On Dec. 22, the Canadian Television Fund released its new guidelines, offering producers a detailed treatment of the new ways in which the CTF will help fund domestic television production, and how it will dole out over $200 million in 2004/05.

M. Michelle Nadon is managing director, MediaIntelligence and director of the media and entertainment practice at Toronto-based IQ Partners. Nadon specializes in helping the industry streamline its HR strategies and processes and provides strategic solutions for talent sourcing, development and retention.

As you read this, a new year has dawned, as has a new reality in the world of Canadian production. Or, so says Alliance Atlantis Communications. The day after we went to press – a month ago, now (one of the pitfalls of our publishing schedule during the holiday season) – AAC announced that it was eliminating up to 70 jobs due to a ‘permanent downturn’ in worldwide demand for drama.

‘I want to be directed like an actor when I’m lensing,’ says Montreal-based director of photography Andre Turpin, prior to one of the final days of shooting on the comedy feature Childstar in Toronto.

CBC has high hopes for Poko, its new flagship kids series, although with the news of Salter Street Films closing its doors, a second season is in doubt. Playback recently visited the show’s Halifax studio, where the Salter team was hard at work on season one.

If you thought 2D animation was dying out, think again. The distinct style of Sylvain Chomet’s animated feature The Triplets of Bellville stands in stark contrast to contemporary trends in animation, where a traditional hand-drawn look is being jettisoned in favor of the more polished style of CGI.

The National Film Board ushered in the recent holidays with Noel Noel, which it’s calling one of its biggest productions ever. The 2D-animated half-hour aired four times on Teletoon last month, in both English and French, including spots on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

With the weather turning distinctly chilly north of the 49th, Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana is thinking south – Latin America, that is. The toon titan recently announced the sale of My Dad the Rock Star, Jacob Two-Two and Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Kids to Cartoon Network Latin America.

Producer Firdaus Kharas of Ottawa’s Chocolate Moose Media has helped guide other long-form production talents out of Canada, South Africa and India on a series of 2D-animated PSAs aimed at AIDS awareness.

Spirits at Bardel Entertainment are soaring after the Vancouver animation house’s Silverwing series recorded healthy numbers in its out-of-Canada debut on Copenhagen’s TV 2 Danmark last month.

Cinar has successfully resolved a couple of disputes, avoiding compromise of the company’s standing prior to its proposed sale.

Blizzard blew into theaters Dec. 12, receiving good notices for its old-fashioned Yuletide yarn about a lonely girl and an outcast reindeer. Toronto’s Mr. X spearheaded the FX work on the Knightscove Entertainment/Holedigger Films/Alliance Atlantis feature, shot in Toronto and Quebec City.

Discreet all over holiday blockbusters

Winnipeg-based Original Pictures and Toronto’s Shaftesbury Films have teamed up again to adapt short stories from another of Canada’s most renowned female authors. Last year, they produced an Emmy-winning dramatic series based on short stories by Margaret Atwood, and now they are busy adapting short stories by Carol Shields, with plans to approach the work of Alice Munro next.

Vancouver: Gynormous Pictures producer Rosanne Milliken of Vancouver is gearing up for an impressive rash of work in the new year with her German and U.K. coproducing partners.
Solo, a Sixth Sense-meets-Poltergeist-inspired suspense thriller, goes to camera Jan. 12 for a month of production, with Jon Voight (Coming Home), Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride), Saffron Burrows (Frida) and Vancouver actor Stephen Graham starring. In the Carl Binder (Just Cause) script, an unlikely group of adults come together to find a neglected child who has gone missing. Ghosts are involved.