* Claude Joli-Cúur has been appointed director, business affairs and legal services with the National Film Board. Joli-Cúur will also serve as secretary to the NFB’s board of trustees.

The red, white and blue ticker tape had scarcely touched the ground at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s feet, his champagne had not yet lost its fizz, before the Canadian press was making much of how his Oct. 7 win in California is a threat to our service industry. Der Ahnold had, as he so often reminded voting below-the-line workers in Hollywood, pulled strings to keep the shoot for his latest punch-up, Terminator 3, out of Vancouver and he had pledged to do the same, industry-wide, as Conan the Governor.

Barry Kiefl is president of Canadian Media Research.

In a recent online poll of Playback readers reading ‘Should the Canadian Television Fund eliminate the regional bonus?’, 39.8% of respondents voted ‘No, but Vancouver should not qualify for it.’ Following closely were those who feel the regional bonus should not be eliminated (38.8%), while less than one-quarter of respondents (21.4%) believe the bonus should be eliminated entirely.

Miroslaw Baszak admits he was intimidated at the prospect of lensing the $20-million feature The Gospel of John, coproduced by Garth Drabinsky and Chris Chrisafis for Visual Bible International.

Calgary camera service company Scorched Pictures has added a new image converter system to its offerings with the German-made P+S Technik Mini 35 Digital Adapter.

Halifax-based producer Michael MacDonald (formerly of Ocean Entertainment) established Road House Films in February and already has a whack of TV productions in development and a 2 x 60 limited documentary series in production.

Vancouver: The volume of television production may have slowed considerably in Vancouver in the current market, but Victoria is experiencing a mini television boom, in part because of the yeoman’s job Vancouver producer Ted Bauman is doing to bring production to the capital city.

ew teenagers, least of all the gay ones, would like to see their dating lives turned into a TV show for the country’s biggest network. But Marc Hall – the highschooler who last year took his school board to court so that he could take his beau to the prom – must surely be used to all the attention by now. His social life, and the legal fracas it touched off, made headlines around the world last spring, and now, via Tapestry Pictures, will be made into the MOW Prom Queen for CTV.

Montreal: Following his arrival here in 1953, Il Duce Canadese producer Claudio Luca of Cine Tele-Action met many of the Italian-Canadians who were interned during WWII. The producer says he’s been working on a TV dramatization of their story for the past decade. The four-hour miniseries wrapped 34 days of filming earlier this month under director Giles Walker (Princes in Exile, Galidor).

Most employees at the CBC are getting ready to vote on which union will represent their interests as well as those of their coworkers. It’s winner take all for one of two unions that each currently have a strong foothold at the Corp. – the Canadian Media Guild and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. The campaign for the hearts, minds and votes of CBC staffers is in full swing and has been marked by controversy and name-calling.

While other industries might go for the throat when times get tough, the entertainment industry is a savvier beast. Despite recent downturns in production, the CFTPA has struck deals with directors, writers and actors (the latter wrapping up months before the previous agreement expired), and it is working to bring IATSE’s technicians into the fold.