On The Spot presents Top Spots 2001, recognizing the best in Canadian commercial production talent. OTS solicited Canadian production companies to submit work directed by Canadians with creative from Canadian agencies, first air date not to have preceded October 2000. Our crack(ed) judging panel consisted of Playback editor Samantha Yaffe, OTS associate editor Mark Dillon, OTS staff writers Dustin Dinoff and Dave Lazar, and Steve Hillman, founder of Toronto post and design shop exhibita. After marathon, blinding sessions of spot viewing, analyzing, marking – not to mention fierce bickering and name-calling, our panel arrived at a final ranking for this year’s Top Spots and winners in five craft categories. So, without further ado…

The Canon XL1 mini DV camera might be best known for wedding videography, but director of photography Jesse Rosensweet brought it into the digital realm on the feature It All Happens Incredibly Fast…

The three-part Eatons TV campaign consisting of ‘Dilemma,’ ‘Discovery’ and ‘Big Finish’ represents a commercial work of rare scope, and brings the 2001 On the Spot Top Spots overall award to The Partners’ Film Company out of Toronto and director Floria Sigismondi.

The Swiss Miss has hit. Yes, Heidi, everybody’s favorite character from the Swiss Alps is yodeling her way back to the big screen. Toronto animation giant Nelvana is developing a 50-50 coproduction of the long-loved children’s tale with Germany’s TV-Loonland and KirchMedia. The project was greenlit at MIPCOM earlier this month.
Nelvana promises the newest incarnation of the fable will be true to the popular story and colorful personalities that surround the preteen hero. Nelvana supervising producer Cynthia Taylor says the project is for ‘theatrical release in Europe and very likely theatrical release here. That’s still being worked on.’

The controversial issue of Internet television broadcasting has taken another sharp change of direction. It may be worthwhile to take a deep breath and take stock of where things now stand.
When iCraveTV folded its tent and shut down in early 2000, it appeared that the issue had gone away. But the appearance of wannabe Internet broadcaster JumpTV that summer put the issue squarely back on the front burner.
JumpTV, like iCraveTV before it, wants to take over-the-air TV signals and stream them over the Internet. The problem is that JumpTV does not want to ask for permission from either the broadcasters or the program owners involved. Instead, it wants to use the compulsory licence provisions of section 31 of the Copyright Act to unilaterally retransmit broadcast signals in return for paying a royalty set by the Copyright Board.

Calgary’s Alberta Filmworks is teaming with Montreal’s Galafilm to produce Agent of Influence, an MOW for CTV.
The coproduction, which begins shooting Oct. 29 in Calgary, is being executive produced by Randy Bradshaw and Doug MacLeod on the Filmworks side and Galafilm’s Arnie Gelbart and Francine Allaire. Bradshaw is also acting as producer. ‘I have two hats to wear on this one,’ he says. ‘It’s kind of fun because I’ve never done it before, so I am enjoying it.’

It stands to reason that music is a big part of any musical, and so Toronto-based commercial audio house Pirate Radio & Television played an integral part in this year’s Top Spot, the four-and-a-half minute ‘Dilemma/ Discovery/Big Finish’ Eatons campaign produced by The Partners’ Film Company for agency Ammirati Puris.

Halifax’s Second Wave Productions is once again teaming with Toronto’s Triptych Media to produce The Bay of Love and Sorrows, currently filming in New Brunswick. The feature film marks the third project delivered by the partners. The companies have come together before on The Hanging Garden and The Bookfair Murders.

Vancouver: St. Monica, a B.C./Ontario coproduction, is one of the first features to benefit from the booty falling from the Canadian Feature Film Fund’s performance envelope.
The producers attached to the drama previously engineered the box-office successes The New Waterford Girl, Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny of Sienna Films, and Better than Chocolate, Sharon McGowan and Peggy Thompson of Mortimer & Ogilvy Films, who have $709,000 and $409,000, respectively, due from the $100-million kitty. The producers got money from both the performance and selective envelopes.

Generator Films director Zach Math has received a lot of attention in this, his first full year as a commercial director. In addition to being a finalist at this year’s Saatchi & Saatchi/Playback First Cut Awards, he placed two spots, ‘Nerd Club’ and ‘Tiny Sparrow of Love,’ among this year’s 10 Top Spots. It was his work on ‘Tiny Sparrow’ that garnered him the highest grade among directors in this year’s competition.

According to Radke Films director/DOP Steve Gordon, a great cause inspires superior results. His work on the PSA ‘It’s Only Natural’ for Reach for the Rainbow is proof positive, garnering top marks in this year’s Top Spots cinematography category.

Michael McCabe remembers exactly the moment when the Canadian Association of Broadcasters began to assert its new identity. It was 1988 and McCabe had recently taken over the reins of CAB as the president and CEO.

Toronto-based Flashcut editor Chris Parkins was able to really show his chops on the spot ‘Umbrella’ (Top Spot #3) for Ford of Canada. Directed by Jean-Marc Piche of Montreal’s Cinelande, the 60-second ad (later cut down to two :30s) displays some impressive cutting and morphing, which Parkins credits largely to inferno artist Mike Morey (then with Manta DSP, now with Stealing Time Editing).

For the third consecutive year, Toronto’s Spin Productions has come out on top in the Top Spots F/X and animation category. Spin designer Hiep Pham gets the nod for his work on The Bay’s Fashion Cares spot. The spot, entitled ‘Fun With Fashion,’ features the after-work exploits of some tough-looking, blue-collar guys getting ready for a fashionable – and feminine – night on the town.

The following is a listing of Canadian commercial production houses in alphabetical order. Information is based on questionnaires completed by companies which chose to respond to Playback’s survey.