CBC pulled back the curtain on its ’04/05 season late last month, unveiling a new lineup heavy with specials and minis but light on new domestic or scripted series. The net is hoping that its ratings – set to swell over the summer thanks to the Stanley Cup playoffs, the federal election and the Olympics – will carry over into the fall, where the reality-ish series The Greatest Canadian and Making the Cut, playing to news and sports fans, respectively, will launch the new season while dominating the early primetime schedule.

Trudeau: The Prequel, initially intended to be a fall 2003 shoot with Colm Feore in the lead and Jerry Ciccoritti helming both an English- and French-language version, ended up going to camera in Montreal May 16 as an English-only production without either talent.

Vancouver’s Lions Gate Films has entered into a partnership to distribute Cannes Palme d’Or winner Fahrenheit 9/11 in the United States this summer for Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

Vancouver producers Christine Haebler of Crescent Entertainment and Lisa Richardson of Dogwood Productions are among the members of the CFTPA to donate time and energy to the creation of five public-service announcements in support of The Stephen Lewis Foundation for AIDS relief in Africa.

On its 25th anniversary, the Banff Television Festival will once again bring the TV world to Canada, allowing homegrown talents to rub shoulders with their international counterparts.

The Steadicam camera-stabilizing system, a ubiquitous tool in today’s film packages, will be recognized with the Deluxe Outstanding Technical Achievement Award at the 25th Anniversary Banff Television Festival.

Having a Canadian team in the final round of the NHL playoffs is certainly paying off for the CBC, as more Canadians are tuning in to the series than have done so in more than a decade.

Lions Gate Entertainment has inked a deal with comic book publisher Marvel Enterprises to develop, produce and distribute eight original animated DVD features based on Marvel characters. As announced May 25, production will begin immediately in 2D or 3D formats, with the first title released by Lions Gate in late 2005.

The clock is ticking, there’s $100,000 on the table, and the room is packed with people eager to see if filmmakers can sell themselves and their docs in just three minutes.

The great Toronto post-production shuffle continues as post facility Magnetic North has acquired cross-town rival Casablanca from Alliance Atlantis Communications.

In a place as breathtaking as Banff, AB, many attendees of the annual TV festival have found breaking away from boardrooms and heading into the great outdoors highly conducive to doing business.

Legendary Canadian actor/writer/director Gordon Pinsent will receive the Banff Television Festival’s Award of Excellence on June 13, as part of the fest’s 25th anniversary celebrations. The award recognizes ‘exceptional achievement through a body of work over an extended period of time’.