The King of Canadian Television

® A PUBLICATION OF BRUNICO COMMUNICATIONS LTD. FALL 2013

2013 UNSPOOLING the HALL OF FAME FUTURE REVEALED + OF FILM 102WATCH

ALSO: FILM DIARIES | STEBBINGS VS. SOBOL | SERENDIPITY POINT FILMS AT 15

PB.Cover.fall13.indd 1 13-08-21 7:31 PM THE ART OF THE STEAL ENEMY TIFF® Gala Presentation TIFF® Special Presentation

THE F WORD THE HUSBAND TIFF® Special Presentation TIFF® Special Presentation Credit / Courtesy: Photo © Edward Burtynsky Courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto Screening at TIFF® and proudly supported by the OMDC Film Fund WATERMARK TIFF® Special Presentation

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL ONTARIO FILMMAKERS AND FILMS AT TIFF®

OMDC is a proud supporter of the Toronto International Film Festival®. Ontario is home to the third largest entertainment sector in North America, attracting production from around the world. Visit OMDC at the TIFF Industry Centre to ﬁnd out how our programs and initiatives are helping to create a thriving, multi-billion-dollar industry and a wealth of opportunity. Be part of it. OMDC.on.ca

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PB.23549.OMDC.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-26 3:46 PM FALL 2013 table of contents

Big picture: Canadian director Paul Haggis frames a shot in Third Person, his upcoming feature shot in Rome and New York.

9 Upfront 26 In conversation with... 48 Tribute: Serendipity Point Films New money, new deals, Peter Stebbings and Jonathan Sobol Producer Robert Lantos recalls new businesses highlights from the company’s last 30 Playback’s 2013 Hall of Fame 15 years, and discusses its expanding 14 The new indie marketplace They changed the industry for vision for the future Canadian fi lmmakers are building a the better: here are six icons of worldly profi le as they traverse new Canadian fi lm and TV. 58 The Back Page global and digital frontiers #TIFFTips 42 10 to Watch 20 Film diaries This new wave of talent is tackling The Husband, Gabrielle, Cas & Dylan the changing mediascape with diverse skills and entrepreneurial drive.

Cover note: The cover of our fall issue features the work of Tod Kapke. We asked the Denver-based artist to conceptualize the changing fi lm industry environment as a machine: as fi lm is fed in, it is molded by modern infl uences and transformed into a new digital entity.

fall 2013 | 3

PB.TOC.Fall13.indd 3 13-08-22 3:38 PM PUBLISHER Mary Maddever • [email protected] CONTENT DIRECTOR & EDITOR Katie Bailey • [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITOR Danielle Ng-See-Quan • [email protected] CONTRIBUTORS Mirella Christou, Mark Dillon, Marc Glassman, David Godkin, Georgia Graham, Seine Shetty, Back to Jordan Twiss, Etan Vlessing BRUNICO CREATIVE ART DIRECTOR the future • Andrew Glowala [email protected] The failure of the summertime blockbuster has loomed large over Hollywood this summer, PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION SUPERVISOR sparking what I’m sure has been many an unpleasant scene in executive boardrooms. The gaps Robert Lines • [email protected] between what was spent and what was earned at the North American box offi ce are staggering: Disney CFO Jay Rasulo pegged initial company losses for The Lone Ranger to be in the range of ADVERTISING SALES $160 to $190 million. (416) 408-2300 Here in Canada, much more modest movie budgets mean those kinds of losses stay safely FAX (416) 408-0870 south of the border. (Which is a nice idea, although of little comfort if you’re a producer 1-888-278-6426 sweating it out at 2 a.m. over a project’s ROI.) However, the Lone Ranger stories brought ADVERTISING EXEC to mind a recent interview I listened to featuring Canadian writer-directors Seth Rogan and Jessamyn Nunez • [email protected] Evan Goldberg, speaking about the making of their latest studio fi lm, This Is The End. Having MARKETING CO-ORDINATOR downsized to a $30 million budget after the $120 million The Green Hornet, the duo discussed Vakis Boutsalis • [email protected] the creative freedoms they gained in making the – relatively speaking – low-budget fi lm. To sum it up, they said: “Mo money, mo problems.” BRUNICO AUDIENCE SERVICES Here in Canada, the situation is a little different: $30 million is a big budget for an MANAGER independent fi lm. But providing a Canadian perspective on the intersection between creativity Christine McNalley • [email protected] and commerce is our director-to-director interview on pg. 26 with Jonathan Sobol and Peter Stebbings. Dabbling in budgets that have ranged between $1 and $10 million, the two TIFF- ADMINISTRATION bound directors are well versed in the art of fi nding the balance between the two. PRESIDENT AND CEO The common thread globally is that fi lmmakers are increasingly being asked to do more Russell Goldstein • [email protected] with less. Viewership habits are changing, media is content-saturated and investors are more risk-sensitive than ever. But in this issue of Playback, you’ll see plenty of evidence that it’s an VP AND CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER environment that Canadian fi lmmakers are thriving in Omri Tintpulver • [email protected] Home-grown fi lmmaking success story Serendipity Point Films, lead by Canadian fi lm mogul VP AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Robert Lantos, has found a fertile niche in making highly regarded, modestly budgeted fi lms for Mary Maddever • [email protected] 15 years, most with The Right Kind of Wrong, a $15 million fi lm that debuts to gala treatment at VP ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE TIFF this year. We pay tribute to its achievements on pg. 48. And our fi lmmakers are landing big Linda Lovegrove • [email protected] stars even with comparatively low budgets, such as the approximately $2.5 million Cas & Dylan VP & PUBLISHER, REALSCREEN starring veteran Richard Dreyfuss and rising Canadian star Tatiana Maslany. You can read the Claire Macdonald • [email protected] fi lm’s funding story in the fi lm diary on pg. 24. VP & PUBLISHER, KIDSCREEN Watching this industry change and grow is the reason I’m so excited to re-join Playback’s Jocelyn Christie • [email protected] excellent editorial team, alongside our newly promoted associate editor, Danielle Ng-See-Quan and longstanding contributor, Etan Vlessing. I look forward to the opportunity to speak with many of you at TIFF.

Katie Bailey Playback is published by Brunico Communications Ltd., Content Director & Editor, Playback 366 Adelaide Street West, Suite 100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 1R9 (416) 408-2300; FAX: (416) 408-0870 Internet address: www.playbackonline.ca Editorial e-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Sales e-mail: [email protected] Sales FAX: (416) 408-0870

Canadian Postmaster, send undeliverables and address changes to: Playback PO BOX 369 Beeton ON, L0G 1A0 U.S. Postmaster, send undeliverables and address changes to: Playback PO BOX 1103, Niagara Falls NY, 14304 [email protected] Canada Post Agreement No. 40050265. ISSN: 0836-2114 Printed in Canada.

4 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.Editorial.Fall13.indd 4 13-08-22 3:40 PM PB.23233.NBC.indd 1 13-08-20 5:05 PM What’s now. Connecting What’s the dots next. Since it’s our TIFF issue, we asked Playback’s new art director Andrew Glowala to give a nod to the Cannes-calibre red Playback magazine and carpet glitz and glam side of the festival on the cover, but also refl ect the new market reality of viewership: more small- screen self-scheduled viewing, where everyone is truly both critic and programmer. Andrew, who comes to us from playbackonline.ca cover Kidscreen, is used to the bright, shiny packaging that belies the complexity of the kids biz, and the image by illustrator the whole industry, Tod Kapke also casts a game-like veneer on the machinations of new factors changing an old formula. Cannes itself is an interesting example of the change, as all the industries affected trek there each year at their duly from breaking news to appointed times – as they have done for decades – with the fi lm, TV, digital and brand world skeds not intersecting. While there recently for the Lions Festival of Creativity, I spoke to PwC global entertainment leader Marcel Fenez to in-depth features. get his insights on the trends impacting the industry, as more new digital platforms (as well as advertisers) get into the content game. Observing that perhaps there should be more Cannes contingent cross-pollination, Fenez says “the one thing that is completely true is that everyone wants to own their own content.” As to where the budgets for all this new Stay in the loop. longer-form content everyone wants is coming from, he explains, “there is an opportunity to fund good ideas and forge partnerships, so we keep seeing more and more of that – and they’re not media sales, they’re partnerships.” Every day. All year. He added that beyond forging new partners and deal models, appealing to the digital audience requires content development re-orientation. “You have to go the other way round, ‘who am I designing this for, and where are they?’. For only $12 That may change what you’re designing. We have to think about the outcome fi rst.” And as more of the audience tips and dips into the streaming space, the rejig extends beyond content to the a month. corporate mindset. “The biggest challenge of all is that we have to be bold and be prepared to fail quick, and that’s the domain of small innovative tech companies, not broadcasters.” To help with this sea change, Playback has been collaborating with our marketing publication strategy on various A subscription to initiatives lately – like the AToMiC Awards and BCON Expo – to recognize the folks who are getting it right, and connect the dots between new partners. playbackonline.ca also That’s one of the many reasons we’re chuffed Playback’s former editor Katie Bailey is back, once again stepping ensures you will continue in mid-issue to take over the reins. Her new remit – content director – refl ects the fact that there’s more to Playback than magazines and daily news, and as our digital and event strategy evolves, the content is under Katie’s capable to receive Playback’s stewardship. Her background as former editor of Media in Canada, as well as recent experience working with brands in the content space, gives her unique insight into the changing mediascape and the new partners and opportunities quarterly print magazines, for producers and networks. Playback’s news editor, Danielle Ng-See-Quan, our social and transmedia guru, has just including the upcoming stepped up to the associate editor role and is working with Playback’s longtime news correspondent, industry vet Etan Vlessing, to develop more stories that address these business challenges and opportunities in Playback Daily. winter issue revealing the top On the new biz front, Playback has a Summit coming up that looks at the streaming side of the content market, newsmakers of the year designed to connect producers with the new digital buyers. It’s inspired and powered by sister brand STREAM, a market for digital content creators that recently launched in Santa Monica. Also, make sure you have your projects posted on the and what Canada’s most BCONXchange, so that more potential partners, whether they’re brands or programming execs, know what’s in the works. successful companies On the events front, we’re also delighted to be working again with our media partner CBC, and with our new venue partner Liberty Group, to present the Hall of Fame gala during TIFF. It’s always a poignant reminder of all the amazing did in 2013. accomplishments – and most importantly, the people – who have shaped and elevated Canada’s fi lm and TV biz, and continue to do so. We appreciate the support of the CFC, ACTRA and Swarovski, as well as our advisory board, who collaborate with us on this unique recognition every year. Check out the 2013 inductees starting on pg. 30. REGISTER

Cheers, TODAY FOR YOUR

Mary Maddever, FREE 14 DAY TRIAL Publisher, Playback

Subscribe at playbackonline.ca/free or call 416.408.2448 for all the news on the Canadian ﬁ lm & TV industry

6 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

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PB.23679.Strip.HA.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:41 PM PB.23472.Canon.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-26 3:47 PM In Partnership With

Playback congratulates the 2013 Honourees:

Industry Builder Slawko Klymkiw Creative Ted Kotcheff Television George Anthony Talent Colm Feore Feature Film Rock Demers Posthumous Al Waxman Outstanding Achievement Award Mark Bishop & Matt Hornburg Breakout Award Xavier Dolan Swarovski Humanitarian Award David Suzuki

Thanks to our sponsors:

Supporting Sponsors Media Partner Award Partner Venue Sponsor

PB.23674.HoF.HA.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-26 3:48 PM Guidestones, which was initially launched as a real-time interactive web series, later launched a linear version available on Hulu, and now CTV in Canada.

NEW DEALS: GUIDESTONES EXPANDS ITS BY ETAN VLESSING CROSS-PLATFORM APPROACH Jonas Diamond is platform-agnostic these days when it comes to rolling out his digital content. interacting with that content. He’s not wedded to any window, even if in Guidestones he has a popular Canadian If the fi rst season viewing does as well on CTV’s digital properties as it did online, the transmedia series now viewed exclusively in Canada on CTV’s online properties. broadcaster will back a second season of the web series. Diamond, CEO of iThentic Canada, argues that strategic layering of theatrical, TV and even The prospects audience-wise are good: Guidestones, about two journalism students brand integration is key in creating that elusive, sustainable business model for web series. uncovering a global conspiracy, has a cross-border audience thanks to its deal with Hulu. iThentic released the fi rst season of Guidestones online to successfully build an initial Elsewhere, iThentic, a coproducer on writer-director Pavan Moondi’s Everyday Is Like following, which was rewarded with a string of awards, including an International Emmy. Sunday, launched the indie feature at the Carlton Cinema in Toronto in mid-August. This August, CTV licensed the series for broadcast on its website, its tablet app and on But that was about capturing theatrical lightening before the low-budget dramedy about Bell Mobile TV. The series also airs on Hulu in the U.S. and is available on Facebook. young people fresh from college is made available online as a 10-episode web series. To date, Guidestones has earned over one million overall impressions across its digital And, if the right broadcast partner appears, Everyday Is Like Sunday will screen on TV. platforms and has an almost 50% vistor-return rate, according to iThentic. In addition to “It’s a way to break through the clutter in terms of being a high-quality theatrical fi lm and its licence fees, iThentic earns additional revenue through branded content on its website; looking to fi nd the right home for it, whether online and TV, so it doesn’t just launch into the visitors spend an average of fi ve minutes on the site, two of which iThentic claims is spent abyss,” Diamond explains.

