Las Vegas: It is surely no coincidence that the Eurythmics song Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) and Bruce Springsteen’s Waiting on a Sunny Day greeted attendees of the opening address at the 2003 National Association of Broadcasters convention. Both songs reflect an optimism that good times lie ahead for the U.S. broadcast industry – and, by extension, Canada’s as well – if each sector does its part.

The Independent Production Fund has announced decisions for its February round of applications. Equity financing will go to 14 productions including Alliance Atlantis Communications’ The Eleventh Hour, Barna-Alper Productions’ Blue Murder and Degrassi: The Next Generation from Epitome Pictures. Funding was split evenly between English- and French-language productions.

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With literally the entire world watching, one of the more underrated candy brands is pulling off what may prove to be the most significant brand awareness campaign of the year. I’m speaking of course of Skittles.

Andrew Tolomizenko is corporate counsel for a large

In the March 3 issue, Martin Granger was included among a list of directors living in L.A. Granger does not live in L.A.; he is based out of New York.

It has been two or three years since the first personal video recorders rolled off the assembly lines and into the consumer electronics market. And they are – there can be little doubt – truly revolutionary machines. All store 30 hours or more of programming on massive hard drives. Viewers can pause and replay live TV. Time shifting, offered by Bell ExpressVu and others, picks up shows as they air in different time zones. And TiVO, available in the U.S. and U.K., not only remembers and records the shows you like – it also guesses, based on what you watch, what other shows you might like, and takes the liberty of recording those as well.

It’s been a while since Canadian studios have seen their cash-flush commercial clients with any regularity. The lavish days of yore have become a distant memory, and most studios have had to learn to adapt in order to stave off the icy clutches of economic Darwinism.

On The Spot went to some of the country’s most innovative production service companies and asked them to recall the one service assignment that stands out above all others.

Hot Docs, the biggest documentary film festival in North America, will be hosting its 10th anniversary April 25 to May 4 throughout Toronto’s trendy Little Italy and Annex neighborhoods.

ShowCanada 2003 unspools April 30 to May 4 at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.

Montreal: Daniel Gourd, recently appointed VP French television with Radio-Canada, and Pierre Lafleur, president of Quebec cultural funding and certification agency SODEC, are the keynote speakers at the annual APFTQ congress, which is being held at Hotel Chantecler in Sainte-Adele, QC, April 24-25.