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The Small Screen: The deal made over a pair of pants
Two TV executives could not have looked more like friends than Ian Greenberg and Charles Schreger as they recently stood side by side in a Toronto nightclub to herald the launch of HBO Canada.
Digital Media: CBC turns online focus to existing brands
At the CBC, there are two kinds of broadband content: material made in association with an existing show or brand, and completely original content. While the future of show-related content seems bright, original content made for the web might be taking a back seat.
Whistler to fete Canuck thesp Sutherland
WHISTLER MOUNTAIN, BC: You’d be hard-pressed to find much that can divert attention away from the pristine skiing conditions at North America’s top-ranked winter resort, home to the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Winning women reflect on WIFT-T’s ongoing importance
The Crystal Awards, this year celebrating their 20th anniversary, were established to recognize and promote women working in film and TV, and they remain as relevant as ever, says Sadia Zaman, executive director of WIFT-T, which organizes them.
Canwest down $1 billion
Regulatory relief and cost-cutting are keys to reviving Canwest Global Communications’ conventional TV business, says a resolute CEO Leonard Asper.
Sold!
• MTV Networks’ Logo has acquired the first three seasons of Chris & John to the Rescue! and will introduce the gay comedy series – from John Simpson Productions, seen here on OUTtv – to the U.S. in January.
Talent
• Stage and screen veteran Colm Feore has joined the cast of homegrown paranormal series The Listener, playing a mentor to the show’s main character, a telepathic paramedic. The series by Shaftesbury Films, developed by CTV, was bought by NBC last January during the Hollywood writers strike, and is set to air in some 175 countries. Feore, whose recent credits include Clint Eastwood’s Changeling and a recurring role on 24, is represented in the U.S. by Endeavor Talent Agency.
The Burning Question
Closed market? What closed market? The wave of Canuck series that continue to sell to the U.S. – Defying Gravity, Chris & John to the Rescue!, Flashpoint – is enough to raise the hopes of any rights holder. Maybe FX or CBS will like the looks of The Bridge? Does Oxygen have room for Being Erica? Will anyone pay money for reruns of Don Messer’s Jubilee? So we ask:
Corrections
• IATSE is not a part of the Coalition of Canadian Audio-visual Unions, as reported in the Nov. 10 story ‘Groups to present united front at CRTC hearings.’
EyeSteel on a roll
MONTREAL: In an era of infotainment, the producers of the award-winning Up the Yangtze have figured out how to finance social-issue auteur docs: they call it the do-it-yourself model.
Mehta, Rushdie team up
Director Deepa Mehta and British author Salman Rushdie will collaborate on an adaptation of Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children. Mehta’s longtime producing partner David Hamilton says the duo will start working on the script in March, with an April deadline, adding that he is in discussions with two studios, both of which have expressed interest.
Capri sinks teeth into Suck
Phil the Alien director/writer/star Rob Stefaniuk begins principal photography in Toronto on Nov. 24 on his sophomore feature Suck, a rock ‘n’ roll vampire comedy from Capri Films.
The Bridge joins CTV slate
CTV will begin production on 11 episodes of The Bridge early next year, having promoted the cop drama from MOW to series. Executive producer Adam J. Shully says CTV execs Susanne Boyce and Ivan Fecan saw cuts of the two-hour MOW, which shot in August, very early and ‘liked what they saw.’
Whizbang shooting Lawyers
Malcolm MacRury has again linked arms with Whizbang Films on the crime pilot Lawyers, Guns & Money. The would-be Canwest series went to camera early this month in Hamilton, ON, putting Luke Kirby front and center as a claims adjuster who works close to the city’s seamy underworld.
Buffalo Gal wraps casino series
Cashing In – a soapy dramatic comedy set to air in the new year on APTN and Global – might be a North American first, a show about Canada’s well-heeled aboriginal elite.
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