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AAC weighs in heavy with Emmy noms

Alliance Atlantis Communications has put on a show of prominence among the 53rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards nominees, and not just by Canadian standards.
With 26 nominations spanning five programs, the Toronto house tops the list of multiple nods, coming in just short of The Sopranos (22) and The West Wing (18), with 13 nominations for Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (a copro with IN-Motion AG, in association with Story Line Entertainment).

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LGT’s Beggs has best of both worlds

Vancouver: There will be many production executives in Canada – and maybe even a few in the U.S. – who envy Kevin Beggs, executive VP of series TV for Lions Gate Television. The boyish charmer gets the best of ‘television land’ and ‘television hinterland’ – production power and production subsidy, respectively.
While working for a technically Canadian company, the San Francisco native can keep an L.A. office, lunch with the U.S. network bwanas, cultivate his reputation in the TV power matrix, bask in the greenback-oriented ethos, and fly to the sets of his Vancouver-made, government-supported shows in time for dinner call.
In his hands, program concepts that would otherwise languish in the Finance Department as undercapitalized American shows see the full light of day when he brings them north as six-out-of-10 Cancon shows. And, by using the lucrative tax rebates, he is not burdened by the yoke of Canadiana.

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Layoffs at TOYBOX West, Mag North

Post-production houses Command Post & Transfer/TOYBOX West and Magnetic North have laid off staff, citing reaction to strike fears as the cause. Although Hollywood studios and networks successfully averted strikes by the Writers Guild of America, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Canadian post industry has already experienced substantial revenue loss.
Before the WGA negotiated its new contract May 4, and SAG and AFTRA followed suit on July 3, Hollywood rushed to get feature films and TV episodes in the can in the event of strike action. With so much of Hollywood’s annual production schedule completed, the number of U.S. projects shooting and posting this summer has been below average.

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One for the Advisory Group

As a new festival season rolls around, look for Canada’s movie directors to start some serious lobbying for what they consider to be their share of the reserved or performance envelope of the Canada Feature Film Fund. Quebec’s French-language directors association…

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Jumpcuts

Casters battle in Ontario…

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BDA addendum

Further study of the literally hundreds of awards given out at the Promax&BDA 2001 conference in Miami Beach, June 20-23, has revealed more Canadian success. …

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Correction

Richard Longpre has joined the Vancouver office of law firm Heenan Blaikie as a consultant – and not a lawyer as reported in our June 25 issue – in the field of labor and industrial relations….

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Remstar expands financing

Montreal: Four full years into the business, Remstar Corporation principals Maxime and Julian Remillard say their company has successfully navigated through the difficult, cash-intensive start-up period and has entered into a second phase of business development. …

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Taylor named chair of CBC

Vancouuver: Carole Taylor, a former broadcaster and civic politician, was named chair of the board of directors for the CBC July 16.
The Vancouverite’s appointment by Prime Minister Jean Chretien marks the first time in the public broadcaster’s 65-year history that the top job has gone to someone from outside Ontario or Quebec. And, in another first, Taylor will run the board from Vancouver. Her appointment is effective immediately.

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TVA benefits package grows to $48.9M

Montreal: The CRTC has approved Quebecor Media’s acquisition of Groupe TVA’s regulated assets, including Quebec’s leading private-sector broadcaster Reseau TVA, following its May decision approving Quebecor’s takeover of Le Groupe Videotron.
The commission says the approval ‘will only be effective provided a third party not associated with Quebecor or any of its affiliates files an application for authority to acquire TQS,’ and that the CRTC deems the application to be complete and TQS is placed in trust.
Of special interest to the independent production sector, and by a majority vote, the commission has established the value of the acquisition benefits package at $48.9 million, almost $14 million more than the $35 million proposed by Quebecor (based on an acquisition price of $489 million).

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SGF invests $14M in CineGroupe

Montreal: SGF Tech, a subsidiary of Societe generale de financement du Quebec, has come on board as an equity partner in CineGroupe with an investment of $14 million. SGF, a Quebec government joint-venture capital fund, joins equity partners Lions Gate Entertainment and Fox Family Worldwide on the CineGroupe board.
CineGroupe will use the new funds to expand its 3D, live-action and F/X production infrastructure and to develop new business opportunities in the tough international animation marketplace, says Marie-Christine Dufour, the company’s communications VP.

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Mlle. C.: Ciupka gets up close with the kids

Montreal: On the feature film La Mysterieuse mademoiselle C., director Richard Ciupka is using a lot of extended dolly one-shots to get as much spontaneity out of his very youthful cast as possible….

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Finance modifies tax credit rules

Montreal: The Quebec minister of finance has announced some important modifications to the refundable film and TV production tax credit, including a requirement that claims related to producer fees and administrative costs, and goods and services are admissible only if they are actually paid out. The new ruling takes effect Sept. 1.

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People

* Noah Segal, VP of international marketing for Lions Gate Films, is resigning his position as of August to launch a feature film production company in Toronto. The new, ‘pure play’ production house will launch in September, with further details expected…

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TIFF features new programs, Nordic Vision

A new Canadian Retrospective and an avant-garde film program, as well as a spotlight on films from the Nordic countries, are among the newest features at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, running Sept. 6-15….