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Insight six-pic deal helps boost 2004 production
Vancouver: Executive producer Kirk Shaw started out in the audio recording business 14 years ago when he cofounded what would become Vancouver-based Insight Film & Video Production. Now he’s turning up the volume in another way, by boosting his 2004 production budgets to $29 million, up 45% compared to last year.
Revamp continues at Discovery
Jill Offman, VP of programming at Discovery Channel Canada, expects to see a lot of paper land on her desk, pretty much all at once, by the end of the month. That’s when the deadline will hit for the channel’s first open call for submissions and, at last count, roughly 100 producers are known to be making pitches.
Canadian PitchFest hits L.A.
Shhh. If you’re down in L.A. next month don’t tell anyone that Signe Olynyk is from Canada. It might not go over too well, she admits, given the political mood in Hollywood these days, that the organizer of The Great American PitchFest is, in fact, about as American as maple syrup and affordable tuition.
Six Feet Under tops specialties chart
Six Feet Under is a morbidly fascinating American series about death. But buyers say the HBO series is breathing robust life into Canadian specialty TV.
People
* Alliance Atlantis rang in the new year with the appointment of Xavier Marchand as managing director of its Momentum Pictures in the U.K. Marchand will oversee Momentum’s expansion throughout Europe into such countries as Spain, France and Germany. His employment experience includes working for PolyGram International, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures International.
Putting audiences first
Glenn O’Farrell is president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.
Letter
It was with tremendous shock and sadness that I put down my last Playback, the Jan. 5 issue containing the unfair news of the death of Susan Zeller, editor of RealScreen.
Everyone needs a good coat
There’s an old Scandinavian saying that goes, ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad coats.’
Love, Sex, and posting at Theatre D
In an ideal world, all feature films would be posted in actual movie theaters, complete with access to big screens and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Fortunately for Toronto director Sudz Sutherland, he was able to do precisely that with his debut feature Love, Sex and Eating the Bones.
Producers gather in interesting times
These are interesting times indeed as domestic producers prepare to congregate at Prime Time in Ottawa 2004, the annual powwow of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, Jan. 28-30.
The conference promises to get off with a whimper when the CFTPA announces the results of Profile 2004, its annual report on the state of the industry.
Mayson named CFTPA prez
Guy Mayson, previously the executive VP of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, is officially being named president and CEO of the organization. Mayson had been serving as acting president and CEO after Elizabeth McDonald stepped down last August after eight years in the role.
Cooperation needed to make production viable
Guy Mayson is the new president and CEO of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association.
Sandra Macdonald on the record
It’s been quite a ride these past 16 months for Canadian Television Fund president Sandra Macdonald. From nearly her first day on the job in September 2002, Macdonald, the former government film commissioner and chair of the National Film Board of Canada, had to deal with scores of disgruntled producers and broadcasters complaining of a funding application process too complex, time consuming and unpredictable.
Measuring TV audiences: how should it be done?
Barry Kiefl is the president of Canadian Media Research. He will be moderating Does Size Matter: Measuring Your Audience, a panel at Prime Time in Ottawa about how audiences are measured and
Sessions at this year’s conference
Lunch with Lantos
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