Halifax: In addition to winning the CFTPA Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Collideascope Digital Productions has a full slate on its hands heading into 2005. So full, in fact, that the Halifax-based toonco is adding a new animation studio to handle the workload.
The new studio, which should be up and running by Feb. 7, means the addition of 40 animators and staff, making Collideascope the largest animation house east of Montreal.

Quebec jumped into the tax-credit ring late in December by upping credits for foreign productions to 20% from 11%, just a week after the Ontario government increased its Production Services Tax Credit to 18% from 11%.
The nine-point increase for foreign productions, announced by Quebec Finance Minister Yves Séguin on Dec. 30, boosts the province’s tax credit two percentage points higher than Ontario’s.

This month, three new comedy pilots featuring some of the top names in Canadian comedy, including Colin Mochrie, Mary Walsh and Peter Keleghan, will premier on CBC. And rather than relying solely on ratings and sample audiences to evaluate the pilots’ potential, the pubcaster is going straight to the source – the viewers.

The Canada/U.K. suspense thriller White Noise, starring Michael Keaton, grossed US$24 million across North America over its Jan. 7 opening weekend, making it the second highest grossing film of the weekend behind Meet the Fockers, which generated US$28 million. By comparison, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, another Canadian film that opened wide in the U.S., brought in US$28 million over its first seven days in theaters.

For two years Clifford Lincoln lived and breathed the woes of Canadian broadcasting. As chair of Parliament’s standing committee on heritage, the veteran MP authored Our Cultural Sovereignty: The Second Century of Canadian Broadcasting, an 872-page study that makes 97 recommendations on how to revamp Canada’s broadcast industry.

An industry group led by Montreal Jazz Festival organizer L’Équipe Spectra will this year launch a new film festival in Montreal with approximately $1 million from Telefilm Canada and SODEC, funds previously earmarked for Serge Losique’s World Film Festival.
The move is the latest exchange in the battle between WWF and its former backers, which pulled their support from the Montreal fest last year.

The CRTC has taken the first steps towards opening up Canadian airwaves to more foreign third-language television. A new policy states that as of Dec. 16, requests to add general-interest foreign third-language services to the lists of eligible satellite services will be generally approved, subject to requirements that aim to minimize possible negative impacts on domestic third-language services.

In 2004, CTV built on the success it enjoyed in 2003, and the credit in large part goes to Susanne Boyce, CTV’s president of programming and chair of the CTV Media Group, whose U.S. acquisitions, Canadian commissions and promotion of both have put the broadcaster ahead of the competition.

Grande Ourse was the big winner at the 2004 Prix Gemeaux, held in Montreal Nov. 27 and 28 to celebrate the best in French-language television. The drama series from Les Productions Point de mire won 12 of the 15 awards it was nominated for, including best dramatic series.

Toronto Mayor David Miller has stepped up to aid the city’s declining film and television industry with a proposal to streamline and bolster production by creating the Toronto Film Board, which he will head.

Canada’s premier television event is getting a facelift. Robert Montgomery, CEO of the Banff Television Festival, says producers and broadcasters can expect a more integrated business focus, with increased pitching opportunities, one-on-one sessions, greater participation from emerging talent, and additional screenings for Banff 2005.

On Dec. 1, Ontario’s film and television community will descend on Queen’s Park for a rally intended to push Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Finance Minister Greg Sorbara to follow through with a much-needed tax-credit increase, something the Liberal government promised during its election campaign more than a year ago.
Even with unions such as the Directors Guild of Canada, ACTRA, NABET and IATSE, as well as major players including Paul Bronfman’s Comweb companies behind them, the production community’s voices may go unheeded.