1974: Israel H. Asper works with a Winnipeg investment group to rescue the Global Television Network from near bankruptcy. He applies for a licence to launch CKND, a Canadian voice to replace U.S. border station KCND-TV.

Graduating from film school is, of course, just the beginning. Directors, producers, editors and moviemakers of all stripes will – if they want to get ahead in this business – quite likely return to school more than once, putting in time with any of several professional-level institutes, such as the National Screen Institute or the Canadian Film Centre, in hope of further honing their skills to land better jobs. Or even development deals.

Rare is the school that has a lot of loose cash lying around. And high-end film editing and F/X equipment such as Alias|Wavefront’s Maya and Discreet Flame don’t come cheap, which is just one of the reasons why technology-heavy schools build strong relationships with manufacturers and other corporate partners.

Montreal: L’Institut national de l’image et du son, the advanced French-language training centre for TV, cinema and new media, has emerged as a successful springboard for young directors, writers and producers to go on to work in the industry.

The Ottawa-based Canadian Screen Training Centre works hard to meet the industry’s growing requirements for professional training. Through a wide range of programs, CSTC attracted more than 500 participants into 43 workshops last year.

The following is a list of selected Canadian academic institutions offering programs relating to film, television and new media.

Trevor Cornish, a Vancouver-based director who bounded into the spotlight from relative obscurity last year with a series of critically acclaimed spots for the Vancouver International Film Festival, is the recipient of the 2002 First Cut Award. Cornish, a 27-year-old helmer, got his break with VIFF 2001 and so impressed the creative team behind the campaign that he was handed the entire campaign for the 2002 festival.

Looking to escape the hectic pace of the Toronto market, producer Scott Westerlaken almost packed up and left the country three years ago, when out of the blue a friend called him about a producer position at a Newfoundland ad agency. Two days later he headed east and has never looked back.
Upon arriving in Atlantic Canada, Westerlaken spent several months producing in Newfoundland before relocating to Halifax. ‘But I still wasn’t happy because I wasn’t able to do the quality of production that I was normally used to doing in Toronto,’ says the veteran producer, who had a long career in Toronto including partnering in the prodco Roundhouse Films in the early ’90s.
When he arrived in Atlantic Canada, smaller budgets were still synonymous with lower production values. And this is where Westerlaken realized he could make a difference.

Having managed to survive the dot-com meltdown and a lingering advertising recession, Toronto-based adbeast is preparing for its first foray into the U.S. According to head of business development William Cranor, the company hopes to have its first L.A.-based sales agent set up early in the New Year.
Adbeast has grown its client list from 11 in January to more than 35, a roll that includes Bensimon Byrne D’Arcy, Cossette Communication-Marketing, Radke Films, Spy Films and Flashcut.
‘We’re in a really good position here and we’re looking to make our play in the U.S.,’ says Cranor, who adds adbeast’s U.S. rollout is about six months behind due to the economic uncertainties. ‘Everything is predicated on financing,’ he says. ‘We had to hunker down, pull up our boot straps and take care of our Canadian clients.’

Vancouver: The Canadian broadcasting sector has found admirers in its American counterparts, who are watching from afar as we grapple with consolidation through multiple platform ownership and forge a digital network universe.
‘The Canadian marketplace is the envy of the U.S.,’ says David Bank, a New York-based director of equity research for RBC Capital Markets, who presented to delegates of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ 76th annual convention in Vancouver, Oct. 20-22.
Convergence, through common ownership of advertising-supported media – such as television, newspapers and billboards – and the ability to cross-sell to end-users and subscribers, is a goal coveted by U.S. companies, even though results to date are under-whelming.

Montreal: A new CFTPA report on the impact of the Canadian Television Fund projects near-total devastation of the high-content Canadian production sector if the $245-million annual fund were eliminated.
The 104-page update report, ‘Assessment of the Economic Impact of the Canadian Television Fund 2002,’ prepared by PwC Consulting, says CAVCO production, the largest component of the independent Canadian production sector, would decline by between 26% and 31% if the CTF were eliminated, wiping out an estimated $520 million to $622 million in annual independent Canadian production, and between 13,700 and 16,500 direct and indirect jobs. The report estimates $456 million in foreign financing would be required to maintain current production levels generated by the CTF. Overall, the loss in distinctly Canadian programming would be in the order of 2,100 to 2,500 hours a year.

The economics of movie studios are, to borrow Paul Bronfman’s wording, ‘skinny’ – and constructing a $100-million complex to lure larger Hollywood productions north of the border is not a business for the impatient. ‘This is going to be a 10-year project in terms of recognizing economic return,’ says Bronfman, co-president and co-CEO of Great Lakes Studios, the space-to-be now under construction on Toronto’s waterfront. ‘It’s really for people in the industry that want to be in the industry for 10 years or longer. It’s not for any quick-buck artist.’
Great Lakes Studios is being built on 10.8 hectares near the Leslie Street Spit – land on lease from Ontario Power Generation and the former home of the R.L. Hearn Power House. Construction started two months ago, when workers began hauling away several tons of decades-old generators and turbines, and was marked on Oct. 8 with a ground-breaking ceremony.