NEW MONEY: THE TELUS FUND BY DANIELLE NG-SEE-QUAN Vancouver-based telecom Telus is looking to launch a national First and foremost, the content, which can be anything from wellness early on… if there’s money available, people think multiplatform conversation about health and wellness. a web series, short fi lm, or miniseries, must address and anything fl ies,” she says, adding that the goal is to back The company in August launched The Telus Fund, a new boost awareness of health and wellness. only the most innovative ideas that set the bar for the fund’s multiplatform content fund that will fund 10 to 20 Canadian Nini Baird, chair of the Telus Fund, tells Playback that it long-term goals in supporting content creation. projects with up to $250,000 each to develop and produce received more than 100 inquiries in the fi rst 24 hours of There’s no mandated prescription for the type of content content that addresses the health and well-being of Canadians. its launch. or topic – Baird says it’s up to independent producers to Telus has submitted an application to the CRTC to be The Fund is securing its board, which will be comprised of evolve creative ideas. The main idea is to communicate the approved as a certifi ed independent production fund, joining industry executives from across the country, and which will importance of health and wellness, an issue Telus views the likes of the Bell Fund, Independent Production Fund and go through submissions after the initial deadline on Oct. 18. as critical. Shaw Rocket Fund. Because of the tight timeline in the fi rst round, the fund has “I think it’s one of the most important issues facing the Eligible projects must meet CAVCO requirements and also announced a second deadline on Feb. 3, 2014. country right now,” says Baird. have a licence fee from a Canadian programming service. Baird emphasizes that the fi rst round of submissions will set Revenues earned from the content will be reinvested into a precedent for the type of content the fund will greenlight. fi nancing more related content. “I think we really need to emphasize that health and

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PB.FOB_p9.Fall13.indd 9 13-08-21 6:39 PM Turning a page...

While you were warming up your Muskoka chair (Ontario) or planning a houseboat party on the Shuswap (that’s you, B.C.), these folks were taking care of business. Here are a few of the deals that went down.

WHAT DOES SDG STAND FOR? capital, structure their business to appeal to lenders, manage BARCODE SDG SDG stands for “Strategy, Development, Governance,” the their companies and increase their return on investment. I BASED IN TORONTO three most critical elements of effective management, am to the fi lm and TV industry what Steve Ballmer was to Industry veteran Douglas Barrett has ownership practices and succession planning. Bill Gates – a business advisor for creative geniuses. There just put out a shingle for his new is a lot of mentoring in the IT sector but I don’t think there Toronto-based consultancy, barcode WHAT UNIQUE SKILLS, EXPERIENCES OR KNOWLEDGE are a lot of people out there who are giving strategic advice SDG. The strategic advisory fi rm DO YOU BRING TO THE TABLE? to businesses in the fi lm and TV industry. That’s my space. I will counsel medium-sized creative My 35 years of experience in the industry; the disciplines I think within the fi lm/television/broadcasting/online space in businesses on ways to improve their acquired as a Bay Street lawyer and mid-market CEO; the Canada, my offering is unique. DOUGLAS BARRETT own success story. In addition to special knowledge I gained from the many clients I served his 20 years as an entertainment as legal counsel; my time as Board Chair of the Canadian WHAT WILL YOUR COMPANY REINVENT? lawyer, Barrett was also president & CEO of PS Production Television Fund (now Canada Media Fund); my participation My goal is to be inventive. Services Ltd. from 2006 to May 2013. He is also currently a on the many industry boards that have invited me to join and, professor of broadcast management in the MBA program at of course, my scintillating personality. WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN A YEAR? the Schulich School of Business. I hope to have helped a few people unravel the non-market WHAT’S YOUR NICHE? challenges that affect their businesses. Medium-sized businesses that have established themselves – Seine Shetty creatively but are looking for advice on ways to access

10 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

WHAT MOST EXCITES YOU ABOUT THIS OPPORTUNITY? Launched at the Banff World Media Festival, Bent is the new That singular focus on producing the best quality branded Toronto-based branded entertainment venture headed by four content. We’re in a market space that is ready to grow industry veterans. Cue Digital Media’s David UK, ex-Chum TV signiﬁ cantly. We’re in early, we’re with the right partners exec and Hercules Media Group Stephen Tapp, advertising and we believe that the digital, online budget is increasing veteren Christopher Grimston and writer/director/producer exponentially every year, and that we’re going to have a James Hyslop. Playback spoke with UK and Tapp about their growing piece of that pie. From a business perspective, it’s new endeavour in a joint interview. the right place at the right time.

fall 2013 | 11

DG Mijo offers a comprehensive suite of Creative Media Solutions.

fall 2013 | 11

IATSEPB.22802.IATSE891.inddPB.23716.IATSE.Ad.indd Local 891 Final Playback 11 ad Feb 2013.indd 1 2013-08-2013-02-1513-02-15 10:02 3:453:43 PMAMPM PB.23625.Mijo.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:45 PM PB.Front.TurningPage.Fall13.indd 11 13-08-21 8:39 PM WHAT MAKES YOUR COMPANY DIFFERENT? We’ll be specializing in scripted one-hour TV dramas, long- EDYSON ENTERTAINMENT I think there is a real opportunity for a creatively driven form productions and miniseries. BASED IN TORONTO AND L.A. company with strong and tested relationships in the U.S. to offer an alternative in the market place. WHAT WILL YOUR COMPANY REINVENT? We are looking at building on the current momentum of WHAT DO YOU BRING TO THE TABLE THAT IS UNIQUE? Canadian television. I’ve been so impressed with what’s I worked on the production side for a decade before moving been coming out of Canada the last few years. We seem to into development and producing so I have a good sense of be really coming into our own as an industry. Orphan Black the whole process. Not just what works on the page but what is one of my favourite shows of all of last season. Not just ALYSON RICHARDS ED GERNON will work up on its feet and ultimately in front of an audience. favorite Canadian show, but favourite show. I’ve also spent a lot of time working in L.A. where I was This spring, independent Canadian production company based from 2009 to 2012 so I have a good understanding of ANY PROJECTS IN THE PIPELINE? Edyson Entertainment threw open its doors, announcing the U.S. market as well as the Canadian market. Ed has an We are still early days but are defi nitely excited about the a cross-border launch strategy with offi ces in Toronto and incredible depth of experience, exceptional taste and passion slate we are putting together. We are working with some L.A. and a fi rst-look deal with London- and L.A.-based for crafting good stories, as well as impressive relationships incredibly talented veteran writers and some emerging talent distributor Content Media. Headed by Alyson Richards, a with the talent community. as well. veteran producer, and Ed Gernon, a former Alliance Atlantis – Seine Shetty Communications executive, the prodco’s mandate is to WHAT WILL YOUR COMPANY FOCUS ON? develop, produce, distribute and fi nance projects for the North We’re still a start-up so our focus is on development where American and international markets. Richards, who gives we are dividing our resources roughly 50% original ideas and Playback the rundown here, will be based in Toronto, while 50% where we are optioning material, books, articles, etc... Gernon will head up the L.A. offi ce.

WHAT IS YOUR COMPETITIVE EDGE? Neighbors, reality dating format Girlfri3nds and an undercover KESHET CANADA We understand what its like to be in the shoes of a factual entertainment show called Fair and Square, which BASED IN TORONTO broadcaster. Our model is somewhat different in that we’re puts service professionals to the test. also looking to partner with many of the leading Canadian television production companies, both in English and ARE YOU CONSIDERING MULTIPLATFORM DELIVERY ON French Canada. ANY OF THESE PROJECTS? One of the other great advantages in working with Keshet WHY CANADA? is that they are very advanced in second- and third-screen The Canadian television marketplace has demonstrated entertainment platforms. They currently operate Mako, one MARK RUBINSTEIN repeatedly that Canadian broadcasters and viewers have of the largest web portals in Israel. We’re looking forward to a strong interest in compelling formats and you can look leveraging both the technology and the learning experienced At the 2013 Banff World Media Festival, Israeli producer- at everything from Canadian Idol to the Amazing Race from what Keshet has done in Israel, and adapt it to what’s distributor Keshet International (KI) announced a joint venture as examples of that. There’s an established track record already a technically advanced, cross-platform environment with former Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting executive Mark of coproduction between the Canadian market and other in Canada. Rubinstein. Keshet Canada, will have the rights to over 50 markets, including the U.K. market where Keshet is now scripted and unscripted KI properties, with the aim to produce operating in development on a number of different series, as IF YOU COULD CREATE A SIGNATURE COCKTAIL FOR local versions under the Keshet Canada banner and develop well as the U.S. market place. YOUR COMPANY, WHAT WOULD IT BE CALLED AND new content in-house. KI is the global distribution and WHAT WOULD BE IN IT? production arm of Keshet Media Group, and recently launched ANY FIRST PROJECTS IN MIND? The Keshet Martini would be a mix of gin and vermouth, with shops in the U.K. and Australia. Its properties include drama To start with, we’re focused in the non-scripted arena, and a splash of Israeli red wine – and if you drink it you have the Prisoners of War, upon which HBO series Homeland is based. we are very enthusiastic about many of the formats on our strength of a thousand! slate but in particular, there are three that we’ve gotten a very – Georgia Graham strong and enthusiastic reception for: docu-comedy Dear

12 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.23722.OIAF.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 2:29 PM PB.Front.TurningPage.Fall13.indd 12 13-08-21 8:39 PM Screen Industries Research and Training Centre

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The first screen-based industry technology innovation centre of its kind in Canada

Sheridan College’s Screen Industries Research & Training Centre (SIRT) is now poised to offer unprecedented innovation services to Ontario’s digital media industry. The Centre is enhancing its support activities in a variety of areas including:

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Sheridan wishes to recognize the companies and industry organizations that have made SIRT‘s success possible, including screen-based industry consortium, FilmOntario, the International Cinematographers Guild – I.A.T.S.E. Local 667, Directors Guild of Canada - Ontario, and ACTRA – Toronto; as well as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Media Development Corporation and the Government of Ontario for their support.

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PB.23476.Sheridan.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-26 3:49 PM 14 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.TIFF.RiskStory2013.indd 14 13-08-21 8:37 PM TIFF 2013 GLOBAL STORIES, DIGITAL SPACES Filmmaking may be a tough game these days, but Canadian fi lmmakers are both building global brand names and fi nding new ways to fi nd audiences in crowded digital spaces.

BY ETAN VLESSING AND DANIELLE NG-SEE-QUAN

With more of its top directors gaining recognition in the U.S. and its latest arthouse pictures reaping critical praise on the international festival circuit, Canada’s often-overshadowed fi lm industry is becoming a fully fl edged brand. And it’s happening just in time. As the challenges of fi lmmaking increase – reduced budgets, changing distribution models, hyper-competitive box offi ces – Canadian producers and fi lmmakers are already on the move to global markets, diversifying risk and building brand awareness in markets around the world. At the same time, the era of easy money at home is ending. Deep budgetary chops at Telefi lm Canada and the NFB, as well as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC)’s recent denial of mandatory carriage for Starlight: The Canadian Movie Channel, have proved that fi lmmakers will have to be even more creative in launching projects and maintaining professional growth. It’s in this environment, however, that top Canadian fi lmmakers such as Denis Villeneuve and Jean-Marc Vallée are thriving. Following his Oscar nomination for Incendies, Villeneuve has capitalized on his newfound name recognition and moved outside the close-knit world of Quebec fi lmmaking. This year, he shot the $50-million Hugh

Enemy director Denis Villeneuve and the ﬁ lm’s star, Jake Gyllenhaal, go over notes on set. Photo courtesy of Rhombus Media.

fall 2013 | 15

PB.TIFF.RiskStory2013.indd 15 13-08-21 8:37 PM Liam Neeson and Olivia Wilde star TIFF 2013 in Paul Haggis’ Third Person.

