By the final night of a 27-day shoot, the cast and crew of Don McKellar’s latest feature, Childstar, have been to a different location almost every day, faced gripping cold, freezing rain and a winter wind that made shooting on Toronto’s lakeshore almost impossible. But what could be more fitting for a Canadian film about shooting a Hollywood blockbuster in the Great White North?

In the wake of production cuts, Montreal-based CineGroupe has filed for protection from its creditors with the Quebec Superior Court. The Dec. 22 filing prevents creditors from taking any actions against the company within the time frame established by the court and allows the animation producer to continue operations as it restructures its debt.

It was a close call for one of the Prairies’ most successful and longest-standing production companies, but Regina-based Minds Eye Entertainment has emerged from credit protection with a restructured business plan and a sobered outlook on Canadian production.

In the nine months since he took over as president and CEO of NATPE, Rick Feldman has had a lot of work to do. The U.S. association of TV execs has had a rough couple of years and – as markets have fragmented and economies have fizzled – has seen its annual conference shrink from a ‘must-go’ three-ring circus to something approaching a ‘why bother?’ roadside attraction.

‘The Newsroom ain’t what it used to be.’ At least that’s what Globe and Mail critic John Doyle said about CBC’s third take on Ken Finkleman’s TV news satire and the Nielsen Media Research overnight ratings seem to agree. But it was just one of three new big-ticket shows the pubcaster premiered Jan. 12.

Mel’s Cite du Cinema took two big slices of the Quebec studio pie over the holidays, inking a deal to buy Cine Cite Montreal and the Ice Storm Studio in nearby St. Hubert.

Canadian film distributors are firming up their release schedules and mapping out their marketing strategies for the new year, which is marked by a couple of blockbusters, potential sleepers, a wealth of docs and domestic features looking to break through.

The Statement picks up steam

Vancouver: Executive producer Kirk Shaw started out in the audio recording business 14 years ago when he cofounded what would become Vancouver-based Insight Film & Video Production. Now he’s turning up the volume in another way, by boosting his 2004 production budgets to $29 million, up 45% compared to last year.

Jill Offman, VP of programming at Discovery Channel Canada, expects to see a lot of paper land on her desk, pretty much all at once, by the end of the month. That’s when the deadline will hit for the channel’s first open call for submissions and, at last count, roughly 100 producers are known to be making pitches.

Shhh. If you’re down in L.A. next month don’t tell anyone that Signe Olynyk is from Canada. It might not go over too well, she admits, given the political mood in Hollywood these days, that the organizer of The Great American PitchFest is, in fact, about as American as maple syrup and affordable tuition.

Six Feet Under is a morbidly fascinating American series about death. But buyers say the HBO series is breathing robust life into Canadian specialty TV.