Vancouver: A controversial initiative by the Screen Actors Guild means the runaway production debate is heating up and the rest of the world may finally get a little scorched.
Global Rule One, which is supposed to come into effect May 1, is SAG’s unilateral imperative to extend its contract beyond the U.S. border. Specifically, it requires that all SAG members work under the SAG contract on any English-language television, theatrical, commercial or industrial productions made anywhere in the world for the U.S. market.

The soon-to-be-opened and yet-to-be-named $11-million soundstage in Regina has not only secured tenancy with the majority of Saskatchewan’s production brass, it has also helped Minds Eye Pictures land a $35-million Canada/Germany coproduction with Munich-based H5G5 Media AG.
The biggest-budget project Minds Eye has ever handled (with the $22-million MythQuest running second), Ice Planet is a 22-hour science-fiction series originally brought to the Canadian producer at MIP-TV last year after H5B5 had completed a pilot for German broadcaster ProSieben. ‘We indicated to them that there was a brand new studio in Regina to be completed in April, which really [piqued] their interest,’ says Minds Eye president and CEO Kevin DeWalt.

Toronto’s NewNew Films has signed American directors Frank Samuel and the team of Amy Hill and Chris Reiss for Canadian representation.

B.C. Film budget slashed

Anyone requiring a reminder of the close link between Canadian cultural identity, hockey and advertising need look no further than the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Shots & Chasers tracks who shot what during the previous month. Production companies are invited to fax information for this column as frequently as possible to Michelle Hille at (416) 408-0870. If you require a Shots & Chasers submission form, call Hille at (416) 408-2300 x225. The next deadline for submissions is Wednesday, March 20.

In the Feb. 4 Issue, On The Spot wrongly named Apple Box Productions as representing Mitch Gabourie (‘ABP cements Saturday morning status with Gentile.’). This, the prodco tells us, is no longer the case.

In the past week alone I received three phone calls from the mainstream press seeking my perspective on the status and consequences of runaway production, or better, the anti-runaway campaign. The first call was par for the course as the overheating issue of runaway production has the ongoing appeal for a hot, sexy news feature, despite its overplay in the consumer media (but hey, who can pass up a story that shows the U.S. threatened by Canada?), and Playback is often called on the subject.

Reading about the CFTPA conference, I get the feeling that producers don’t talk to anybody except bureaucrats and never go anywhere except to film festivals and conferences. How else to explain how little English-Canadian producers know about what their audiences want?

Due to a typo in the Feb. 18 issue of Playback, the number of Rogers Cable’s digital subscribers was wrongly pegged at 65,000 (‘Diginet sign-ups on the rise’). The actual figure was meant to read 265,000.

53.97% of Playback poll respondents believe a new, massive soundstage in Toronto will increase production volume in Canada.

Montreal: Both industrial players and program creators in the Canadian broadcasting system want government to create a better balance between economics and culture, but the two sides continue to deliver diametrically opposed solutions.