All sides of a labor action at the CBC are girding for a long-term battle as both union and management hold firm to their respective positions.

As media owners increasingly initiate convergence-style communications campaigns, there is a possibility that both agencies and production companies caught flatfooted could find themselves on the outside looking in.
By definition, convergence strategies are driven by content produced for and promoted across multiple media platforms.
In some cases, that content will be a feature film as is the case with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which was produced by Warner Bros. and which parent AOL Time Warner is promoting across its media channels, including magazines, cable outlets and Internet properties.

Agency creative directors have long found directing spots a logical next step as they change careers. The transition is as old as the medium itself.
Those who have made the jump from agency to commercial directing include Bill Irish, Greg Sheppard and Randy Diplock.
There is, however, a new breed of creatives who rather than jumping to spot production completely are straddling both and finding the balancing act extremely rewarding.

He is the best man who, when making his plans, fears and reflects on everything that can happen to him, but in the moment of action is bold.

Manta Sound, which has recorded with musicians from Neil Young to Oscar Peterson and has created audio for a who’s who of Canadian advertisers, has received a temporary reprieve from the wrecking ball – just in time to celebrate its 30th birthday.
Manta – the recording arm of Manta Digital Sound & Picture, which is owned by Command Post and Transfer – was set to vacate its Adelaide Street East location in Toronto and take up residence in MDSP’s studio a few blocks away.

Over his many decades in the business, Larry Wolf has seen his fair share of commercial productions. So when the chairman of Toronto-based Wolf Group says he’s never seen anything like the effort and quick turnaround to complete a ‘Canada Loves New York’ spot, you can take his word on it.

For the past several years YTV has been leveraging its expertise in the youth market to produce well-targeted commercial spots for its advertising partners.
Now the specialty channel is making it official. Corus Entertainment-owned YTV has christened its commercial production division Pester Productions and has announced that it will soon begin to cultivate its own roster of directors.
Tim Cormick, director of co-marketing, Corus Entertainment, television, says developing a separate commercial division is the logical evolution for YTV, which produces programming, Web-based products and has a well-respected research arm.
‘We’ve always got our antenna up for what’s working for kids. That would be our main point of difference,’ he says.

Citing adverse economic conditions, CTV has withdrawn its application for proposed TV licences to serve the Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo regions of southern Ontario.

To varying degrees, film schools in Canada provide students with the fundamentals of film theory and a solid base in the practical side: writing, shooting and editing. But few secondary institutions afford students firsthand experience in the essentials of getting a film financed – the biggest ongoing challenge within the Canadian film industry.

The most intriguing visual effects often do not involve explosions, shattering glass, or vanishing heroes, but produce a scene so seamless, the fact that it is computer-generated never dons on the viewer….

*Maya 3 ships with new animation editing tool…

While most proponents of media convergence trumpet the near future when the Internet comes to your tv, one Toronto-based Webco is jumping the gun by putting dozens of specialty channels online for your pc….