Jackman-starrer Prisoners for Warner Bros., in Atlanta, says. “But when they have a bigger project that demands Georgia. That was on the heels of a domestic shoot for his more resources, or they just want to cast somebody outside Canada-Spain copro, Enemy, which marked both his fi rst of Canada, they’ve earned the right to do that,” Bailey adds. English-language feature, and the fi rst time he’s made a Footloose directors working both at home and abroad is movie at home with an American star, Jake Gyllenhaal. mirrored in English-speaking Canada, where Atom Egoyan, Haggis’ “More fi lmmakers need to aspire to what [Villeneuve] has David Cronenberg, Neill Blomkamp and Brad Peyton are been able to achieve,” TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey routinely shooting movies stateside or elsewhere abroad. ‘Third’ act says of Villeneuve’s cross-border plays. “They’ve just broadened out, even out of Quebec, out of The global breakout by marquee Quebec directors includes French language production, out of Canadian fi lms,” Piers The famed director on Jean-Marc Vallée with 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club, featuring Handling, CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival red-hot Matthew McConaughey as its lead, and Ken Scott, Group, says of Canadian directors building brand equity with making an indie and its who directs Vince Vaughn as a serial sperm donor in the international audiences and partners. upcoming TIFF debut. upcoming DreamWorks comedy Delivery Man, a remake of “The talent is becoming more global, and some of our BY ETAN VLESSING his French-language Starbuck. fi lmmakers, the cream of that crop, of course can attract As well, Scott’s 2003 box offi ce hit Le grand seduction was international stars,” he adds. Paul Haggis got the theatre and slot he remade into an English-language version by Don McKellar, That momentum is not limited to directorial talent. wanted for Third Person, his latest movie and will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. Film producers with satellite offi ces in Los Angeles and to have its world premiere at the upcoming Bailey argues that Canadian directors that have managed London are fi nding new cross-border business models are Toronto International Film Festival. to make world-beating movies on a low budget have given succeeding, with people pulling from both ends of the rope to “I asked for Elgin Theatre, on Monday night,” the Hollywood director recalls of a confi dence to American and other international studios to keep their production and distribution campaigns anchored. conversation with Toronto fest toppers Piers bring them on board as either writer/directors or guns for hire. Entertainment One, working both sides of the Atlantic, Handling and Cameron Bailey. Doing more with less is sexy stuff in Hollywood these days. named Alex Hamilton to lead its enlarged U.K. fi lm operation The gilded movie palace with a short red But, he adds, Villeneuve, Vallée and other Canadian after absorbing Momentum Pictures and is also stepping up carpet on Yonge Street is where Haggis’ Crash directors working south of the border have not been lost to its U.S. fi lm distribution business. debuted before becoming a surprise winner at the Canadian industry. Lionsgate, Canadian fi lm and TV’s biggest king-maker, has the 2006 Academy Awards, including winning “We may easily see them come back to Canada and its British division, Lionsgate U.K., snapping up British indie best picture. Quebec to make fi lms that are scaled to the industry,” he fi lm rights. A year later in 2007, Haggis’ In the Valley of And stateside, the Vancouver-based company with its Ellah also screened at the Elgin. Hunger Games and Twilight franchises has become a major You need to forgive the Oscar winning Brendan Gleeson, Taylor Kitsch and Gordon Pinsent star in Don Hollywood player. writer/director for his superstition about McKellar’s The Grand Seduction. wanting to three-peat in the Elgin. Haggis has been quiet since his 2010 effort The Next Three Days, which had him directing a studio-driven action thriller that underwhelmed at the box offi ce. Third Person, by contrast, is, Haggis insists, a “very personal fi lm” that took him two-and-a- half years to write and another year to produce. “I’m just a few weeks from fi nishing the fi lm, just in time for Toronto,” he adds. Haggis also went outside the studio system to fully fi nance Third Person out of Belgium, via Corsan/Film Finance XII. “I made one call and he said yes,” the director recalls about a conversation with Corsan CEO Paul Breuls. The James Franco and Mila Kunis-starrer follows three intersecting story lines that explore romance and relationships in New York, Rome and Paris. Corsan World Sales will shop the remaining world rights to Third Person at TIFF, while CAA and Paradigm will look to land a U.S. distribution deal. “I’m pretty confi dent it will sell. We’ll sell it before, or sell it there,” Haggis says of a U.S. deal for Third Person coming before, at, or out of Toronto. The Canadian-born writer/director is also confi dent about the box offi ce prospects for Third Person, even if he is a bit of a novice in the indie fi lm world. “This is all new to me. I like the independent world. I much prefer it to Casino Royale,” Haggis says, alluding to his script for the 22nd James Bond fi lm. “But I’m happier on the fringes, being an outsider. That’s part of being a Canadian in Hollywood,” he adds. 16 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

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This new vanguard of Canadian talent is also gaining recognition at festivals around the world, building their own brands one screening at a time. Homegrown directors like Sarah Polley, Xavier Dolan, Deepa Mehta and others are increasingly launching their latest fi lms at Cannes, Venice, Telluride, Sundance, before they venture onto the Canadian festival circuit. Here the strategy, which has become the lynchpin of Telefi lm Canada’s so-called success index, is to have Canadian fi lms seize critical and commercial attention abroad before they attempt to connect with audiences back home. And as Canadian fi lm producers adapt and adopt bolder solutions through informed risks, they’re displaying newfound confi dence and staying power in a fast-changing global business. In many ways, the success of Kim Nguyen’s Congo war drama War Witch in riding a wave of awards in Berlin and Tribeca on its way to an Oscar nomination sealed the argument that Canadian fi lms don’t need to be dipped in maple syrup to win over audiences at home and abroad. This international success has been mirrored by Nisha Pahuja’s The World Before Her, which won top doc honours at Tribeca, Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar at Locarno,

Matthew McConaughey stars in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club.

fall 2013 | 17

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ahead of its own Oscar nomination, and Denis Côté’s Vic and Flo Saw A Bear, which earned the Alfred Bauer prize in Berlin. International opportunities to build audiences are being seized by the likes of veteran Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson and up-and-coming director Richie Mehta. “I’m chasing the monsoon. I’m chasing the rain,” Gunnarsson says on the phone from India, where he’s at work on Monsoon, a theatrical documentary about the trajectory of the Indian monsoon season, for the CBC and ARTE. The project marks a return to India for Gunnarsson, who directed a screen adaptation of Rohinton Mistry’s Such a Long Journey in the late 1990s. And Mehta established himself outside of Canada fi rst, by making his fi rst fi lms in India, where he shot the critically acclaimed Amal, and TIFF-bound Siddharth. He’s only recently shot his fi rst Canadian feature, the sci-fi pic I’ll Follow You Down. Producer Lee Kim earlier told Playback that a strong script and Mehta’s industry cred from Amal helped secure a cast that includes Gillian Anderson and Haley Joel Osment. Speaking of reaching out of their comfort zone, perhaps the biggest challenge facing Canadian directors is getting their fi lms discovered, much less monetized, on existing and emerging digital platforms, especially online. Double take The good news, says Ted Hope, executive director of the Director Denis Villeneuve gets creative in shooting two San Francisco Film Society (SFFS), is digital distribution provides greater market access for Canadian fi lmmakers that international features simultaneously traditionally had a hard time getting the attention of traditional BY ETAN VLESSING movie distributors. “We’re presented with so much innovation across all fi elds Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy has Jake Gyllenhaal seeking out his exact look-alike after spotting him in a movie. of production, distribution, marketing, and even fi nance, that The irony is the Quebec director used creative doubles in the last year to simultaneously make that thriller allows a democratization of the media business, and a lower and the Hugh Jackman-starrer Prisoners for Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. barrier to entry,” Hope argues. Villeneuve, his brand rising after the Oscar-nominated Incendies, shot Prisoners in Georgia after lensing Enemy, also an English-language movie, in Toronto in summer 2012. He adds an industry founded on scarcity of content, and “I was making two fi lms at the same time, which was physically impossible. The only way to do it was to controlled by gatekeepers whose advantage was market have a double,” he tells Playback ahead of the Toronto International Film Festival, where Enemy and Prisoners muscle and leverage, has expanded into a myriad of digital will debut. options for fi lmmakers. Unable to be in two places at one time to shoot and post the movies, Villeneuve relied on creative stand-ins The downside is Canadian fi lmmakers, long having to fi ght to get both jobs done. to negotiate workable power with distributors and exhibitors, For example, Villeneuve had just fi nished shooting Incendies when he partnered with Niv Fichman of now face a still greater challenge to get their titles discovered Rhombus Media to make Enemy. But having no time to do the screen adaptation of the 2002 José Saramago in a crowded digital space. novel The Double, on which Enemy was based, Villeneuve and Fichman hired Javier Gullón, a young Spanish Here Hope says the best strategy for indie Canadian and screenwriter, to pen the screenplay. international fi lmmakers is collaborating to develop skills and “As I was fi nishing the post production on Incendies and then travelling around the world for a year, Javier was best practices that can migrate and sustain an emerging writing Enemy. It was a collaborative process,” Villeneuve, who gave Gullón his fi rst feedback and notes, recalls. Then, in the fall of 2012, as he was on location in Atlanta shooting Prisoners, Villeneuve had Toronto-based business model. editor Matthew Hannam oversee post-production. He this year launched the A2E: Artist to Entrepreneur “He (Hannam) was one of the main inputs of creativity in the fi lm,” the director says. programs as part of SFFS’s Filmmaker360 program in Enemy, a Canada-Spain coproduction, also relied on Spanish talent to complete the sound mixing and design. response to the challenges fi lmmakers face with digital and “I had the chance to work with strong artists from Spain. It was a real pleasure to work with them,” technological innovation. Villeneuve says. That included an “open source” direct distribution lab – Although similar in regard to the complexity of execution, the Quebec director insists his recent back-to- in which homegrown fi lmmakers Dane Clark and Linsey back fi lm shoots were very different projects. Stewart participated with their project I Put a Hit on You – for Enemy, for example, was Villeneuve’s fi rst experience shooting in the English language, and with an fi lmmakers to strategize tailored engagement strategies, tools American actor. and tech partners for their projects. “To make a small budget movie with a small crew involving very few actors, with two apartments and one “Through careful experimentation, transparency and car, it was very small and basic and there was something controlled about it,” he says of shooting the thriller at the Cinespace studio on Kipling Avenue in Toronto. community effort, we can start to reach a place where Shooting Prisoners, an abduction drama that also stars Jake Gyllenhaal, was a far bigger project. the process of early engagement, audience aggregation And yet no bigger a challenge, thanks to a creatively satisfying shoot, Villeneuve recalls. and a greater return on the investment of engagement for “I had the chance to work with producers that are fi lmmaker-friendly. They are people that support me and the audience could help facilitate a return to… a certain protect me so far in a super way,” he insists. sustainability,” Hope insists. Villeneuve knows not all Hollywood shoots come off so well. Not surprisingly, a key to that successful business model lies in But Prisoners did. social media and audience engagement by individual Canadian “My Hollywood experience so far is very much in the old-fashioned way, in that people were there to make fi lmmakers, with an eye to developing an industry brand. cinema. It was more about art than business,” he adds.

18 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

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Left: The star-studded case of Jonathan Sobol’s The Art of The Steal. “An on-going conversation will be more and more “If you have something with a real tangible hook, you can Right: Actor Rajesh Tailang portrays a distraught father in Richie Mehta’s Siddharth.” necessary, because the way fi lms are going to reach build an audience around it via social media,” says Husney. audiences is not necessarily through distributors and their “You start thinking about how to strategize ways where you marketing campaigns,” says TIFF’s Cameron Bailey. can interact with those people. As long as you can do that “The conversation with your audience is not going to be fi lm enough times, those people can be converted into sales by fi lm by fi lm, but something that begins and continues over and merchandise.” many fi lms, to evolve a relationship,” he adds. He adds that boutique distributors like Drafthouse are The strategy of pursuing an overall brand for a fi lmmaker’s increasingly seeing the advantages in attaching themselves long-term output, rather than inventing the wheel with each to projects when they’re still in the pre-production phase. release, has been followed by Kinosmith and its Hot Docs There’s risk, yes, but there’s also an advantage to the collection, and Raven Banner and Cineplex teaming up for distributor to be on board before the fi lm goes to market, he their Sinister Cinema series. explains, including marketing and building hype even if the The business model stateside has been spearheaded by fi lm is more than a year away. innovative indie distributors like New York-based A24, or Also this year, the launch of CineCoup as a fi lm accelerator, Austin-based Drafthouse Films going directly to fi lm fans to and Kickstarter following Indiegogo into the Canadian roll out new product. market, are yet more instances of fi lmmakers using audience “The formation of our company [Drafthouse] is to speak engagement to get projects off the ground. directly to fans,” says Evan Husney, Drafthouse Films creative To what end? director, as he explains the origins of the indie distributor out Gamblers bet on horses. Risk-takers own the horse and the of the Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain. track on which they race. “That meant cutting out the middleman and taking a direct- And with Canadian fi lmmakers increasingly raising their to-fan approach to distribution,” he adds. own fi nancing, building their own audiences using social Husney recalls early innovations like a Drafthouse media and self-distributing, there is more opportunity to build membership program, where subscribers are automatically sent their own brand and like Villeneuve, Cronenberg and Scott, its curated releases via an annual fee, to monetize fi lm titles. parlay that into global A-list opportunities.

