The term smooth sailing doesn’t always apply to productions shot on or near the water. According to Halifax’s Topsail Entertainment, producer of the new documentary series Tall Ship Chronicles, and others, the mix of water and film gear is not always easy on the nerves, or the stomach.
Tall Ship Chronicles follows the adventures of the crew of a tall ship as they sail around the world.
With a crew of 40, the cinematographer for the first leg of the voyage was Wade Cornell. He says his time on the ship was challenging, but he was very pleased with how the equipment held up.

No matter the desired look, the period in question or the duration of the shoot, the tale of the costume designer continues until the final scene is shot, the final time….

In an industry known for its share of prima donnas and troubled actors, animals, even bugs, can be easier to work with than many humans. Naturally, there are people behind these talents, guiding their careers and providing directors with well-behaved creatures…

The perils of catering might seem to involve only a predictable list of problems – food allergies and intolerances, oddball demands by finicky cast or crew, kitchen fires, running short of vittles, that sort of thing. But it turns out that…

BRITISH COLUMBIA…

There is no denying a slowdown in commercial production across North America in recent months. Clearly, Canadian spot shops have not been left unscathed. Companies are scrambling to find new sources of revenue, and whispers continue that not everyone will survive the dip.
With agency layoffs signaling a greater slump in the overall economy, some nervous producers are saying this slowdown, unlike others that preceded it in the ’80s and ’90s, may signal a complete paradigm shift in the industry.
Canadian spot shops are responding to the downturn in different ways. Some smaller companies, with lower overheads, are ‘sticking to their knitting,’ using the down time to strengthen relationships with agency people. But most medium to large shops cannot afford to wait it out.

A team comprised of Redrover Studio’s Andy Knight, Hero Films’ Linzi Knight, Imported Artists director Richard D’Alessio and former Revolver Films producer Allan Weinrib has put together a new commercial production company known as UnpluggedTV.com.
UnpluggedTV is best described as a spot shop that helps agencies and advertisers extend their brands to the Web. In the gray area between Web ads and commercial production, UnpluggedTV plans to guide advertisers and their agencies through the confusing zeros and ones to a solid end product – a fully-produced animated or live-action broadcast spot suitable for the Web. If the client is up for exploring the new frontier, its spot can be viewed on the UnpluggedTV website, which can be linked directly to the brand’s own home on the Web. Pepsi and AT&T have already signed contracts, and the founding partners expect other major clients to follow suit when the company begins performing.

The focus of this regular section is on agencies in Canada. Looking for agency business strategies and creative teams’ secret weapons? We tell all in Ad Missions….

With a much-anticipated September launch of roughly 40 new digital services, including 16 mandatory ones, broadcasters and distributors are in the final stretch of carriage negotiations for second-tier digital channels, and there’s still little word on who’s picking up what.
‘It’s a very complicated negotiation process, more so than ever before,’ says Janet Yale, president and CEO of the Canadian Cable Television Association. ‘[Distributors are trying] to work out a lot of many parts (sic), all at the same time.’

Montreal: Quebec’s French-language directors association wants significant changes to the Canada Feature Film Fund, saying directors and screenwriters deserve a share of the new fund’s reserved or performance envelope.
Roger Cantin, president of the 340-member Association des Realisateurs et Realisatrices du Quebec, says the CFFF performance guidelines deny the reality ‘films are made by a team. We’ve been saying this for years, ‘The team is the producer, screenwriter and the director.’ And now all of a sudden there are important benefits which can be used to start new productions, and they are only being given to the producer and distributor. So all the creative [elements] which work to renew our cinema’s originality are set aside.’

Vancouver: On July 3, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for a new three-year contract.
The previous contract expired on June 30 and the 135,000 members will vote to ratify the contract offering through a secret ballot mail referendum as soon as it can be arranged.
In the meantime, actors can continue to work and audition under the terms of the tentative agreement.

Former Maxx Productions executive producer Lisa Whittall has joined Toronto music video production house Oz Media to spearhead its new commercial production division.
Whittall, Oz’s VP, managing director, joins Trisha McKell, president/executive producer.
Oz has also teamed with neighbor Oasis Pictures, a film and TV producer/distributor, to create the Oz Media Group of Companies, which includes Oz’s music video and commercial divisions as well as Oz TV & Feature, a new division specializing in film and television production.

The dark cloud that’s been hovering over Sportsnet throughout the last year will soon be parting as appointed trustee Scott Colbran has finally put out an offer to sell CTV’s 40% interest in the channel.
All three remaining shareholders – Rogers Broadcasting, Molson and Fox Sports Net Canada Holdings – have an equal stab at the channel, but Rogers, which has been vying for the sports specialty ever since CTV was mandated to divest of it last year, has greater leverage now that the CRTC has lifted its restriction on cable ownership of discretionary services.

Montreal: Following the examination period set up for potential buyers to peruse the highly confidential ‘book’ on Cinar Corp.’s financial status, management, board and the company’s strategic advisor Merrill Lynch & Co. have moved into a second phase, anticipating a wide range of diverse bids and offers on the company’s assets.
Word on the street has it many major Canadian and multinational entertainment companies are among the potential buyers.
It is now clear the 24-year-old company will emerge with a new strategic partner, but in what form, if any, and with what future remains unknown.

Established commercial directors are the subject of this regular feature. Each issue we will profile their careers, accomplishments and the ideas that propel them to new advertising heights….