In the Feb. 4 issue of Playback, Marcus Handman was incorrectly credited as executive director of the Directors Guild of Canada. Handman is executive director of the DGC Ontario District Council. Pamela Brand is the DGC’s national executive director.

Asked if Canadian movies supported with public money should be opened up to more international on-screen talent, 75.18% of Playback respondents answered yes, 24.82% voted no.

* Raynald Briere is the new president and CEO of Montreal-based broadcast/media company Groupe TVA, owned by Quebecor Media. A communications industry veteran for more than 30 years, Briere has been Reseau TVA’s senior VP of broadcasting and executive director since 1998.

* Raynald Briere is the new president and CEO of Montreal-based broadcast/media company Groupe TVA, owned by Quebecor Media. A communications industry veteran for more than 30 years, Briere has been Reseau TVA’s senior VP of broadcasting and executive director since 1998.

David Mintz, the former president of Global Television Network, passed away at his home in Toronto on Feb. 5.

Montreal: Quebec cultural funding and certification agency SODEC will concentrate its considerable resources in the year ahead on priority programs, the production and development of feature films, documentaries and short films.

Vancouver: Almost 24% of the staff at Sextant Entertainment Group in Vancouver was laid off Jan. 31, a delayed reaction to last year’s fears about a Screen Actors Guild strike in the U.S., says the company’s CFO.

Montreal: Technical services company Global Vision has opened a motion picture negative processing laboratory in Montreal.
Called Citelab, the new facility will compete directly with the Covitec/Technicolor film processing lab.
Citelab has installed a U.K.-manufactured Photomec processing unit for 16mm, Super 16mm, 35mm and Super 35mm negative film. ‘The lab will basically feed all of Global Vision’s other post services,’ including its film-to-video telecine services, says GV sales manager Paul Bellerose.

While French-language, Quebec-produced films had a strong year at the box office, close to the industry’s intermediate goal of 10% market share, English-language films have a long way to go to reach the 5% market share objective set by the CFFF.

With Canadian and foreign producers beginning to realize the production potential of the East Coast, the Atlantic region has emerged as a viable and desirable location, generating big numbers in annual industry revenue.

Allison Outhit is the VP, television and business affairs, of Collideascope Digital Productions, a Halifax-based convergence and iTV production company. In this article she talks about how Canadian producers, particularily on the East Coast, can weather the storm of economic uncertainty

Alliance Atlantis Communications’ acquisition of Salter Street Films may have sounded some alarm bells regarding the future of the Halifax prodco and the overall well-being of the East Coast production industry. However, as the dust settles on the change of hands, business is marching forward with little detriment and some new advantages.