Anyone requiring a reminder of the close link between Canadian cultural identity, hockey and advertising need look no further than the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Ask most production service providers whether their contributions are essential to a commercial production and you invariably get an affirmative.
And the truth is that most of them are right.
While agencies and clients demand greater efficiency and consistent high quality work for ever-declining budgets, services are often the target of their demands to find savings.
But where exactly do you cut? Productions need a director, a DOP, a crew, craft services, makeup, hair, props and sets.

Plans for a new studio facility proposed for the port lands in downtown Toronto include what could end up being the world’s largest custom-built soundstage.
Earlier this month, Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman announced the creation of a massive $150-million studio development on the waterfront with the core intent of attracting big-budget (US$50 million-plus) features that have been bypassing the city.
According to the city, the new production centre will generate an extra US$250 million a year in film production.

Late last year, Mississauga, ON-based W.K. Buckley, a cough and cold remedy manufacturer known the world over for its folksy ‘It tastes awful. And it works.’ positioning, rolled out a series of ads that were notable for the bargain-basement feel of the production.
That was something of a feat for a brand that puts low cost as a key criterion on its creative briefs.

In the next five months, two international events will take place which could help drag commercial production out of its current state of malaise: the Winter Olympics and the World Cup of soccer.

A year-old initiative by ACTRA that opened the door for actors to work on independent films at below scale has swung shut.

Certainly the ability to determine your own destiny is an exciting prospect for any professional. But there are advantages and disadvantages to setting out to launch your own company.

By the old broadcast model, the digital rollout appears to be in early trouble as 50-odd channels vie for a miniscule slice of viewers.
But many of those behind the new channels are quick to point out the broadcast model for digitals is much closer to magazine or radio. Viewed in that light, the numbers may not be nearly so bad.
Either way, with a four-month free preview period ended Jan. 7, Canadian broadcasters will have their work cut out for them in the coming months.

CanLit is white hot. Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave in Tora Bora or cryogenically frozen for the last decade, that should come as no surprise.

On a recent trip to Los Angles, Rob Guenette, the newly appointed president and chief executive officer of Toronto-based Wolf Group, was struck by the vibrancy and range of advertising in every corner of the city. It got him thinking about the supposed death of traditional media, which at the centre of the media universe appeared to be alive and well.
‘I thought, wait a minute, why is everybody predicting the death of 30-second TV? Other than the hype and a lot of talk – rhetoric in come cases – I don’t see where 30-second TV is dying.’
Indeed, while the advent of new technologies, particularly the personal video recorder, has spurred some to declare traditional commercial spots all but dead, there is growing and strong opinion that, in fact, the opposite will occur: that the PVR could turn out to be a boon to commercial production.
Central to this logic is the notion that PVRs such as one offered by Bell ExpressVu in Canada will attract significantly greater numbers of viewers to television as a whole.

In Canada, it is on par with the legendary footage of Neil Armstrong taking ‘one giant step for mankind’ on the moon, or that other classic piece of stock footage: Guy getting hit in the gut with a cannon ball.

Technological advancements are altering the production industry at breakneck speed. As a result, those at the top of the game need to spend nearly as much time reading as doing their jobs.
In few businesses is this more evident than editing. In recent years the job of the editor has moved from a stationary and linear function – the last stop in the production process – to a highly mobile and versatile role.
While Avid revolutionized the business over a decade ago through the introduction of nonlinear offline, that mind-blowing advancement was just the first in a string that has put a full menu of post capabilities in the hands of the editor.