Air Canada just had its reputation shredded – again. Perhaps it wasn’t paying attention a few years back when Rogers Cable got slammed over its negative option billing practices.
This time the issue is privacy. Federal privacy czar George Radwanski has made Air Canada his first target in a war to wake up Canadian business. The negative option approach to obtaining consent is not an option for Air Canada, or for anyone else that collects, uses and discloses personal information.

In search of fresh sex adventurers, the Paperny Films documentary series Kink is moving production from Vancouver to Toronto for season two. The program focuses on the everyday lives – and kinky activity – of those in the underground cultures of sadomasochism, bondage, cross-dressing, fetishism and other fantasy games.
Preproduction will begin April 15, followed by 13 weeks of principal photography on the DV format commencing May 3. Field director Aerlyn Weissman (Forbidden Love) will shoot in Toronto and then return to Vancouver to edit the series along with codirector Dennis Heaton, who returns from season one. Also on board as field director is Winnipeg indie filmmaker Noam Gonick (Hey, Happy!). Stacey Offman is producing and David Paperny exec producing. Vancouver-based Paperny will set up a satellite office at Toronto’s Associated Producers facility.

Thom Best’s stock has soared in the past couple of years. The Toronto-based director of photography has shot perhaps the two most heavily promoted Canadian features: Ginger Snaps, for which he was nominated for a Genie Award, and the recent box office record-breaking curling comedy Men with Brooms.

The annual National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas provides a good indicator of the state of the U.S. television industry, and by extension, what the Canadian industry can expect. That’s why Canucks have traditionally headed down to the show in large numbers – NAB2001 had more than 3,500 Canadian attendees from the broadcast, production, post, and new media sectors and 66 exhibitors on the trade show floor. Despite an economic slowdown, NAB is expanding this year, taking advantage of even more space added to the gargantuan Las Vegas Convention Center, accommodating primarily multimedia companies. More exhibitors will set up camp at the Sands Expo Center.

As NAB2002 will prove, maturing high-end markets and the proliferation of variable digital media continue to push software producers towards new integrated solutions at all levels.

According to local equipment suppliers, the buzz at NAB2002 will be what, if anything, is new with high-definition. Although HD production has not yet made traditional methods of capture obsolete, it’s here to stay and sure to grow. But while it is doubtful there will be any great technological advancements beyond Sony’s introduction of the 24p HDW-F900 HDCAM in 2000 or Panasonic’s AJ-HDC27VP VFR HD camera last year, NAB does allow equipment distributors the opportunity to see how all the manufacturers have improved their existing product lines.

The world’s major players in broadcast technology and services converge annually in NAB’s mammoth exhibit halls. Inevitably, some companies’ innovations from the past year have had a profound effect on the businesses of others. In the ever-shifting technology landscape, companies must explore various revenue streams should one aspect of their business dry up. Sonic Foundry is as familiar with this survival technique as anyone is.

Ken Mac Neil is VP operations of Creative Post, a Toronto-based post-production facility offering creative solutions for broadcast television and interactive media. A veteran NAB attendee, here he writes about his strategy for the labyrinthine trade show and what he will be looking for.

Mark Scott is VP, director of operations at Post Modern Sound, a Vancouver audio post-production house specializing in TV series and feature films. He writes about his company’s search for speed at this year’s show.

With foreign sales slowing, Canadian broadcast production is turning attention to what many believe is Canada’s greatest unrealized resource: comedy.
While sketch comedy, one-hour dramas and documentaries have long been the staples of homegrown production, there has been less emphasis traditionally on broader narrative-style comedies in this country. But that is about to change.
Canadian viewers can expect to see a new crop of sitcom-style programs premiering in the fall plus an assortment of innovative comedy series and specials up and down the dial.

Montreal: ‘Generally speaking, one of the great untapped resources in Canadian movie marketing has been the broadcasters. And so the whole idea is how do you get them engaged in the production and marketing of Canadian theatrical movies?’ asks Paul Gratton, VP/GM at Space: The Imagination Station and Drive-In Classics and station manager at Bravo!. A member of the feature film advisory committee, the popular broadcaster says CHUM Television has all the attributes to be a player in the production of Canadian theatrical films, but new guidelines for the Canada Feature Film Fund effectively deny it access to the fund.

Canada’s preeminent boutique distributor Mongrel Media has scooped its competitors and picked up a 10-picture output deal with Sony Pictures Classics.
‘We are thrilled,’ says Mongrel president Hussain Amarshi. ‘They [SPC co-presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard] have phenomenal taste in films and it’s a privilege to be associating with them.’
For an undisclosed sum, the deal gives Mongrel all Canadian rights to seven of the 10 films, and all Canadian rights except Quebec for the remaining three.