IN June, The Shooting Gallery, a large New York commercial and long-form production house in business since 1991, informed its employees it could no longer continue to meet company payroll. The shop’s closing has had spin-off effects on the Canadian spot landscape, precipitating the closing of The Shooting Gallery’s Canadian roadhouse business Gun for Hire in both Toronto and Vancouver.

THE Friends of John Zurik Lottery, a joint venture of The Partners’ Film Company and Avion Films, with the generous support of the National Advertising Benevolent Society, raised $39,000 for John Zurik, a veteran of the two production companies, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last summer.

Contrary to what was reported in the July 9 Shots & Chasers, JKL Advertising was the agency behind Para Paints’ ‘Paint Chip’ spot. JKL creative director Sean James served as both art director and copywriter.

In our Binchmarks column (see. p. 29), McMillan Binch lawyer Jason S. T. Kotler writes on a Quebec Superior Court Judge ruling that ‘pirating of U.S. satellite TV signals is not against Canadian law (unless you pirate the signals from a ‘lawful’ Canadian satellite distributor).’ He also reviews other lower court decisions on the legalities of satellite signal pirating.

LESS than six weeks away from the much-anticipated digital channel launch, the CRTC has put out a public notice for interventions on Alliance Atlantis’ acquisition of the Independent Film Channel Canada licence.

COMING-of-age feature film Lost and Delirious by Quebec director Lea Pool opened in major Canadian markets July 27 with 92% of the box office receipts generated in the U.S. over its opening weekend there earlier in the month.

VO2 Mix, a new audio post shop, recently opened its doors in what is quickly becoming known in the industry as Toronto’s ‘post district’ (Spadina Avenue and Queen Street West). VO2 partners Terry Wedel and Euan Hunter have found a space flooded with natural light that lends itself to ease and relaxation.

VANCOUVER: The former general manager of Knowledge Network, fired from his position May 14, warns operational changes to B.C.’s 20-year-old public broadcaster will dramatically impair its ability to serve its audience.

TORONTO commercial production house, Imported Artists Film Company, has struck a deal with New York-based Propaganda Films and the Propaganda Group of Companies to exclusively represent its extensive roster of directorial talent in Canada. Propaganda’s group of companies includes Propaganda Films, Satellite, Extension Films and Propaganda Independent.

FOR the first time in its eight-year existence, Hoodoo Films is shooting commercials. Executive producer Michael Rosen, who has only dabbled in commercials over the course of his lengthy career, says after roadhousing a number of big-budget U.S. music videos and a few ads for Germany, it was decided the time was right for Hoodoo to enter the spot market.

Radke Films’ Matt Eastman is one up-and-coming helmer with great hope for the future of the business in Canada and the young directors within it. Eastman, who has been directing for just over a year, has already succeeded in gaining the industry’s attention and the respect of his peers. Now he’s added the Playback/Saatchi & Saatchi 2001 First Cut Awards to his list.

VANCOUVER: The Canadian Feature Film Fund’s controversial roster of top-performing Canadian films has undergone some transformation since it was published Mar. 29, but it won’t be including Air Bud and Art of War, two recent films that won the Golden Reel award for box office success.