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Plenty of competition: New studios around the world
The following is a list of proposed or ongoing studio construction or renovation projects worldwide
Asper, Fecan tag-team CRTC
Leonard Asper compared a conventional broadcaster trying to survive under the Broadcasting Act in the 21st century to a frog that’s slowly dying in a pot of hot water.
NFB can do more, says Perlmutter
Digital technology that enables new storytelling techniques, including cross-platform media, will help assure the future of the National Film Board through 2012, the public filmmaker said as it unveiled its latest strategic plan earlier this month.
Writers hand awards to Corner Gas, Motor City
Writers Guild of Canada members saluted a passing generation April 14 when they gave the 2008 Canadian Screenwriting Award for best half-hour drama to CTV’s Corner Gas.
Sold!
• The National Film Board signed a handful of deals at MIPTV, selling The Wild Horse Redemption, Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma and Confessions of an Innocent Man to Sundance Channel, with home video rights on Redemption and Triage also going to New Video. A host of European deals also included sales of Weather Report, Dead in the Water, Humanima and Arctic Mission. Indonesia’s Metro TV, meanwhile, picked up Oscar winner Ryan and also-ran Madame Tutli-Putli.
People
• Comedy Network and Space VP Brent Haynes is leaving the fold at CTVglobemedia, and will exit the network in May after 10 years in its cable channels. Word has it that he’s going to New York to work for MTV, though at press time, neither side was able to confirm.
The Burning Question
Ah, sweeps week. Where would we get stunt programming and season-ender cliffhangers without it? This year, though, offers another twist, in that the top-shelf series are only now starting to crawl out of the ratings crater left by the WGA strike. Will viewers remain aloof, or go running back to their Desperate Housewives? And so we ask;
Desperate times bring together private nets
After the first couple of weeks, the highlight of the CRTC’s BDU hearings has been the surreal sight of Ivan Fecan and Leonard Asper pleading their case to the commission side by side.
Saving Jakob Beer
Sadly, Fugitive Pieces has a happy ending.
Bell fund spreads the love on Razzberry Jazzberry Jam
The Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund recently announced its latest round of funding recipients, which meant good news for a small gang of talking musical instruments.
Rumer Willis to go Wild in Winnipeg
WINNIPEG: Call in the paparazzi.
Thriller lands Halle Berry
Toronto’s Access Motion Pictures has signed Halle Berry to star in and produce Frankie and Alice, a psychological thriller with the Oscar alum playing a case of split personality. The story follows a young black woman struggling with a white and racist alter ego. Access Motion (Phantom Punch) produces in association with Reality Pictures in Motion (Some Things That Stay).
Global, NBC, Mandel make deal
Global Television and NBC have greenlighted an unscripted comedy series starring Howie Mandel, host of the hit game show Deal or No Deal. The series, known for now as Howie Do It, will be filmed in Canada and simulcast by both networks in 2008/09.
There will be Bloodletting
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures has found a home on The Movie Network and Movie Central, both of which have ordered the 8 x 60 series, which is slated to begin production later this year through Shaftesbury Films.
CBC orders two new dramas
CBC has given the go-ahead to two new dramas for its 2008/09 season, The Session and The Wild Roses.
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