20 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

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GABRIELLE Written and directed by Louise Archambault, produced by micro_scope BY DANIELLE NG-SEE-QUAN

Louise Archambault’s $4 million Gabrielle follows a SODEC development workshop, Atelier Grand-Nord (The perform in the Cabaret des Muses show at Montreal’s L’Astral. developmentally challenged young woman’s quest for Great North Atelier). Organized by SODEC, Atelier brings independence and determination to continue her romantic together French, Belgian and Swiss partners with selected September 2011: micro_scope applies for production relationship against the wishes of others. Set as fi ction, the screenwriters to a remote location in Northern Quebec to funding from SODEC and Telefi lm Canada. story was infl uenced by the real-life experiences of its star, workshop their scripts. “It was one of the steps where we Gabrielle Marion-Rivard, whom the fi lmmaker followed for a more clearly realized that people were more interested in the December 2011: Micro_scope receives the greenlight from year prior to shooting. Montreal leg of the script,” describes Dery. The fi nal script still SODEC and Telefi lm. Casting begins in January 2012. Gabrielle began as a three-arc story, in the vein of the 2000 includes remnants of the second story, with the connecting foreign language fi lm Amores Perros, according to micro_scope thread woven through Gabrielle’s sister, Sophie, who plans to May 2012: Production begins on May 28 for seven weeks, producer Luc Dery. The original story featured three women move to India with her boyfriend, a music teacher. to July 11, 2012, following fi ve weeks of pre-production from around the world – one in Montreal, one in India and one Apr. 16 to May 24, 2012. in Thailand. From there, it was re-focused as a two-story Spring 2010: Archambault meets the fi lm’s star, Gabrielle fi lm, keeping the stories from Montreal and India, before the Marion-Rivard, for the fi rst time. Archambault had begun July 2012: The fi lm goes into editing until January 2013. producers and director Archambault decided to concentrate research for casting while she was still writing the fi lm. The on the single story based in Montreal. “[That story] was the story’s main character has Williams Syndrome, a genetic April 2013: Haut en Court in France and Cineart in Belgium richer one, and the one that made the fi lm more viable and condition characterized by developmental delays, medical buy the rights to the fi lm after a screening for French and plausible in our production context,” says Dery. conditions and learning disabilities, but also extraordinary Belgian distributors that month. gifts, like a perfect ear for music. Archambault met Marion- THE TIMELINE: Rivard at Les Muses performing arts school for artists with August 2013: The fi lm premieres at the Piazza Grande at disabilities in Montreal. “The fi lm took on a whole new life, the Locarno Film Festival, winning the audience-voted Prix January 2006: The fi lm’s working title is Le Chant Des in that it was pretty close to what she was writing about, but du Public UBS, worth 30,000 Swiss francs. The micro_scope Invisibles, and a fi rst draft of the script, focused on the two- inspired by this group of people, mainly from Gabrielle herself,” producers won the same prize at Locarno for 2011’s story arc, is completed by November of the same year. recalls Dery. Archambault followed and fi lmed Marion-Rivard Monsieur Lazhar. for a year before fi nalizing her as the main character. August 2008: Micro_scope applies for phase two Gabrielle makes its North American premiere at TIFF this fall. development funding from SODEC and Telefi lm Canada. April 2010: Micro_scope producers Dery and Kim McCraw, Repped internationally by eOne Films International, the fi lm is along with Archambault, watch Marion-Rivard and her Muse being distributed by eOne in Canada, Cineart in Benelux, Haut March 2009: Le Chant Des Invisibles participates in the colleagues, many of whom will also have roles in the fi lm, et Court in France and by Swiss distributor Agora Films.

fall 2013 | 21

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THE HUSBAND Directed by Bruce McDonald, produced by Scythia Films and Phenomenal Films BY DANIELLE NG-SEE-QUAN

The latest fi lm from indie icon Bruce McDonald went through September 2012: The producers meet with pay TV spring for additional shooting. The fi lm is now called Baby, several title iterations before it became The Husband. The broadcasters and international sales agents at TIFF. At this How’d We Ever Get This Way? after McDonald one day played fi lm focuses on a man whose world is turned upside down point, the fi lm is called Be A Man. Super Channel in late- Canadian singer Andy Kim’s “How’d We Ever Get This Way?” when his wife is sent to prison following an affair with a September pre-licenses the project, bringing the roughly $1 to the crew, believing it articulated one of the fi lm’s central minor. Producers Daniel Bekerman and Cher Hawrysh say million fi lm to about 70 per cent fi nanced (including tax credits questions. For shooting, Bekerman says they followed the they were drawn to Kelly Harms and Maxwell McCabe-Lokos’ and other funding sources). Exec producers Mark Gingras and model they’d seen working with European directors in shooting script because they saw a unique perspective – telling the John Laing also board the production. shorter days. “We wanted to take the pressure off of feeling story with the focus on how it has impacted the husband – [like it was] the 12th hour... so people aren’t exhausted [and] and while the situation is extreme, they saw many relatable October 2012: With actor-writer McCabe-Lokos attached as they’re more conducive,” he adds. The move also spurred cost elements. “If you zoom out, it’s an interesting look at how Henry, the lead, from the onset, the producers quickly decided savings, enough to let the story evolve through editing and messy life is,” explains Hawrysh. on August Diehl for the role of Rusty, Henry’s best friend and post-production with extra shooting hours. Thematically, the subject matter is dark, exploring the ideas confi dant, because of his “affable energy” and “best friend of self-destruction, inherent goodness and the effect of both on chemistry” with McCabe-Lokos. Inglourious Basterds actor January 2013: The OMDC Film Fund commits additional others, a confl ict the producers wanted refl ected in the fi lm’s Diehl had worked with McCabe-Lokos on Alison Murray’s 2005 funding in its 2012-13 second cycle, allowing the producers title. McDonald was on board early to direct; the producers drama Mouth to Mouth. to add more days to their May shoot. “It was a real luxury in say they were interested and excited to see him handle a In casting Henry’s wife Alyssa, Hawrysh says they realized the edit,” says Hawrysh, in that they were able to look at the character-based story with his distinct style.“I think there is an they needed an actress who portrayed her “with an endearing rough cut and purposefully decide what they wanted to add. innate connection to what Bruce does, in that he does tend to softness,” as too harsh a portrayal would take away the The additional funding let them shoot key scenes, including tell outsider stories. And this is a person who is being thrust into complexities and more humane aspects of the script. According to one in a pizza shop – McDonald’s idea – featuring an important the outside by what his wife did,” says Bekerman. Hawrysh, they had an “OMG” moment when they saw actor Sarah interaction between Colin, the boy, and Henry, the husband. Allen’s audition, which “was unlike any of the [others] we’d seen.” MAJOR MILESTONES At this point, Mannish Boy becomes the fi lm’s title as the February 2013: The producers travel to the Berlin Film Festival November 2011: Bekerman and Hawrysh option the script, project goes into production. “[Be a Man] – it’s a command, with a short promo teaser and continue the conversations with initially called The Graduates, through their companies, Scythia and it’s a bit harsh and also sounds like a broader comedy,” sales agents that they’d started at TIFF the previous year. Films and Phenomenal Films, respectively. Bekerman says of the fi lm’s tentative title. “Probably what it lacked was that dimension of warmth and humanity.” Mannish May 2013: The crew does its additional shooting in early May, June 2012: The team meets with Telefi lm Canada Feature Film Boy, also the title of a1955 blues song by Muddy Waters, spoke and the producers continue sales and distribution conversations execs Dan Lyon and Carrie Paupst Shaughnessy to discuss more to their protagonist’s state of mind, Hawrysh adds. at the Cannes Film Festival. the script. Feedback is positive, and helps identify the fi lm’s main storytelling challenge – fi nding the “way in” for audiences November 2012: The fi lm begins production – a 20-day September 2013: The fi lm, now called The Husband, through relatable characters with palpable motivation. shoot, with a planned four or fi ve days in late winter/early premieres at TIFF.

fall 2013 | 23

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November 2010: Cas & Dylan producer Mark Montefi ore meets screenwriter Jessie Gabe at a Canadian Comedy Awards party. Both are nominees, as Gabe contends for her work on Being Erica, while Montefi ore’s fi rst fi lm, Eating Buccaneers, also has a nod. “We really connected on several shows that we watched,” Montefi ore recalls, with their conversation ending as he asked Gabe about feature scripts in the works. “She did everything she could to convince me not to read her script,” he remembers, before Gabe promised to put one for Cas & Dylan in the mail. “I read it and I loved it. It needed some work, but the characters were amazing and it had one of the best third acts ever written,” Montefi ore says. So the producer and screenwriter began working with the BY ETAN VLESSING fi rst draft to get in sync creatively. CAS & DYLAN “Before the contract was inked, we agreed creatively where the script needed to go and what the movie would look like, Slated for a 2014 release, Cas & Dylan brings together two rising from the actors and directors to scope of the project,” he adds. Canadian stars – actor Tatiana Maslany and Jason Priestley in February 2011: As they cement their collaboration, Gabe the director’s chair – alongside one of Hollywood’s most admired reworked the script into a second draft as Montefi ore approached Telefi lm Canada for development fi nancing. veterans, Richard Dreyfuss. As the $2.5 million fi lm gets set to “They were extremely supportive before we had a director hit the festival circuit, where it will screen in Halifax and open the and actors,” Montefi ore remembered about the fi lm fi nancier. Whistler Film Fest, Playback fi nds out how it all came together. April 2011: Telefi lm’s second draft dollars help bring on Noel Baker (Show Me Yours) as a story editor. His suggestions on Left: Tatiana Maslany and Jason Priestly talk shop on the set of Cas & Dylan. character and story arc helped get the script to a solid second Right: Maslany and Dreyfuss bring Priestly’s fi rst effort as a feature director to life. draft, with an eye to possible production in 2012.

