No Conservatives, nor outspoken preacher Charles McVety turned up for the ‘see for yourself’ screening in Ottawa. Just one former Tory staffer, now unemployed because of the movie

Look no further than Ontario for unpredictable judgments on movies, actor tells Senate committee

Joint effort will turn out content and products based on U.S. edu-brand

Chris Haddock has lost his CEO to Brent Butt, who has hired Laura Lightbown at his Sparrow Media

Montreal shop signs with L.A. agency in a bid to move more French formats stateside — à la Sophie Paquin

Raft of licensing deals sending merchandise to shelves in Japan, Australia and across Europe

Over here at Playback, it’s lately been very much about talent.

Psst! Don’t tell Stephen Harper, but it looks like the porn-again Canadian film industry is back at it, and this time under the prime minister’s very nose.

• Actor Luke Kirby has been paired with Lindsay Lohan, and will start work next month as the love interest in her new comedy Labor Pains. The Canuck star, seen recently on the HBO series Tell Me You Love Me and in last year’s TIFF selection All Hat, starts shooting next month in L.A. The picture will be directed by Lara Shapiro, working under producers Rick Schwartz (The Departed) and Celine Rattray (The Bell Jar, Blue State). Kirby is represented by Kishwar Iqbal of the Gary Goddard Agency in Toronto and by The Gersh Agency in the U.S.

• Warner Home Video has acquired the U.S., U.K. and Mexican distribution rights to the feature documentary Global Metal from the makers of Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey. The documentary will also open the 14th annual North by Northeast Music and Film Festival in Toronto on June 12.

Even as the 2007/08 season limped past the finish line, networks and buyers met in New York in anticipation of getting a fresh start in the fall with a new crop of shows, the lack of pilots be damned. And so we ask the Canadian media buyers who made the trip:

TRINA MCQUEEN: TELEVISION