridge Studios to support the film industry, the bid process is open to proposals from outside the industry.

Gibsons Landing, BC: There are ghosts at Molly’s Reach. The famed backdrop for the 19-year run of CBC series The Beachcombers is steeped in memory: the time Bruno Gerussi did this, the time that Robert Clothier did that.
Even as the 70-odd cast and crew film the opening sequences of the MOW The New Beachcombers – commissioned for the 50th anniversary of the CBC and on the 30th anniversary of the first episode of the log-salvaging family series – the revered late actors who played Nick and Relic are in the restaurant in spirit.

Among the basic ingredients for a successful provincial film and television production industry are talented crews, a dollop of tax incentives and, as Saskatchewan is proving, purpose-built soundstages.

Vancouver: Sextant Entertainment Group is in receivership, Prophecy Entertainment is undergoing serious renovation and, depending on whom you talk to, Peace Arch Entertainment may have a buyer, all of which is strong indication that the depressed international film economy has arrived in Vancouver.
Shrinking Sextant was put into receivership June 20 after failing to come to an agreement with creditors through the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act secured June 4 and since overturned.
The Royal Bank of Canada appointed Deloitte & Touche as interim receiver and Sextant’s remaining senior executives and directors resigned effective June 18.
Troubles began for Sextant earlier in the year when it was forced to restructure by its principal investor, Tony Allard of West Vancouver-based Hearthstone Investments.

Vancouver: After the drama of a last-minute funding reprieve from Telefilm Canada, The New Beachcombers MOW goes into four weeks of production July 8.
The $3-million production, commissioned as part of CBC’s 50th anniversary and set to air in October or November, will return to the Sunshine Coast village of Gibsons 11 years after the Canadian classic series went off air, this time to save the famed Molly’s Reach restaurant from the evil doings of greedy condo developers.
While the characters created by the late Bruno Gerussi and Robert Clothier will not be recast, actor Jackson Davies (a coproducer with original series cocreator Marc Strange and Soapbox Productions’ Nick Orchard) returns as Constable John along with new addition Dave Thomas, who is the proprietor of Molly’s Reach. Vancouver actor Deanna Milligan is one of a trio of new younger characters that, with the success of the MOW, could provide the fresh blood for a new Beachcombers half-hour series.

Vancouver: Dare we say it, but the Film and Television Action Committee may be having some negative effect on production volumes in Vancouver this year. The FTAC in Hollywood, which blames Canada for the loss of production and jobs at home, is the likely culprit behind the loss of at least two pilots that shot in Vancouver but are going to be made as series in Los Angeles.
CBS’ Haunted, about a detective who gets help from dead people to solve crimes, and Touchstone/ABC’s That Was Then, about a 30-year-old who travels back in time to get a second chance at his life, have been picked up as series but are in production in L.A. because of apparent pressure from cast and crew to stay put.

Vancouver: Here’s a tough lesson learned by overlooked producers applying for government funding: if your star is a marquee actor, your production will earn valuable points in the complicated Equity Investment Program grid that determines who among the applicants gets or doesn’t get Telefilm Canada production funding. If, on the other hand, your lead actor is unknown and a visible minority, your production gets nada, nichts, niente – this, despite Telefilm’s mission to promote the ethnic rainbow.
It’s the predicament in which Vancouver’s Force Four Productions finds itself as its CBC MOW Jinnah: Securities – the second MOW about an Indo-Canadian crime reporter and the precursor to a regular one-hour drama series – goes wanting for EIP funding.

Vancouver: The toughest job in Canadian television is not the financing or storytelling or acting or marketing. According to Vancouver creative producer Chris Haddock, the real job is much more fundamental: being able to identify and nurture genuine talent. Get that straight and the rest will follow – especially if, through a staunch sense of independence, that talent can flourish unfettered by network or studio demands.
What sounds like utter luxury for Canadian drama producers is actually essential – from Haddock’s perspective – to the domestic and international success of the genre.

Vancouver: It’s right proper that Banff2002 will pay special tribute to the achievements of the British television industry: with the most nominations, the U.K. is the leading country vying for the polished bronze trophies at the 23rd Banff Rockie Awards Show June 10, and British star John Cleese will receive the Sir Peter Ustinov/Comedy Network Award.

Vancouver: The Toronto Maple Leafs’ drive to the hockey team’s first Stanley Cup since 1967 has viewers checking into Leafs TV, the number-one-rated digital channel for the week of May 12.
According to Bureau of Broadcast Measurement research supplied independently to Playback, Leafs TV generated a 12 share (the percentage of viewers watching television that week) among viewers aged 2+, while Fox Sportsworld earned a nine share.
Over the week, about 4,400 people watched Leafs TV in an average quarter hour.
Animal Planet (six share), Court TV (six share), Sex TV (five share), MTV Canada (four share), Men TV (four share), Lonestar (four share), Scream (four share) and Showcase Action (four share), round out the top-10-rated digital channels in the 2+ demographic for the week.