24 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

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July 2011: Momentum was lost when Telefi lm turned down from Telefi lm, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund for Panic ensued at Team Cas & Dylan. First they thought Cas & Dylan for polishing and packaging fi nancing. shooting in Sudbury, the Alberta Media Development Fund Dreyfuss just wanted to offer his thoughts and get off “Jesse and I were left with a decision. We needed more for taking the road trip movie to Calgary, and The Harold the call. Frantic calls to reconnect with Dreyfuss and his script work before getting a director and we couldn’t go to Greenberg Fund. management ensued. Telefi lm or anyone for packaging without a director on board,” And Pacifi c Northwest Pictures came on board to release “Did we just lose him?” Montefi ore wondered, his worst fear Montefi ore recalls. Cas & Dylan domestically, while Breakthrough Entertainment being realized. So Montefi ore and Gabe pressed ahead to fi nd a director, picked up the international sales rights. Finally, a couple hours later, the mystery was solved. despite the Telefi lm rejection. “We spoke to everyone, from distributors to sales agents, to Dreyfuss’ cell phone had lost power and, now recharged, he And as Cas & Dylan relies heavily on performances from the banks, pretty much anybody. When you create a fi nancing was back on the line. its two main characters – an ailing man in his sixties and a plan, you need options on it. If you put in your fi nance plan “We thought we had offended him or turned him off. So we young woman he goes on the lam with – the duo eyed an that you get 100% from your dad, and you can only get 50%, continued the creative call and it ended with Richard saying, actor/director for the top creative job. you’ll have a shortfall on the fi rst day of production and have ‘If you want me, you have me,’” Montefi ore remembers. “We thought immediately of Jason [Priestley]. He was for us to scramble,” Montefi ore explains. August 20 to September 25, 2012: With Eric Peterson and perfect in so many ways. We’d heard great things about him Also on the to-do list was casting for the role of Dr. Cas Aaron Poole helping to round out the cast, Cas & Dylan shoots as a colleague to work with. His work is fantastic on Call Me Pepper, a dying doctor looking to check out. in Ontario and Alberta. Fitz,” Montefi ore says. Oscar-winning Richard Dreyfuss’ name came up in “Once the cameras were rolling, it was like magic. Having And Priestley, despite his increased work as a director, had discussions, but land him was a challenge. For one thing, people like Richard and Jason was key. I believe the tone yet to shoot a narrative feature. big-name actors want to hear a project is fully fi nanced of the set is dictated by the guys on top. And we had an before committing. incredibly smooth production,” Montefi ore says. November 2011: Priestley receives the script for Cas & “Three or four months ahead of time, people don’t want Time and money was tight, but those pressures were eased Dylan via his agent, and the phone started ringing. to commit to a low-budget indie as a big studio picture may two weeks into the shoot when the OMDC Film Fund injected come up,” Montefi ore says of the dilemma. late stage fi nancing. And regional tax incentives had Cas & January 2012: Priestley arrives in Toronto and conversations Dylan shooting in Sudbury, Ontario. with Montefi ore and Gabe get serious. Eventually, the former June 2012: After the script gets into Dreyfuss’ hands, “That was quite a versatile city that really embraced us with Beverly Hills 90210 star commits to the project. his management receives a fi nal engagement offer open arms. They were incredibly supportive of the industry “Once [Priestley] joined, he incorporated notes through from Montefi ore. and what they’re trying to do up there,” Montefi ore says. Jesse to get his vision in place,” Montefi ore explains. The next step was casting Cas & Dylan. July 2012: After a long mating dance, with the Hollywood October 2012: Post production starts. Priestley had moved Montefi ore had met Tatiana Maslany at Sundance in actor yet to commit, Priestley and Dreyfuss fi nally get on the onto his latest season of Call Me Fitz, which meant he was 2010 when she snagged a special jury prize for a breakout phone together. doing double duty with Cas & Dylan. performance as a rebellious teen in Grown Up Movie Star. Montefi ore is at the Montreal Just For Laughs festival when “I thought ‘This is Tatiana’s movie.’ I couldn’t imagine the call from Dreyfuss’ management comes through. Priestley January 2013: Cas & Dylan is locked. That’s followed by fi ve anyone else in the role,” he says. is patched in from Toronto. audience testing sessions, including a Los Angeles market At the same time, it was Priestley’s fi nal call on casting. So And then Dreyfuss came on the line. researcher surveying ordinary people pulled in off the street to he was brought together with Maslany, and Montefi ore recalls “I remember just listening to the voice. The legendary voice view footage and offer thoughts on the characters and narrative. instant creative sparks. just gave me goosebumps. He gave his feedback, what he Michael Brook completes the fi lm score for Cas & Dylan. “Tatiana really bought into Jason’s vision for the project, and really liked [about the script] and concerns,” Montefi ore recalls. Jason naturally saw Dylan in Tatiana,” the producer remembers. Then, as Priestley began responding, Dreyfuss hung up October 2013: A theatrical release is planned, after an initial On the fi nancing side, Cas & Dylan received fi nancing the phone. launch on the festival circuit.

fall 2013 | 25

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF THE PEOPLE’S FESTIVAL 705 688 1234 Cinéfest Sudbury cinefest.com @CinéfestSudbury

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PB.23672.CinefestSudbury.indd 1 13-08-20 7:14 PM PB.23733.CMPA.indd 1 13-08-20 5:02 PM PB.TIFF.DiaryCasDyl.Fall2013.indd 25 13-08-21 2:34 PM TIFF 2013

Stebbings (Photo: Jason Jenkins) Sobol (Photo: Ken Woroner) IN CONVERSATION: PETER STEBBINGS AND

JONATHAN SOBOL AS TOLD TO DANIELLE NG-SEE-QUAN Filmmakers navigating the art of the indie feature can probably Peter Stebbings: The Art of the Steal is a bigger movie, budget-wise and in scope than your previous fi lm, A Beginners agree on two things: the process requires perspective, and isn’t for Guide to Endings. Both movies have a crime/comedy bent. When you sit down to write a new screenplay do you solely the faint of heart. Canadian directors Peter Stebbings and Jonathan follow your passion or do you strategize? Meaning, do you think Sobol are both premiering their second features at this year’s about the commercial viability of your work before you write it? Toronto International Film Festival. In fact, both directors premiered Jonathan Sobol: I always write with a hypothetical audience in mind. That’s not to say I crack open the keyboard and say their fi rst features at TIFF too, even working with the same producer ‘Okay, males aged 18 to 30, this one’s for you!’ But fi lmmaking is an expensive endeavour... one in which several other on those fi lms, Nicholas Tabarrok. In short, Stebbings and Sobol interests are ponying up the dough. When writing The Art of the Steal, I tried to approach every scene by asking ‘Where do have a lot in common. This time around, though, they each pursued I want the audience to be right now?’ Emotionally, logically and new paths, with Sobol taking on a big-name cast and bigger visually I feel it’s my job to get them where they need to be. So I believe – for better or worse – you best make movies that folks budget for the approximately $10 million The Art of the Steal, and hopefully want to see. I want people to actually see my movies. Making them just for oneself seems hyper-indulgent and almost Stebbings choosing to followup his $4 million anti-superhero tale, beside the point. Movies exist for audiences, so I can’t help but write with that in mind. It’s hard enough to get a movie made Defendor, with the under-$1-million Empire of Dirt. Here, Stebbings in this world, so ignoring the fi nancial reality of the business and Sobol interview each other on passion versus commercial seems like going to war with both hands tied behind your back. pursuit and whether or not it’s a good idea to fi gure out how much Stebbings: I hear you.

you’re making per hour as an indie ﬁ lmmaker. Sobol: In a broader sense, very few men and women can make a truly artistically independent ﬁ lm. For instance, the title The Art of the Steal isn’t mine. It was our U.S. distributor who

26 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

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wanted that title. And in the editing these characters had their hooks in process, you better believe that the me and if you look closely, there are companies who had skin in the game through lines between both fi lms. had a say in the cut. And rather than be But I’m still working out the narrative precious about the whole thing – throw about why I chose to do it, all of which up my hands and say “these suits are sounds sacrosanct and earnest. In the ruining my vision!” – I honestly feel that end, it was about improving my skill set many of the commercial, market-driven with people I love. I’m really proud of notes I got made the fi lm better. When Empire of Dirt and we had a lot of fun. we were about to deliver the fi lm to our I’ll be curious to see what opportunities distributors, The Weinstein Company come from it, if any. I’ll defi nitely take (Bob in particular) weighed in with lessons from it and apply that to my some major, major notes. At fi rst, it was next fi lm, which is more typically terrifying. But I’ll be damned if 70% commercial… sorta. of the cuts and changes were good Bringing us back to the present, moves. Now the other 30% I felt were how do you survive? If you worked out aggressively wrong (and we fought for your sweat equity on an hourly basis, the cut we locked... carrying the day on are you pulling in more than 10 cents virtually all of the big creative sticking an hour? I ask because in my own points) but we ended up with the experience with indie fi lm making I very best of both worlds. As budgets have yet to truly commodify my efforts. get tighter and fi nancing options I have to fi nd other ways to support my more limited, I think that true creative movie habit. How do you stay afl oat? autonomy will become even rarer... and maybe it’s for the best. Sobol: The only way to stay afl oat for me is to work as hard as possible Stebbings: I haven’t encountered and juggle multiple projects. If I were that but I respect your philosophical, to calculate my earnings on an hourly Zen-master approach to it. I suspect basis, I think I’d sink into a deep, dark that will put you in good standing depression. I fi nd I’m drifting more and when that inevitable studio picture more into television these days as it’s comes your way. I hear you on the become both creatively and fi nancially value of good notes. I take them from more liberating. But you’ve seemed to everywhere – even Telefi lm, which had forge a different path altogether – the some very thoughtful notes on my last working actor-writer-director triple pic. If they tweak it [in line] with my hyphenate. What intrigues me most own instincts, or if they keep coming about that mix is how the different up from a range of different viewers, spheres inform one another. I can see you know there’s something there that how acting provides great insight for needs to be addressed. a writer-director, but have you found that it’s reciprocal? How have you Stebbings, shown on set with Empire of Dirt actor Luke Kirby, says his latest fi lm, which received backing from Telefi lm’s Sobol: Now Defendor – that felt like a low-budget independent feature fi lm fund, explores universal themes through its protagonists. changed as an actor? Are you now an movie that was for audiences. Did you Sobol, seen with actors Jason Jones and Terence Stamp, shot The Art of the Steal in Ontario and Romania, the latter unmanageable monster or does that write that with commercial concerns in of which he refers to as the “Wild West of fi lmmaking.” (Photo: Jason Jenkins (top); Ken Woroner (bottom)) make you more sympathetic toward the mind? Or at what point does that enter writers and directors you deal with? the equation for you – if at all? offer on the table and it was a wonderful ride. But the box Stebbings: Ask anybody, I’m an unmanageable monster. Stebbings: Defendor was a reaction to all the superhero art on the DVD suggests the route Sony Pictures took. In my And yes, being an actor keeps the wolf from my door. movies I was seeing at the time; I just didn’t believe in them. I mind’s eye, it was always more of a character movie than an But it also exposes you to a lot of very talented people. In think I had an instinct it was commercial. In fact, I remember action movie. I liked those early Luc Besson movies like The the last couple of years I’ve worked with Tarsem Singh, reading [the scriptwriters’ tome] The Writer’s Journey after Professional – that’s the shit that used to excite me. Kari Skogland and Neil Jordan on projects with enviable I wrote Defendor, and I remember thinking, “Oh, good I’ve budgets. I was lucky to parlay a directing gig from The already checked a lot of these boxes.” But Defendor was Sobol: Empire of Dirt, at least on the surface, seems less Listener and I got to play with a crane for the fi rst time. [On more successful in some ways than I could have imagined, commercial in the traditional sense of the word. Is that a fair Aug. 16] I start pre-production on Saving Hope simply in and less so in other ways. I’m extremely proud of it, but I assessment and did that make it a harder movie to get made? director mode. Each opportunity begets another somehow. always think what it might have been if we weren’t trying What’s that old saying? Ten thousand hours to become an to fi nance it at the height of the economic meltdown. I Stebbings: I think less commercial is very fair. It’s about three expert? But the biggest thrill is watching guys like Woody also wonder what would have happened if Sony Pictures generations of Native women repeating each others’ mistakes. Harrelson work. He wasn’t afraid to fail. During rehearsal, Classics picked it up [Ed. note: the fi lm was distributed by And I won’t lie – there was a lot of hand-wringing about this there were moments when I thought, ‘Wow, that was Sony Pictures]. Tom Bernard [co-president and co-founder one. Defendor opened a lot of doors. I knew there would be remarkably average.’ Point being, I was watching him try of Sony Pictures Classics] introduced himself to me at our expectations around my second fi lm and this was perhaps the character on, watching him experiment, and it was party and said, “I know what to do with it.” I wish I knew who the most illogical follow-up fi lm I could choose. I wasn’t even inspiring, to see that process. You can’t help but learn from Tom Bernard was at the time. In the end, we took the best trying to be defi ant. There were other options out there, but people at the top of their game.

28 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.TIFF.Directors.Fall2013.indd 28 13-08-21 2:36 PM PB.23678.EOY.HA.Ad.indd 1 Playback reaches theglobaldecisionmakers.Showworldwhatyouhavetooffer! Canada’s worldclasstalentandinfrastructure,thisannual guidetoshootinginCanada With distributionattopinternationaleventsandexpandededitorialcontentfocusingon ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CANADA: Awards, Streeting intimefordistributionatCMPA’s PrimeTime andtheAcademy’s CanadianScreen SPRING ISSUE: Canada’s leaders.BONUSdistributionattheWhistlerFilmFestival. industry of 2013.Alleyeswillbeinthisissue,sotakeadvantageandgetyourmessagefront Playback’s OF THEYEAR: END visibility.your cross-country Take advantageoftheseupcomingopportunitiestoboost take onthefutureofindustry. ShowcaseyourdigitalcredandcelebrateCSAnods! To spaceinanyoftheseissues,pleasecontact reserve Playback’s annualyear-end wrap offersthedeﬁ nitivelookbackonthenewsandnewsmakers spring issue deep-dives into the interactive space, offering a distinct springissuedeep-divesintotheinteractivespace,offeringadistinct Jessamyn Nunez:[email protected] has cross-industry reach. hascross-industry Map itout. So canyou. Playback accountexecutive 2013-08-26 3:51PM

IMAGE: Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the BPL Rock Demers Ted Kotcheff Al Waxman

Canadian entertainment plays a critical role in shaping our Feore has been a consistent presence in our living rooms for collective story and in this year’s Hall of Fame, you can see just decades as one of Canada’s most prominent working actors. how pervasive that infl uence can be. Al Waxman’s The King Slawko Klymkiw’s work with the CFC is refl ected all over IMDB. of Kensington showed the rest of Canada what life was like in And George Anthony: well, he continues to keep us well-fed in a multicultural enclave of the big city. Producer Ted Kotcheff’s comedy, news and culture. work spanned borders and launched one of the most famous Playback recognized their achievements at this year’s annual action fi lm franchises of all time, Rambo. Rock Demers helped HoF gala held during TIFF – as well as those of David Suzuki, our children understand compassion and empathy. Colm prodco marblemedia and fi lmmaker Xavier Dolan. Here’s why . . .

