Christmas came early for Ontario producers last month with news that the provincial government is hiking its foreign and domestic tax credits to 18% and 30%, respectively – answering months of bitter complaints from stakeholders and, it is hoped, paving the way for a turnaround in the province’s beleaguered production sector.
‘We are committed to creating a supportive business environment in which our film and television industry can not only survive but thrive,’ says Madeleine Meilleur, the minister of culture. ‘All Ontarians have a stake in the success and sustainability of this important industry.’

An industry group led by Montreal Jazz Festival organizer L’Équipe Spectra will this year launch a new film festival in Montreal with approximately $1 million from Telefilm Canada and SODEC, funds previously earmarked for Serge Losique’s World Film Festival.
The move is the latest exchange in the battle between WWF and its former backers, which pulled their support from the Montreal fest last year.

Alliance Atlantis SVP of dramatic programming Laura Michalchyshyn, fresh off celebrating the Gemini comedy win for Showcase’s Trailer Park Boys, is heading south to try her hand at picking winners for a U.S. cable outfit.

The CRTC has taken the first steps towards opening up Canadian airwaves to more foreign third-language television. A new policy states that as of Dec. 16, requests to add general-interest foreign third-language services to the lists of eligible satellite services will be generally approved, subject to requirements that aim to minimize possible negative impacts on domestic third-language services.

William F. White is preparing to sell its camera division to Panavision Canada as part of a deal that could lead to layoffs at the equipment giant sometime in the new year, Playback has learned.

A 16-year winning streak came to an end last month when a band of scruffy, pot-smoking hosers from out east made off with the best comedy bragging rights at the Gemini Awards – knocking CBC out of the laugher category for the first time ever in an against-the-odds ‘who’d a thunk it?’ win worthy of the Boston Red Sox.

Shaun Majumder thanked the wrong producer upon accepting his Gemini for Shaun’s Great Adventure, which won for best practical information series on Dec. 12.

Canadian broadcasters grew richer while their commitments to Canadian drama, at least on the private English side, withered to a fraction of their schedules, says the CRTC’s fifth annual Broadcasting Policy Monitoring Report.

Docs and mock-docs were among the best films made in Canada in 2004, according to organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival, who late last month revealed their fourth annual Canada’s Top Ten list – giving nods to six doc and doc-ish pics including Shake Hands with the Devil by Peter Raymont and Michael Dowse’s tongue-in-cheek It’s All Gone Pete Tong.

Vancouver: Appropriately, a feature about downhill skiers won the Audience Award for best feature film at the fourth annual Whistler Film Festival that, after a four-day run in December, handed the prize to Crazy Canucks by Alberta director Randy Bradshaw. The pic, about the successes of the men’s alpine team in the 1970s, played as the opening gala at Whistler and is expected to air on CTV next year.

CBC’s new daytime drama will either be about a single dad living in Vancouver or it will follow the rivalries of four powerful East Coast families, depending on how the pilots turn out.

Vancouver: As part of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C.’s examination of the province’s production slump, the association reviewed the numbers and – according to Cheryl Nex, EVP at Entertainment Partners Canada – volumes in 2004 declined 32.4% in annual before-tax payroll from 2003. That translates into a drop of $100 million in payroll or 2,000 people who worked in 2003 but have not worked a single day in 2004.

Rock on

Stephen Fraser practices entertainment law in Toronto and Los Angeles with the firm of Fraser – Entertainment Law. He is also licensed to practice in the State of New York, where he began his career as a copyright lawyer.

It’s a tough business picking a person of the year. With so many hard-working, worthy candidates in the film and TV biz, how does one narrow the field to select a single individual for the honor?