The temptation must be too great to ignore.

Hallmark up for three summer shoots

Crime pays

Vancouver: Producers of a new spec sitcom – the first U.S.-style, three-camera sitcom format to shoot in Vancouver – are hoping for divine intervention for the future of the project.
The concept for The Rev, according to the project’s publicist, came to its Canadian creator and lead actor John Carmen after 40 nights of dreaming.

According to principal Steve Hoban, lack of commercial production work has brought down his Toronto prodco 49th Parallel (Nothing, Ginger Snaps 2), which is slowly closing its doors, ending its brief but once-promising run at long-form production and distribution.

Deal with it

Madness on the Coast

The Canadian Society of Cinematographers held its annual awards dinner April 3 in Toronto, presenting major awards to directors of photography John Walker, Douglas Munro, Ronald Plante, Robert McLachlan and Pierre Gill.

The impact of digital technology in all aspects of the motion picture industry continues to grow exponentially, bringing with it a host of new issues, including a large rise in piracy, and millions in lost revenues. ShowCanada 2004 will address the matter of piracy, which can range from videotaping a movie in a theater, to bootlegging DVDs and peer-to-peer distribution on the Internet, from a variety of angles.

Equinoxe Films continues to roll.

Several distributors and producers at the CFTPA conference in January openly vented their frustrations over their films allegedly being denied a fair shot at theatrical success. Exhibitors, they said, shun Canuck movies to appease powerful and pushy U.S. distributors. One thing is certain – it’s a tough fight for access to Canada’s 3,500 screens.

Toronto prodco Capri Films has launched a new distribution division and appointed Tony Cianciotta as its president.