A raise for U.S. writers, a hike for U.S. actors, a boost for Canadian writers – will Canadian actors join the gang and make it four square?

WITH few of Canada’s marquee filmmaking names headlining this year’s Perspective Canada lineup, the 26th annual Toronto International Film Festival’s Canadian program boasts an eclectic array of very Canadian, very ambitious films, kicking off with Andre Turpin’s self-effacing Un Crabe Dans la Tete.

MONTREAL: Galafilm producer Arnie Gelbart says there should be an open dialogue in the industry, and with Canadian Heritage and Telefilm Canada, on the chronic lack of public production resources for English-language projects out of Montreal.

SINCE changes in technology often precipitate changes in the ad business, certain forward-looking agencies and clients are preparing for a new set of realities expected to arrive with the advent of video-on-demand services. Some directors, such as L.A.-based commercial director Boris Damast, and agency folk, including M2’s Hugh Dow, have already decided that the new ad models for VOD need to be explored. Both are taking steps to be at the forefront of these emerging frontiers.

DKP’s Dan Krech and director/cinematographer Derek VanLint have been working together, on and off, for 15 years. Various spot projects and a collaboration with Derek VanLint and Associates in Miami in the 1980s cemented a working relationship that finally blossomed at the beginning of July. The bloom, ‘Ello Luv, is an integrated commercial production and animation/effects company designed to streamline and simplify the spot making process.

looking for Canadian agencies’ business strategies and creative teams’ secret weapons? We tell all in Ad Missions.

ACOMPLISHED feature film director Deepa Mehta recently completed her first commercial directing job, a three-spot campaign for United Way through her commercial representative, Circle Productions, Toronto.

GORD McWatters lives in the ‘best of both worlds.’ The Spy Films spot helmer is also the creative director for Space: The Imagination Station and the soon-to-be-launched Drive-In Channel. For him, the balance of Spy jobs and full-time work within the ChumCity empire is the perfect blend.

CRTC to renew CTV, Global licences

RICHARD Longpre has joined the Vancouver office of law firm Heenan Blaikie as a consultant – and not a lawyer as reported in our June 25 issue – in the field of labor and industrial relations.

REGINA-based Partners in Motion has been nominated for an Emmy award in the outstanding background/analysis of a single current story – programs, for Kent State: The Day the War Came Home (13 Seconds, The Kent State Shootings). The doc aired on History Television in Canada and The Learning Channel in the U.S.

The 30-second television spot is on its way out. At least, that is the prognosis of many media observers with the looming wider acceptance of video-on-demand, which offers the viewer the ability to program out commercial breaks. This means advertisers and agencies will have to find alternative outlets for their messages, and production houses will have to learn to create for new delivery platforms. It may also rearrange where ad dollars go.