Toronto’s Protocol Entertainment and Toronto channels OMNI 1 and OMNI 2 are aiming to make some noise in the fall with Bang, an ambitious 78 x 30 soapy drama from the makers of Paradise Falls and Train 48, set to begin shooting later this month at Sullivan Studios.

Cold War redux

Yule logs

Montreal: ‘It isn’t widely known, but Canada’s fate was shaped by the big sugar lobby,’ says writer/director Brian McKenna, who started production April 19 on his new docudrama Big Sugar. ‘There are no doctoral theses on this topic, nothing.’

Back to Africa

Do the Hustle

‘The more I can work [outside] of the U.K., the happier I am,’ admits veteran British director of photography Richard Greatrex.

Vancouver: The Vancouver-based production Robson Arms, a series leveraging new writing and directing talent, is also stretching in other ways – through camera technology from Panasonic and P+S Technik.

While filming his third project in Manitoba, Stan Brooks, executive producer of L.A.-based Once Upon a Time Films, quipped that he should have a ‘frequent filming’ card he could get stamped each time he produced in the province (The prodco has been to the province for Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss, The Legend of Butch & Sundance and On Thin Ice). It was a joke Carole Vivier, CEO of Manitoba Film & Sound, decided to take seriously enough to champion.

Vancouver: Supernatural primetime drama The Collector doesn’t begin airing in Canada until June 2, but already the Vancouver-shot series is collecting kudos, including a record-setting 21 nominations at this year’s Leo Awards, taking place May 28 and 29 in Vancouver.

Frantic Films’ status as one of Canada’s hottest companies has recently been affirmed with the Winnipeg-based production and FX company receiving two prestigious national honors, for talent and innovation in technology.

While his child molestation trial plods on in California, the real Michael Jackson story is unfolding in Calgary.