PRODUCERS from Nova Scotia will be the first to give us the dramatic account of the life and works of Pierre Trudeau. Wayne Grigsby will write it and he and David MacLeod will produce it. They – Grigsby and MacLeod (Black…

New Brunswick is very busy of late, with three feature films on the books for spring and summer. …

PRINCE Edward Island, in an effort to encourage the development of the province’s crew infrastructure, has introduced a new labor rebate as a pilot program for 2001/02….

Currently shooting in Newfoundland, The Shipping News represents the most action the province has seen in quite some time….

A good leader listens to his team, whether they’re down the hall or across the country. He solicits and values their opinions, and supports their dreams. And if his passions are Canada and its film and television industry, that leader is…

Robert Dinan, Lepage Dinan Avocats and former chairman of Telefilm: He was there for a little over three years of my mandate. He was great to work with: very, very knowledgeable about the industry, very friendly, very cordial, and very open….

‘When the camera moves, it moves with authority and muscularity,’ proclaims the ever-charming and perfectly boyish Paul Gross in describing his directing style on his first feature, Men With Brooms….

The hottest rumor at the 2001 National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas (April 21-26) became reality one week after everybody packed up and left the desert oasis – no writers’ strike. The buzz was the strike wouldn’t happen because the industry couldn’t afford to let it happen, and that proved true May 4 when the 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America negotiated a tentative contract with the film studios and TV networks.
Strike apprehension coupled with the aftermath of the dot-com stock crash was evident at the show, with turnout slightly down this year. Nevertheless, with 112,776 registered attendees (including an international contingent of 29,632) on hand to check out the wares of 1,600-plus exhibitors on the one million square feet of show floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Expo, NAB remains one of the world’s pre-eminent ‘convergence marketplaces.’

Vancouver: When Sports Page, ‘the fastest 10 minutes in sports,’ sprints from CKVU-TV in Vancouver to CHEK-TV to Victoria Sept. 2, there are bound to be a few armchair quarterbacks fumbling their remotes.
The long-running weekday sports news show, a mainstay of CKVU’s local programming, is just one of many changes to the Vancouver viewing schedule that will lead to viewer confusion. And it’s one of the many programming reasons local broadcasters are banding together to launch an August PR campaign to help viewers sort it all out.
They all agree it’s going to be a mess.

Independent Canadian production posted a $104-million increase in 2000, according to the 13th Playback Independent Production Survey.
The annual survey reported $1,831,382,668 in production figures for 2000, compared to 1999’s $1,727,355,660. Even with slightly fewer responses to the survey than last year (114 to 2000’s 134), the cumulative total of the companies’ reported production has outstripped last year’s figures.
Growth is particularly apparent in certain genres: MOW/pilot/miniseries and drama features gained significant ground over the past 12 months. The category that includes MOWs, pilots and miniseries far outstripped the other areas of growth, increasing by more than $64 million on last year’s numbers, while the rise in spending on drama features stands at a little over $10 million. The figures for development monies also showed a $10-million spike over last year.

The following is a chart indicating where independent production companies spent their money in 2000.

Montreal: After reviewing the current facts related to a Cogeco-Bell Globemedia offer to buy 85% of the shares of Television Quatre Saisons, the Competition Bureau has decided not to pursue the issue further.
The federal regulator issued a decision May 2 based on a claim by seller Quebecor that the Cogeco-BG bid is anti-competitive. The decision also rejected a Quebecor claim that the new joint bid is considerably lower than an earlier stand-alone bid by BCE, thought to be in the $80-million to $100-million range.

For the first time in more than 15 years, the federal government has granted the CBC an extra chunk of money to the tune of $60 million.
‘It’s a beginning,’ says CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch. ‘But it doesn’t solve the CBC’s problems.’
The money, which is a one-off for the year, is part of the government’s recent commitment to investing in Canadian culture, and will go to English and French television and radio programming.
‘I think there’s a growing recognition that we’ve been hurt significantly, and a growing recognition of the need for a public broadcaster in the growing channel universe,’ says Rabinovitch.

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AN article in Playback’s April 16 issue, ‘Panasonic debuts HD cinema camera,’ mistakenly referred to ‘Panasonic’s new HDCAM.’ Sony says HDCAM is a trademarked descriptor….