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NFB launches all-digital Mediatheque
The National Film Board took one step forward and one step back this past weekend, with the grand opening of NFB Mediatheque, a $1.5-million storefront operation in Toronto that tests the limits of the latest digital technologies while, it is hoped, returning the venerable organization to its roots by bringing together Canadians and their movies.
All was not hell in 2002
Award-winning commercial director Tim Hamilton is repped by Avion Films in Toronto, The Institute in L.A. and Tomboy Films in London. Hamilton has also found success directing long form, most notably for his film Truth in Advertising, which screened at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
Royalties redux – SOCAN and the broadcasters go at it again
David Kent is a partner in the Toronto law firm of McMillan Binch LLP and a member of its Litigation, Knowlaw and Competition Groups.
A Big Fat reason to believe
Welcome to Playback’s annual Year in Review spectacular. This issue, we look back on a year marked by the production industry waiting with quiet anxiety to see if business would recover from a trouble-plagued 2001 and regain the record success of Y2K. The evidence indicates we’re a ways off.
Mr. Craig goes to Hogtown
In exclusive clubs, the upstart member is almost always dismissed by the elite as a climber who is overreaching his class, a nuisance, or someone to step on to move even higher up the social register. It’s not until the upstart has the momentum to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them that the club elders really have to rally, sometimes unsuccessfully, to keep the order.
2002: production slows down as runaway debate heats up
If 2001 was a bad party, then in 2002 the production industry reeled under a long, nasty hangover.
Top Stories of 2002
The following are the results of a web poll in which Playback asked readers ‘What was the biggest industry story of 2002?’
Les Boys scores again
The Top 10 Canadian releases in the past 12 months have earned a total of more than $18 million at the domestic box office, according to new data from the Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada.
2002: Top Films in Canada
Top grossing films in canada, and top grossing candian films.
Taking stock: 2002 financial thumbnails of five major players
Alliance Atlantis Communications
Biz types say the darndest things…
On Telefilm’s 5% box office goal…
The year of living digitally
This was the year digital technology lived up to its hype – boosting efficiency and driving down costs at picture and sound post-production companies across Canada. The pros report that going digital has finally made life, and business, significantly easier.
2002: It’s A Wrap
Comeback of the year
Stars and big budgets in Alberta
Production in Calgary is booming. On top of the latest feature from waydowntown director Gary Burns, shooting has begun on Alberta’s biggest local feature yet, which has some serious star power to boot.
The Great Goose Caper is a family feature from Calgary-based Voice Pictures, budgeted at $8.5 million. Voice’s Wendy Hill-Tout produces with Montreal’s Colin Neale and U.K. coproducer Alex Brown of Studio Eight Productions.
‘The wonderful thing about a budget this size is that you can make creative choices that really add value to the film,’ says Hill-Tout, who adds that one of the distinguishing elements of this production is that scheduling was star-driven rather than budget-driven.
Willis-Sweete rolls Rex for Rhombus
Barbara Willis-Sweete, who drew applause from festival audiences earlier this fall with Perfect Pie, is bringing Timothy Findley’s hit play Elizabeth Rex to the little screen for CBC and Rhombus Media. The historical drama, wherein Elizabeth I pays a visit to William Shakespeare’s theatre troupe, enjoyed a successful run at Ontario’s Stratford Festival a few years back and has been reworked as a two-hour TV special by Rhombus partner Willis-Sweete, who also directs, and Kate Miller. The planned five-week shoot is expected to wrap early next month.
‘It’s similar to what we did a few years ago with Long Day’s Journey into Night,’ says Rhombus’ Niv Fichman of the $2-million project, which is backed by Telefilm Canada, Bravo! and CBC. Fichman produces along with Danny Iron and Jennifer Jonas.
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