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Correction

Marina Cordoni has not been hired by Breakthrough Entertainment as reported in the June 12 item ‘Cordoni joins Breakthrough.’ She is the company’s distribution agent, but remains head of Maz Communications.

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Readership poll results

Will CTV have the biggest new hit this fall? Playback readers seem to think so. In a Playback online poll asking ‘What was the best pickup at the L.A. screenings?’ 51% of respondents chose CTV’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. This was followed by CHUM’s Jericho (26%), CTV’s 30 Rock (11%), Global’s Shark (9%) and CH’s ‘Til Death (3%).

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Quebec council takes shape

The Quebec Film and Television Council has appointed the first members of its administration, effectively launching the council as a functioning organization.

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People

* Founding partner John Delmage is leaving Decode Entertainment to make youth programming at his Toronto upstart Time Spent Productions. He will maintain a first-look relationship with Decode.

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Drama will drive CBC

As I write this, I cast the occasional glance over my shoulder to the TV, tracking game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. The broadcast is as surefire a ratings bonanza as the CBC can expect – with a Canadian team playing, no less. But it makes me wonder how else the Ceeb can attract major eyeballs, on the heels of its long-awaited upfront presentation.

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Showcase picks up native-made sitcom

Montreal: Ernest Webb says the whole idea behind Moose TV is to get the native people on television away from social issues. ‘It seems like when we’re concerned, everything has to be issue-obsessed,’ he says.

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Prupas finds Evidence

Ottawa – Sound Venture of Ottawa and Montreal’s Muse Entertainment have wrapped their MOW thriller Trace Evidence, ending three weeks of shooting on location around Ottawa. The project stars Amanda Detmer (What About Brian) as a scientist who discovers a possible cure for addiction – and someone wants her dead. (But who? The liquor companies? The lottery commission? Nintendo?)

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Bon Voyage hits the road

Montreal – The idea sounded just creepy enough that Montreal producer Vivianne Morin of Cité-Amérique got involved with Bon Voyage. The three-part, Canada/U.K. copro miniseries – set to air on The Movie Network, Showcase, Super Écran and ITV late this year – is a taut $6.2-million thriller in which a couple and their two children are repeatedly tormented by a freakish couple while on a camping trek across France.

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Cirrus gets real

Montreal ­- The scripts for Macha and Friends, a new sitcom from Montreal’s Cirrus Productions, draw heavily from the cast’s own personal experiences.

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Toronto the misunderstood

For its next doc, Elevator Films (Stupidity, Escape to Canada) is pointing a lens at the strained relationship between Canada and its largest city, and has been staging tongue-in-cheek ‘Toronto Appreciation Days’ for the upcoming Let’s All Hate Toronto.

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Fantastic news for Vancouver

Vancouver – The first family of Marvel is returning to Vancouver, as Fantastic Four 2 begins shooting in August for Twentieth Century Fox, under director Tim Story, who also helmed the first installment. Most of the key players are said to be returning, including producers Bernd Eichinger (Resident Evil: Apocalypse), Ralph Winter (Lost), Marvel Comics CEO Avi Arad and screenwriter Mark Frost (Twin Peaks). Ioan Gruffudd (King Arthur), Michael Chiklis (The Shield), Chris Evans (Cellular) and Jessica Alba (Sin City) will all return as well. Details about the plot are still sketchy, but Internet rumors swirl about the possibility of an appearance by comic icon Silver Surfer.

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Vancouver serving many Masters

Vancouver – U.S. prodcos Industry Entertainment and IDT Entertainment are shooting the first season of Masters of Science Fiction for ABC in Vancouver. The anthology series is a spinoff of the similar Masters of Horror series currently shooting its second season nearby for Showtime.

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DeVito gets Lit Up in B.C.

Vancouver – L.A. prodco New Regency Pictures (Date Movie) is currently in production on its new holiday-themed feature Deck the Halls, aka All Lit Up, in Vancouver. The Fox feature – starring Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick as neighbors at odds over some garish Christmas decorating – began shooting at the end of May, with John Whitesell (Big Momma’s House 2) directing the Don Rhymer (The Honeymooners) script. Michael Costigan (Brokeback Mountain) is producing with exec Jeremiah Samuels of New Regency. The film will wrap in late July and should be ready for release this holiday season.

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Boll to fight critics – literally

Vancouver – Director Uwe Boll is fed up with having his films slammed by critics and has issued an open challenge for five of his most vocal critics to fight him over the last two days of the Brightlight Pictures production of Postal, which will begin shooting in September in Vancouver, according to Boll spokesperson Bill Wanstrom.

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Teletoon gets a date

Toronto – Teletoon and marblemedia have inked a development deal for a new series aimed at teens and young adults. The Dating Guy – now in the works with cowriters Jeremy Winkels (My Dad the Rock Star), Lienne Sawatsky (Delilah & Julius) and Daniel Williams (The Hamster Cage) – will follow the love life of a twentysomething guy based on marblemedia partner Mark Bishop.