✖
Strong Canuck contingent among Emmy noms
The 55th annual Primetime Emmy Awards stands to be one of the best in years for Canadian representation judging by the list of nominees announced late last month.
Kodak’s Sehlin is WFF keynote speaker
Montreal: The Conferences 2003 component of the Montreal World Film Festival will take place Sept. 1-3 at the Salon Hospitalite in the Wyndham Hotel.
Scorsese tribute at World Film Festival
Montreal: The Montreal World Film Festival has announced a special tribute program in honor of American filmmaker Martin Scorsese. The tribute includes screenings of four of Scorsese’s films as well as four additional films by directors who have influenced his work, says WFF president Serge Losique.
Cuts leave seven out of CIFVF race
The ripple effect of the federal government cuts to production funding this spring means Canadian producers of non-theatrical or non-broadcast programs also have fewer dollars with which to play.
Vision invests $300,000 in one-off drama
Public-service broadcaster VisionTV will give three producers $100,000 each to develop one-hour dramas reflecting Canada’s diversity.
Genesis Inc. tops JFL pitch session
Montreal: The sitcom proposal Genesis Inc., described as a sort of ‘Dilbert meets the Old Testament,’ created a major buzz at the inaugural Just For Pitching session at the 21st edition of the Just For Laughs comedy festival.
A primer for the British tax deals
John Buchanan is a Canadian film finance consultant based in London.
More changes to CTF this summer?
The production community is thanking its lucky stars that John Manley won’t be the next prime minister of Canada. The odds are good, however, that Manley will be the next finance minister, so there is really very little to be thankful for. After all, it was as minister of finance that Manley lopped $50 million over two years from the Canadian Television Fund.
Playback Readership Poll Results
Most of our readers are pro-choice – consumer choice, that is. In response to Playback’s most recent Web poll question, ‘Should the CRTC allow cable companies to carry U.S. premium services such as HBO and ESPN on their digital tiers?’, 73.4% voted Yes, and 26.6% voted No.
Tarzan, Lord of Hollywood North
The WB has pitched its tent in Toronto’s concrete jungle for the season-one shoot of Tarzan – a retelling of the Edgar Rice Burroughs story with Australian model Travis Fimmel as a modernized Lord of the Jungle. The new action/adventure series transplants Tarzan to New York City and, it is hoped, will ape the success of the net’s similarly teen-aimed, B.C.-shot Smallville.
McGee’s Bread Maker selected for TIFF
St. John’s, NF-based Anita McGee’s The Bread Maker has the distinction of being the only East Coast feature film to make it into the Perspective Canada program at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The Bread Maker is producer/director McGee’s first feature, which makes the selection even sweeter.
Meteor creates VFX for Discovery’s Dinosaur Planet
Montreal: VFX house Meteor Studios is producing 1,500 HD shots of the terrifying monsters that ruled the Earth tens of millions of years ago in the new four-hour doc series Dinosaur Planet.
The show is a round-the-world dramatic recreation of life in the time of the dinosaurs, with one of the main attractions being the creation of 25 new creatures never before revealed in primetime 3D animation.
Smith finds new comedy look on Seduction
‘You never know, but it was a happy surprise,’ says Montreal director of photography Allen Smith of the huge box office for the Max Films comedy La Grande Seduction. The Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm-distributed feature, produced by Roger Frappier and Luc Vandal, generated more than $3.5 million on 76 Quebec screens in its first 17 days of release.
Sim Video’s sizable move
Broadcast rental house Sim Video Productions has relocated its Toronto office to a facility it says is more than three times larger than its previous digs.
CFTPA’s passionate leader steps down
Although she has yet to choose her destination, one thing is certain: when Elizabeth McDonald steps down as president and CEO of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association later this month, it will be only the beginning of a new chapter in the librarian-turned-lobbyist’s diverse career.
The definitive CDN broadcast and production resource.Over 5,000 company listings!