Colm Feore George Anthony Slawko Klymkiw

Photo credit: Dimo Safari

30 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.HoF.2013.indd 30 13-08-21 3:38 PM ROCK DEMERS: BY MARC GLASSMAN THE SPINNER OF TALES FOR ALL

Rock Demers’ life and career is a powerful and Italy (Daniel and the Superdogs, 2004). Demers admits to being particularly proud of reminder that fi lm producers in Canada the Emmy he received for Vincent and Me in 1992, but he cites the Lifetime Achievement and elsewhere can be wildly successful Award at Banff in 2001 and being received as a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2007 commercially while maintaining high ethical as being his signal recognitions up until now. standards. Demers’ website proudly claims: Demers vividly recalls what inspired him to create his Contes pour tous (Tales for All) “La Fête, a company involved in quality back in the mid-’80s. “I read an article in [Montreal newspaper] La Presse about the youth productions.” high number of kids that commit suicide. I said to myself, ‘what can I do?’ I know life is diffi cult, but it’s so worthwhile. After that That statement would have been just as accurate in article, which was a shock for me, I took six months to 1984, when he launched Les productions La Fête with develop the concept of Tales for All.” a remarkable fi lm, La guerre des tuques (The Dog Who Demers determined that he would produce poignant, yet Stopped the War), which turned a story about two gangs of funny, family fi lms with kids as the leads. boys in a Quebec town staging a huge snowball fi ght into an “I decided that the main characters would always be boys effective anti-war statement. or girls between 11 and 13 [years old]. They would always But Demers wouldn’t have been satisfi ed with that be in contemporary stories. Nature would always have an achievement; he is, after all, a producer and wants to see an important part in them. There would be a lot of laughter and audience respond to his fi lms. Talking about La guerre des tenderness. No animation, no science fi ction. And a certain tuques now, he is still proud that it won the Golden Reel Award number of animals would have an important part in each one – awarded annually to Canada’s top-grossing fi lm – taking in of the fi lms.” well over $1 million box offi ce dollars in Canada alone. A proud French-Canadian and “citizen of the world,” Demers decided that he could reach a global audience if he shot some fi lms in French and others in English while occasionally co-producing features abroad in their languages. His formula proved wildly successful – and kept the dubbing industry happy. “I took six months to develop the concept. Then, I informed people around me – writers or directors or scriptwriters, National Film Board, Radio Canada, Telefi lm – that I would be interested in producing fi lms or receiving projects along those lines.” One of the fi rst proposals Demers received was unique; it was a short story by Michael Rubbo, then a highly respected NFB documentarian. It would become the foundation of a dynamic partnership. “I heard nothing for quite a while,” Rubbo recalls, “and then one day, I got a call from Rock. ‘Michael, I want to make your story. Perhaps you could write and direct it.’ “What an astonishing offer! It was so courageous and trusting, as I’d never directed fi ction before.” Demers arranged for Rubbo to read his story at Grade Six classes in Montreal schools; they workshopped it for months. Demers in costume for a cameo role in the 1994 “One crucial day, Rock sat at the back of the class at Roslyn film The Return Of Tommy Tricker. La guerre des tuques launched the genial and erudite School in Westmount whilst I told the story for the umpteenth French-Canadian on a career path that has led to many time. Not saying a word, he just sat there, studying the kid’s awards. As his vision of children’s programming expanded, reactions and then also watching keenly as they clustered Demers went from triumph to triumph. La grenouille et la round at the end, bubbling with excitement, acting as if they’d baleine (The Tadpole and the Whale, 1989) trumped his actually already seen a movie. When the bell rang and the fi rst fi lm at the box offi ce, winning another Golden Reel and horde was gone, Rock simply said, ‘I think we’re ready to go. garnering nearly $2 million dollars in Canada alone. Now, I’ll try to get the money!’” The range of Demers’ prizes is impressive. His fi lms have Not only did Demers get the money, The Peanut Butter won awards in Egypt (Reach for the Sky, 1992), Algeria Solution (1985) became an international success, the second (Bach et Bottine, 1987), Australia (Tommy Tricker and the in a string of Tales for All that now stretches for almost three Stamp Traveller, 1988), Germany (Madame Brouette, 2003) decades and over 20 fi lms.

fall 2013 | 31

PB.HoF.2013.indd 31 13-08-21 3:39 PM TED KOTCHEFF: BY MARC GLASSMAN FROM ‘APPRENTICESHIP’ TO MASTER FILMMAKING

When Ted Kotcheff walks into a room, read it,” recalls Kotcheff, “and I said when I fi nished, ‘Mordecai, not only is this one of the people pay attention. greatest Canadian novels ever written, one day I’m going to come back to Canada and At the age of 82, the fi lmmaker who made make it.’ And we both started to laugh at the absurdity of such an idea.” The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz nearly 40 The novel was The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Fourteen years later, a now vastly years ago still exudes power and confi dence, experienced Kotcheff was able to come to his strong resonant voice and piercing eyes Michael Spencer, the fi rst executive director of the Canadian Film Development Corporation contributing to his formidable presence. (now Telefi lm Canada) and get the money to make the fi lm. Working with a script by Richler and shooting in the Montreal locations where Kotcheff is part of a golden age of directors who emerged in the upstart Jewish entrepreneur Duddy would have made his Toronto during the early days of CBC-TV in the mid-1950s. fortune, Kotcheff directed a dream cast including the young Arthur Hiller (Love Story), Paul Almond (the fi rst 7-Up doc; Act Richard Dreyfuss in the titular role, Micheline Lanctot as his of the Heart) and Harvey Hart (Bus Riley’s Back in Town) were Quebecois girlfriend and Jack Warden as his dad. An instant three others. All had to leave Canada in the late ‘50s and classic, it won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin fi lm early ‘60s, along with indie Toronto director Sidney J. Furie festival and the Canadian Film Award. (The Ipcress File), for a simple reason. There was no Canadian Emboldened by the success of Duddy, Kotcheff prepared feature fi lm industry here at the time. an adaptation of another best-selling and critically acclaimed Kotcheff remembers novel by Richler, St. Urbain’s Horsemen. But despite Duddy’s it well. “That time at the nearly $1-million-dollar box offi ce take – huge in 1974 – CBC, when I was directing investors shied away from the directing-writing duo. plays for television, was a “My spirit was broken,” remembers Kotcheff. “I was sitting glorious period in my life.” there, saying, ‘I know this is my homeland and this is where I After being told by a friendly should be making fi lms, but what I am I going to do?’ That’s CBC executive, “Ted, you’re when my agent told me that ‘[Hollywood producers] Peter Bart a terrifi c talent and you and Max Palvesky loved Duddy Kravitz and wanted me to do better get out of here – pit a fi lm, Fun with Dick and Jane.’ I said reluctantly ‘Alright, I’ll yourself against the best go down.’” in America or London,” the Fun with Dick and Jane (1977) became a big hit, as did resolute young Torontonian 1978’s Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? and 1979’s left for England. North Dallas Forty. Kotcheff’s hope of making Canadian fi lms Left: Kotcheff on the set of 1985’s Joshua Then There he directed terrifi c faded as he became a successful Hollywood director. and Now, with actor James Woods. writing talents – Alun Owen, who wrote the Beatles’ irreverent In speaking with Kotcheff, who made sure to use Canadian Right: Kotcheff on the set of cult classic hit A Hard Day’s Night, black comedy genius Harold Pinter crews while shooting First Blood, the original Rambo movie, Weekend at Bernie’s (1989), along with actors and the Nobel Prize winning novelist and playwright Doris in B.C., the dream of making Canadian dramatic features has Jonathan Silverman (left), Terry Kiser (middle) Lessing. “I worked both in the theatre and in fi lm, which is never died. and Andrew McCarthy (right). why I came to England,” remembers Kotcheff. “Had Canada been ready to embrace Ted Kotcheff earlier, All that time, Kotcheff was preparing to come back to our cinematic history might have been a very different story,” Canada. He wanted to take the country by storm – and he refl ects Helga Stephenson, executive director of the Academy did. While living in England, Kotcheff had become the best of Canadian Cinema and Television. “Ted’s enthusiasm, brains friend of another expatriate Canadian, the novelist Mordecai and talent infuse everything he touches and lights up the Richler. When they were living as roommates in London, room as he fi lls it with tales of history combined with his own Richler gave him his latest novel to read in manuscript. “I rich story.”

32 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.23707.Shaftesbury.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 3:14 PM PB.23545.CFC.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:57 PM PB.HoF.2013.indd 32 13-08-21 3:40 PM [ SWAROVSKI HUMANITARIAN AWARD]

he says. “It was a huge responsibility.” Suzuki used that star power to persuade political decision makers and others to take steps to protect the planet. Other TV projects soon followed. These include his 1985 hit series, A Planet for the Taking and the critically acclaimed 1993 PBS series The Secret of Life. Later, he founded the David Suzuki Foundation, which works with government, business and individuals to conserve our environment through science- based research and education. BY DAVID GODKIN Since then others have joined in praising Suzuki, including DAVID SUZUKI Haida First Nation leader Miles Richardson, who credits Suzuki for helping Canadians understand nature in the way that Canada’s Elizabeth May stills laughs about her ﬁ rst encounter with the from one devoted to explaining the science underlying the indigenous peoples have always understood it. “It’s basically host of Quirks and Quarks and Suzuki on Science. natural world to helping Canadians understand how critical it understanding and accepting that all things are connected,” says “I kept calling every Halifax hotel and asking to speak with is to protect that world. Suzuki says it’s been as much of an Richardson, “and that our actions have consequences.” David Suzuki and ﬁ nally got through,” she recalls. “He [picked up eye opener for him as it has for them. The irony, Suzuki says, is that television, a tool which keeps and] said “You just got me out of the shower. Give me a second.” “I feel in many ways The Nature of Things was my grounding. I people indoors, is being used to persuade people to spend Back in the mid-‘70s Suzuki was fast becoming a hero to really learned about the deep environmental ecology of nature.” more time outdoors. He thinks the trend will continue with millions of Canadians for his increasingly vocal defence of the And then Suzuki discovered something that surprised him. The technologies that enable viewers to probe nature – from environment. This included the future Green Party leader, in immense popularity of The Nature of Things had in effect made the deep microscopic changes of a human cell to the vast Halifax for an anti-pesticide campaign. him the face and voice of Canada’s environmental movement. mysteries of the outer cosmos. A gifted geneticist and academic, Dr. David Suzuki became This completely altered his relationship with audiences. “If we use those kinds of tools I think it gives you a sense of best known for hosting the iconic The Nature of Things with “I was trying to empower people with knowledge and wonder and shows that there’s really no line between us and David Suzuki. Over the years the program has transformed excitement and information and instead they empowered me,” that world out there.”

fall 2013 | 33

PB.23707.Shaftesbury.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 3:14 PM PB.23545.CFC.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:57 PM PB.HoF.2013.indd 33 13-08-21 3:41 PM AL WAXMAN: BY MARK DILLON THE KING OF CANADIAN TELEVISION

To millions of Canadians, Al Waxman will always Poland. Fiona Reid played Larry’s wife Cathy, who left him after season three. be “the King.” “It was gentle humour in some ways and The comedy King of Kensington, which aired on CBC slapstick in others. It had all the elements the American shows have, but it was very Canadian,” from 1975 to 1980, made its lead actor a national icon. says Alan Erlich, the series’ go-to director and It pulled in around 1.8 million viewers per week, and former DGC national president. The show inspired a spate of sitcoms, but none as successful. in 2001 the Toronto Star’s Antonia Zerbisias called it Erlich believes Waxman helped elevate English- “the single most important entertainment series ever Canadian TV actors to stars. And no less than the Trudeau government wanted to put that star power produced in English-speaking Canada.” to use, asking Waxman and his family to attend summer events across the country to promote national unity. “We went to fairs, legion halls, Created by Perry Rosemond, the show gave us a homegrown baseball games and festivals. We were a typical Canadian hit sitcom. It incorporated topical humour in the style of All family,” recalls Sara Waxman, Al’s wife of 32 years and mother in the Family, but rather than having a bigot at its core, it of their sons Adam and Tobaron. had the benign Larry King, who was always willing to help Waxman began performing on CBC Radio as a teenager. his neighbours in Toronto’s multicultural Kensington Market, He attended law school, but the lure of acting was too strong. where he owned a struggling variety store. The racial jokes He picked up erratic work in Canadian and Hollywood TV and were saved for Larry’s mother Gladys (Helene Winston), who, movies throughout the 1960s and early ‘70s, then tried his like Waxman’s real-life parents, was a Jewish immigrant from hand behind the camera – writing, directing and appearing

34 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

12th Annual DGC Awards Saturday, October 26, 2013

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PB.23695.NFB.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:57 PM PB.23698.Fearless.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:58 PM PB.HoF.2013.indd 34 PB.23586.DGC.indd 1 13-08-2113-08-20 3:45 7:16PM PMPB.22259.FearlessThirdPg.indd 1 06/11/12 2:39 PM Waxman as Judge Othniel on the CTV drama, Twice in a Lifetime.

