Halifax: Paul Donovan recently completed principal photography on The Conclave, an ambitious MOW that takes place in Rome in 1458, five years after the fall of Constantinople to Islam. The ex-Salter Street principal executive produces with Studio Hamburg Produktion’s Sytze van der Laan.
The historical drama, written by Donovan, is based on a secret diary kept by Pope Pius II. It focuses on a young Spanish cardinal and future pope, Rodrigo Borgia, who lives in Rome at a time when the Spanish suffered considerable violence at the hands of Romans. When his uncle, Pope Calixtus III, dies, Borgia is locked in the Vatican with 18 other men who form the conclave and are charged with selecting the next pope.

In 2004, 4.5% of what Canadians spent at theaters went to Canadian films, up from 3.6% in 2003, evidence that the industry is inching ever closer to Telefilm Canada’s goal of a 5% market share for domestic films by 2006, according to stats released last month by the federal agency.

Global scored big with this year’s NFL final when 3.1 million Canadians tuned in to Super Bowl XXXIX on Feb. 6, drawing a 13.1 rating with 18-49s in Toronto and 13.8 in Vancouver. And yet, the numbers were down from last year’s big game, which brought in 3.6 million and hit shares of 16.3 with the same demo in Toronto and 13.9 in Vancouver.

Don McKellar’s Childstar won four awards from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, including best Canadian film, best actor and best director for McKellar. It also took five Genie nominations, including best screenplay (see story, p. 2). But despite such critical acclaim, box-office receipts for McKellar’s second feature are not nearly as positive.

The CRTC has released a series of incentives intended to improve the viewership of French-language drama on private and conventional TV. Broadcasters can now earn the right to air between two and three additional minutes of advertising for each hour of original French-language drama aired during peak hours.

The plight of Canada’s feature film industry is turning heads in Ottawa again as the standing committee on Canadian heritage prepares to review the federal Feature Film Policy.
As early as February, the parliamentary committee will begin public hearings to assess the government’s support of feature films and evaluate the effectiveness of the FFP in the current market.

The National Film Board is up for two Oscars at the 77th Academy Awards. Nominated in the best short animation category is Chris Landreth’s Ryan, and first-time director Hubert Davis’ Hardwood is up for best short doc, marking the NFB’s 67th and 68th Academy Award nominations. Meanwhile, Annette Bening’s best actress nomination for her performance in Istvan Szabo’s Being Julia marks the first time in two decades that a Canadian film has been nominated in an acting category.

Richard Goudreau’s Nouvelle France, a $35-million Canada/France/U.K. coproduction that was supposed to be the successful Quebec producer’s biggest hit yet, may not have performed up to expectations at the home box office, but it still has the rest of the world to go.

CTV’s Corner Gas continues to generate audiences of over one million viewers after moving to its new Monday 8 p.m. time-slot.

The Canadian Television Fund is, once again, trying to encourage broadcasters to put more money into Canadian drama.
Recently announced changes to the CTF’s English-language drama guidelines, for its ’05/06 funding cycle, put more focus on audience performance and could prompt broadcaster licence-fee increases of up to $15,000 per hour for bigger-budget dramas. In addition, the fund will now look to primetime audiences to determine audience potential.

Edmonton: There may be no NHL this year, but Calgary-based Alberta Filmworks has teamed up with Toronto’s Accent Entertainment to produce an MOW about a hockey legend. No, it’s not the story of Wayne Gretzky, but rather that of his father, Walter Gretzky.
The $3.5-million CBC MOW Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story is based on the best-selling book, On Family, Hockey and Healing, written by Canada’s greatest hockey dad.