Yale exits CTF

Stephen Waddell is national executive director

Finance Minister Ralph Goodale heard the pleas that the restoration of the CTF was essential to the well-being of the Canadian production sector, not to mention one of the essential underpinnings of Canadian culture: the ability for Canadians to tell Canadian stories.

Before comedian Brent Butt and his team descended on Rouleau, SK to shoot Corner Gas, the town of 400 was not exactly a big tourist draw. But last year, before anyone had even seen the show, tourists were already arriving in droves. Now, with more than a million Canadians tuning in weekly to watch the latest goings-on in the fictitious town of Dog River, Rouleau better brace itself for a new deluge of visitors.

Vancouver: It’s hard to know whether it’s a sign of better things to come, but the anticipated summer arrival of The Talisman, a $135-million blockbuster feature from Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, is lifting a bit of the gloom off Vancouver’s lackluster feature film production volumes.

The women of Winnipeg are very pleased indeed with local producer Kim Todd of Original Pictures, who brought actor Ralph Fiennes to their city for a three-day shoot starting March 20. The hunky Brit was in town to shoot a key sequence for his upcoming feature The Constant Gardner.

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, who has helmed features Hulk, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Ice Storm, will be in Canada this summer to add a gay-themed western to his eclectic repertoire. And what better place to mix gay culture with cowboys than Alberta?

Calgary: When casting for Alberta Filmworks’ latest production Crazy Canucks, producer/director Randy Bradshaw had to find five leads who were not only great actors, but could also brave the bumps on a double black diamond.
The TV movie was inspired by the true story of the Men’s Canadian Alpine Ski Team, which made a name for itself and its country on the World Cup downhill circuit between 1974 and 1976.

Wild thing

Biological clock commences

Vancouver: Pilot season is well underway with a half-dozen projects boiling over in Vancouver, including Cooking Lessons, a one-hour dramedy for CBS.

The Shinny-ing