THE KING’S CREDENTIALS • IMDb lists Waxman acting in 85 fi lm and TV productions, directing 19, writing four and producing two in the well-regarded 1971 feature drama The Crowd Inside, former Prime Minister Kim Campbell. “I’ve often wondered starring Geneviève Deloir. He helmed TV episodes, as well what would’ve happened if he had taken that post,” Sara • He chaired the Academy of Canadian as the features My Pleasure Is My Business (1975), Tulips says. “California is so health conscious. He might have been Cinema and Television from 1989-1992 (1981, co-directed), White Light (1991) and Death Junction jogging and eating vegetarian food. It might’ve been better (1994, co-directed). for his health, but he lived the way he wanted to live. He was • He was nominated for a 1991 Canadians beamed with pride when he joined the cast of working at what he loves and was successful at it. That made Daytime Emmy for directing the CBS CBS cop drama Cagney & Lacey (1982-88), playing the titular him a fulfi lled human being.” Schoolbreak Special Maggie’s Secret, The Waxmans were involved in many charities, including the female detectives’ supervisor Lieut. Bert Samuels. He later about a teenager with alcoholic hosted Global’s Missing Treasures (1991-92), which sought United Jewish Appeal, Big Brothers and the Canadian Cancer to reunite missing children with their families by dramatizing Society. That spirit of giving is one of the things Waxman’s son parents their disappearances. His fi nal role was on the CTV drama Adam remembers best. Another benefi ciary of his generosity • In 1997, he won a best supporting was the Canadian acting community. “He understood what it Twice in a Lifetime as the celestial Judge Othniel, who sent actor Gemini Award for portraying deceased individuals back in time to convince their younger was like for young actors starting out,” Adam says. “He taught selves to choose a different path. The series sold around the a class called ‘Al’s Gym,’ and he never charged a penny. He hockey manager Jack Adams in the world and he worked on it up until his death, which occurred said, ‘If you guys can fi nd a space, I’ll be there.’ That kind of CBC TV movie Net Worth. The following during elective bypass surgery at age 65. big-heartedness was a huge part of who he was.” year, he won the Academy’s Earle Grey Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had earlier offered him the And it will long be remembered. After his passing, the Award for lifetime achievement post of Consul General to Los Angeles, but he took a rain Merchants of Kensington Market erected a bronze statue of check so that he could pen his autobiography That’s What I Waxman in the neighborhood’s Bellevue Square – a fi tting • In 1997 he was inducted into the Am and perform and direct at the Stratford Festival. By the memorial for a man who was both local hero and Canadian Order of Canada time he was ready to take on the role, it had been fi lled by TV royalty.

fall 2013 | 35 audio mixing Johnny THE SECRET DISCO REVOLUTION You Gotta Eat Here Test digital CANADA’S Faces of

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PB.23698.Fearless.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:58 PM PB.22259.FearlessThirdPg.inddPB.HoF.2013.indd 35 1 06/11/1213-08-21 2:393:45 PM COLM FEORE: ALWAYS ON THE LIST BY ETAN VLESSING

Colm Feore is an actor’s actor. and are going to do exceptional work every time. That’s the list I want to be on,” he says. A chance conversation Feore had with a If anything, Feore has been around the Hollywood casting director while the veteran Canadian stage and screen game for so long, it’s easy to overlook that, in a fail-or-succeed actor was waiting to audition explains that business, he has succeeded so often. “Well, I’ve been extremely lucky,” he says, accolade. modestly attributing his success to the actors “I wasn’t sure at all why I was there. It seemed and directors with whom he’s worked. Those credits include his fi rst TV show, right out of to me a ridiculous long shot,” Feore remembers. the National Theatre School in Montreal, a CBC drama called For The Record, directed by So he asked the casting director why he was up Donald Brittan. for the part. Then, in 1993, Feore portrayed Canadian piano genius Glenn Gould in François Girard’s It was simple, she replied: Hollywood has three lists. Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. The fi rst, an A-list, has six names on it. That performance got Feore away from Stratford, where Everyone knows who they are, though the names keep he had been performing classical stage roles for 16 changing. seasons, to fi nally dipping his hand in the Hollywood till with And the second, the B-list, has the names of actors who fi lm and TV credits like John Woo’s Face/Off and Michael once were on the A-list. Bay’s Pearl Harbor. That’s a long list. Timing-wise, Feore insists he got it right by going south to But the third list is a short one. Hollywood to contend as a possible star only when he was “It’s called actors. You’re on that list,” Feore recalls the ready as an actor. casting director telling him. “I thought that everything I was doing in Stratford was going And that’s a list Feore favours, as it features actors always to be useful and translatable when I actually did go there, and in demand for their skill, versatility and professionalism. I went when I had something to show them,” he remembers. “Chris Cooper, Dylan Baker, Campbell Scott, Ed Harris – What he showed them was an actor with the stamina to Colm Feore in his supporting role as Cardinal Giuliano those guys are always terrifi c and always keep showing up play Hamlet and King Lear for three-and-a-half hours straight, Della Rovere in the historical drama The Borgias. and to get it right on the fi rst take. “There is no respite and you don’t have much fl exibility to get it wrong – there is no take two,” Feore says of performing at Stratford. That meant Feore comes to work on fi lm or TV set primed to take his marks and perform. “I’ve had the great good fortune of working with people like Sidney Lumet, Clint Eastwood, Michael Mann – people who shoot rehearsals in maybe only a few takes. And I’m fi ne with that, because I know there will be no take 17,” he explains. Feore has carved out a thriving career in Canada as well, borne by starring roles like playing former Canadian PM Pierre Elliott Trudeau for the CBC and the straight- laced investigator in Erik Canuel’s bilingual Bon Cop, Bad Cop. Not bad for someone born in Boston and taken for an American in Hollywood, as he has lived in Canada for virtually all his life. “Canadians assume I’m Canadian, and I don’t disabuse them,” he admits. “And in America, they don’t put a label on me. They just say actor.”

36 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.23687.DougSerge.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 4:01 PM PB.HoF.2013.indd 36 13-08-21 3:51 PM PB.23546.York.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 2:31 PM PB.22776.WhistlerHalfStrip.indd 1 13-08-20 7:17 PM [OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD]

Expansion into the U.S. and primetime TV is company’s next big step. “We really see content as very much a global production, as we work with our Canadian partners to manufacture for the Canadian market, but always with an eye to sell to the U.S. and globally,” says Hornburg. “It’s a trend more and more as everything has a little less money but everyone expects to have that much higher production values – we need to fi nd ways to partner together to achieve this.” That strategy involves meeting with Canadian writers in L.A. and in some cases, investing in scripts at the early stages, BY DANIELLE NG-SEE-QUAN or inking blind development deals with writers they think can MARBLEMEDIA help secure broadcast partners. Moving into primetime, the partners know, will be a challenge. Marblemedia co-founders Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg Films) and expanded to LA with an eye to scripted fare. “Part of the challenge when you start to expand or steer the may have just been self-confessed “young punks” in 2001 The distribution business has bolstered marblemedia’s ship in a different direction is ensuring people start seeing you in when they told a Banff Media Festival audience to keep relationships with international and third-party content that [new] way. You really only need that fi rst success in the genre their heads up, because multi-platform viewership would be partners, Bishop tells Playback, which has led to ever- to help more people see you in that regard,” says Hornburg. the next big thing. But that confi dence has paid off, as the expanding opportunities to develop, sell and leverage their The execs remain steadfast in marblemedia’s audience-fi rst company they launched 12 years ago is now enjoying an new and existing slate. Achievements in this area include approach to IP development for multiple platforms. international reputation for innovation and high quality work. international success with anchor series like This Is…, “As a content company, it’s our job to build IP that has a In the last year alone, the company has pacted with Zodiak coproduced with Sinking Ship Entertainment and sold into massive audience,” says Hornburg, pointing the Splatalot web Kids and Surprise Bag! in the U.S. to develop new unscripted over 200 countries, kids game show Splatalot, sold into 120 game, which has earned 150 million gameplays worldwide. and animated projects, acquired full control of Distribution360 countries, and the upcoming Japanizi Going Going Gong!, “We really feel the content will fi nd the audience, and (it previously shared ownership with Calgary-based Seven24 which has been pre-sold into 120 countries. technology will probably fi nd the business model,” he adds.

fall 2013 | 37

We couldn’t have scripted it any better ourselves.

Congratulations, Slawko Klymkiw, on being inducted into Playback’s 2013 Hall of Fame, from your friends at doug & serge.

PB.23687.DougSerge.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 4:01 PM PB.HoF.2013.indd 37 13-08-21 3:51 PM GEORGE ANTHONY BY DAVID GODKIN

TV, fi lm, newspapers and books: there’s hardly an Two Short Films About Glenn Gould and arena in Canadian entertainment that Montreal-born Douglas Coupland’s Souvenir of Canada. The common denominator in the success writer and producer George Anthony hasn’t stepped of those films and his other work, he says, into – or dominated. “is having affection and a respect for the audience.” According to Gerald Lunz, His work at CBC television features prominently, producer of the Rick Mercer Report, those notably as a producer on such hits as Royal Canadian qualities underpin Anthony’s own approach to the arts. Air Farce, Made in Canada and This Hour Has 22 “Respecting your audience… giving them Minutes. Throughout, Anthony was driven by one what they want; it’s old school show biz and George has been a godsend to Rick and I simple philosophy: to put in front of Canadian for that.” audiences “the very best talent you can.” It was George Anthony who persuaded Photo credit: Dimo Safari Lunz and Mercer to bring their brand of political satire to CBC TV. Anthony sees one “My job was to create a climate for them where they were of his roles as buffer between talent and management, safe to take risks and give us their very best work,” Anthony a much needed skill when you’re handling shows as says. “I was thrilled by all those shows.” innovative and as willing to challenge convention as So were Canadian audiences. Under his leadership, those Canadian comedy. And that’s precisely why Lunz has programs have won more than 100 Gemini awards, along worked with Anthony from the get-go. with the Prix Italia and numerous international Emmy Awards. “He was my [most] honest relation with anyone in any network Anthony didn’t shy away from the camera himself. sphere,” Lunz says. “He was straight, there was no BS.” Following stints as a highly popular entertainment columnist With critically acclaimed biographies of fi lm critic Brian and critic for the Toronto Sun, he spent fi ve years hosting Linehan and actor Gordon Pinsent under his belt, Anthony is his own interview show on Global. now writing two books, one a collection of short fi ction, the

At the CBC, George Anthony helped launch both This Hour Has 22 Minutes (left, circa 2009) and Royal Anthony credits his parents for his venture into the other a book of stories about Hollywood. His legacy? Well, Canadian Air Farce (right, circa 2008) in 1993. entertainment industry. Owners of movie theatres in most agree Anthony has a lot more to achieve before that Montreal, they made it possible for the adolescent George chapter in his life can be fully written. For his part, Anthony to see ﬁ lms that were restricted to people 16 years of age prefers to think about what TV and ﬁ lm have given him, not and over. what he’s given them. “So as you can imagine I was quite popular with my friends “Making television is a tremendous privilege. It’s so because I was able to get them into the movies,” he recalls. wonderful to have people invite you into their homes. As Those experiences would serve Anthony well later for my legacy, I have three grandchildren – I figure that’s on, spearheading extraordinary films such as Thirty- my legacy.”

38 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.23708.Shaftesbury.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 2:33 PM PB.HoF.2013.indd 38 13-08-22 3:45 PM Photo credit: Shayne Laverdiere

[PLAYBACK BREAKOUT AWARD]

“I’ve been mentioning my ardent desire to act for other directors for years, and since for once one had actually taken that unfalteringly reiterated statement seriously, I wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity because I had to go and strut my stuff in the south of France,” Dolan insists. Tom à la ferme, which stars Lise Roy and Pierre-Yves Cardinal and is based on play by Michel Marc Bouchard, is a France-Canada coproduction from Mifi lifi lms and MK2. In the fi lm, a young ad executive travels to the country for the funeral of his gay lover, who died accidently. Along the way, he fi nds out that his lover’s mother knew nothing about her son’s sexual orientation, forcing him to get involved in lies and deception. Despite his latest fi lm returning to familiar themes of gay dynamics and repression, Dolan doesn’t see Tom à la ferme as a variation on a theme. “Tom à la ferme… rather centres on the ever-growing gap between men from the country and men from the city than BY EVAN VLESSING the actual division between heterosexual and homosexual XAVIER DOLAN men, and... [more] on Stockholm syndrome than on a typical bromance,” he insists. Although just 24 years old, Xavier Dolan dominates the game “You’re making a movie and you seize it entirely, put both Tom à la ferme is also the fi rst psychological thriller Dolan of fi lm in Quebec. your hands on it, and then visualize a place, a goal – the has completed. But as he considers a tribute as Playback’s breakout player further, the better – and then you take it there,” the director He has another goal in mind as his latest movie contends in of the year, the young director debates whether football, explains, continuing the football metaphor. Venice: shedding his fresh-faced young fi lmmaker label and where you take the ball across the goal line to score, is a “And it’s all about you in the end, although you have many being treated as more the enfant terrible that Quebec knows better metaphor for his fi lmmaking style than baseball’s allies to defend you on your way. Will you run fast enough, will him as. strategy of putting a ball in play. you make the right choices, will you jump over the obstacles, Sure, the “age tag” has helped Dolan woo the Quebec “It’s not about throwing it as far as you can and then waiting tackle the opponents – if there is such a thing – and take the media, at least until now. to see what will happen to you while you’re running for your ball where you said you would?” he adds. “But yeah, I wish the media, just like for Justin Bieber, life,” Dolan tells Playback. “It’s about catching [the ball] to Dolan rejects the notion that he chose Venice over Cannes treated me as a young adult – enfant terrible or not,” he said. begin with, and then taking it exactly where you want, while after the French festival denied his last fi lm, Laurence “Actually, I’d be content with them treating me like I was you’re running for your life.” Anyways, an offi cial competition berth. Justin Bieber, period, which means I’d be really cute and Dolan’s latest long game has him bringing his latest fi lm, He said Tom à la ferme wasn’t ready for Cannes after take pouting selfi es on Instagram while travelling in private Tom à la ferme, for a world premiere in Venice much like a he put its post-production on hold to act in Podz’s latest jets,” Dolan added, sounding more and more like he’s quarterback aiming sniper-like down the fi eld. film, Miraculum. enjoying the game.

fall 2013 | 39

PB.23708.Shaftesbury.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 2:33 PM PB.HoF.2013.indd 39 13-08-22 3:45 PM SLAWKO KLYMKIW BY DANIELLE NG-SEE-QUAN

Perhaps the Canadian Film Centre’s multi-year track. The $12 million build, which includes earlier upgrades and repairs to increase the expansion and construction project, the Windfi elds sustainability of the CFC’s multiple buildings, Campus improvement and expansion project, is a entered its fi nal stretch in May this year with shovels in the ground for the Northern Dancer metaphor for the formidable task Slawko Klymkiw has Pavilion. The new structure will create additional space to house the organization’s fi lm, TV and undertaken as the organization’s CEO since 2005. digital media programs. Funding and executing a multi-million dollar The expansion is the most visible evidence of Klymkiw’s work but under his oversight, the building project and running a successful non-profi t CFC has, by all accounts, fl ourished, growing takes business savvy, brand vision and plenty of from a $7-million to $13-million organization. A multi-year restructuring plan has achieved sweet talking. reduced operating costs, increased exposure, a diversifi ed board and an increased slate of In the past eight years, Klymkiw has had plenty of practice programs for talent development. with both. Communication, networking and outreach – skills Klymkiw “One of the metaphors I like to use is that we wanted to holds in spades – have been a key part of the process. change from a mom and pop [shop] to a small business,” “We began really making sure that our stakeholders, public Klymkiw says of the CFC’s strategic plan. The Windfi elds and private, understood the huge economic return that came expansion was an especially daunting challenge: “There were from the centre,” he explains. times where I didn’t think we’d raise all the money,” he admits. Klymkiw’s dedication has not gone unnoticed. Lead by the organization’s fundraising efforts and an infusion “I think one of the great things for me working with him, what of government dollars, Klymkiw has so far kept the project on I appreciate – he really loves to convince people of the merit of

40 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.23725.Telefilm.indd 1 13-08-20 7:18 PM PB.HoF.2013.indd 40 13-08-22 3:45 PM PB.23732.Buchli.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 4:02 PM what we’re doing,” says Sheena MacDonald, CFC COO, who programs, including the Actor’s Conservatory; the Bell Media also worked with Klymkiw when she was at Rhombus Media Showrunner Bootcamp; the Slaight Family Music Lab; the and he at the CBC, where he began his career. CFC Media Lab’s digital business accelerator ideaBOOST; He started at the CBC in 1980 as a researcher for its the CFC/NBCUniversal TV Series Exchange; and an ongoing supper hour program 24Hours, then as executive producer of partnership with the Tribeca Film Institute. CBC News Manitoba. He moved to CBC News in Ontario, and Despite this growth, Klymkiw knows the biggest challenge Left: Klymkiw with Norman Jewison, who founded the CFC in 1988. Right: Klymkiw (right) with Kathryn Emslie, chief programs officer, in the late ‘80s became EP of CBC at 6. He launched CBC for the industry may still be ahead. CFC Film, TV, Actors & Music, and filmmaker Paul Haggis (left). Newsworld in 1992 before becoming program director of CBC “I would say that the big challenge for all us is to fi nd the Television in 1996. way of monetizing the digital world. Financing all of this might Ever the builder, grower and instigator of change, not be romantic, but that’s what makes shows. There has to Klymkiw’s tenure at the CFC refl ects the relentless drive for be more work in research and development, there has to be improvement he developed in his career at the CBC. a concrete, rigorous attempt at fi nding these models going Since 2005, the CFC has launched a slew of new forward,” he insists.

fall 2013 | 41

PB.23725.Telefilm.indd 1 13-08-20 7:18 PM PB.23732.Buchli.Ad.inddPB.HoF.2013.indd 41 1 13-08-222013-08-20 3:46 4:02PM PM 10 2WATCH

KATIE BOLAND ACTOR

At 25 years old, Katie Boland has already emerged as regardless of how rewarding it was, was in some ways limited, because it’s dependant on a successful and multi-dimensional talent. With acting other people hiring you,” she says. “I wanted credits piling up and her digital projects getting deals, to find a way around that and I wanted to find something else that I could do that I got to Boland is poised for success, whatever the medium. decide when I did it.” Of the upcoming Gerontophilia, Boland As an actress, she’s had roles in Paul Thomas Anderson’s describes the fi lm as one of the more challenging projects The Master, as well as Michael Goldbach’s Daydream Nation she’s worked on recently. and Robert Cuffl ey’s Ferocious. On the digital side, she “It was not necessarily an easy shoot; there wasn’t a lot of produces, writes and stars in the short web series Long money, it was in Montreal and Bruce and I were pretty much Story Short, which is distributed by Shaftesbury Films and the only people that weren’t francophone,” Boland says of airs on international online streaming site KoldCast TV. her experience on the set. Last year, she produced the feature fi lm Looking is But, she adds, working with LaBruce made the shoot a the Original Sin with Gail Harvey, her mother. This year, more comfortable experience. Boland will be seen in two Canadian feature fi lms, Jeremy “He was actually the most relaxed director I’ve ever worked LaLonde’s Sex After Kids and Bruce LaBruce’s Gerontophilia, with,” she recalls. “He was very succinct but he didn’t have the latter of which will screen at the Toronto International a very domineering presence on set. You sort of felt like you Film Festival and the Venice International Film Festival. could try what you wanted and he would guide you.” Developing both sides of her career in equal measure was Look for Boland’s work as well on Reign, a period drama a strategic decision, she explains. airing on CTV Two this fall about a young Mary Queen of “I only saw myself as an actress, and then around when Scots. - Georgia Graham I turned 20 I realized that having a career as an actress,

IAN HARNARINE WRITER-DIRECTOR

As a physics professor, Ian Harnarine explores the Rotenstein came on board to help develop the fi lm into a feature. This year, the project was selected building blocks of the universe. But as a fi lmmaker, he’s for the Independent Filmmaker Project’s (IFP) gaining acclaim by exploring the often more complex 2013 Independent Film Week Project Forum, a prestigious program designed to foster new talent. world of family ties and cross-cultural experiences. Most mind-blowing for Harnarine has been seeing diverse audiences connect with the story Harnarine’s short fi lm, Doubles With Slight Pepper, fi rst regardless of their background – from the applause in Alabama garnered attention at the 2011 Toronto International Film to the Jersey shore women seeking hugs following a screening. Festival, where it won the award for best Canadian short fi lm. “There’s this great thing that’s happening in Canadian fi lm Shot in Trinidad over one week with an entirely local cast, the right now,” he says of fi lmmakers increasingly telling global fi lm tells the story of Dhani, a young man facing a terrible family stories, with international casts and shot in foreign territories, dilemma while struggling to support his mother and make ends like last year’s Oscar contender War Witch, or Anais Barbeau- meet by selling doubles, a Trinidadian street food. Lavalette’s Inch’Allah. “It’s inspiring to see the industry and The fi lm’s buzz was in part enhanced by its pedigree: thanks people embrace those fi lms.” to a grant from The Spike Lee Production Fund, the famed The Toronto-born fi lmmaker – who lives in New York and director’s name was attached to the project, a fact that helped teaches experimental physics and sound for fi lm at New York drum up a further $60,000 from a Kickstarter campaign and University – also has other projects on the horizon, including an post-pro funding from the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company. adaptation of David Chariandy’s novel Soucouyant and a script In 2012, Doubles won a Genie Award for best live action he’s co-writing with Spike Lee based on physicist Ron Mallett’s short drama, and later that year, Harnarine won the $10,000 memoir Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Telefi lm Pitch This! prize at TIFF. Following the festival, Time Travel a Reality. - Danielle Ng-See-Quan producers Christina Piovesan (The Whistleblower) and Karina

42 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.10toWatch.2013.indd 42 13-08-21 8:40 PM Playback’s annual Ten to Watch list is designed to give you a glimpse into the future, a look at the talent that will be shaping the industry in the years to come. This year, in addition to the writers, directors, actors and producers that form the backbone of content production, we discovered several new species of multi-hyphenates, including the “lawyer-event producer,” “professor-transmedia storyteller,” and the ever-increasing “actor-webseries producer.” Media is changing, audiences are fragmenting: meet the people at the forefront of this new age.

JASON LAPEYRE WRITER-DIRECTOR

Talk about intense: imagine directing your fi rst and second hand; it went into production in July 2011. “I wrote [the fi lm] knowing that it would feature fi lms, and sandwiching your fi rst doc feature project probably be very low budget. I intentionally between them, all in an eight-month period. wrote something that would take place entirely outdoors, in a location that wouldn’t require a lot “2011 was the year where everything exploded, because I of set dressing,” Lapeyre recalls. “One of the great things spent years in the industry trying to get stuff off of the ground about shooting in the woods is that if you turn the camera 90 and then everything happened simultaneously,” Toronto-based degrees, you have a whole new location.” director Jason Lapeyre tells Playback. Fast forward to 2012: Cold Blooded won the best Canadian Cold Blooded, Lapeyre’s fi rst fi lm as a writer and director, feature award at Montreal’s Fantasia fest and I Declare War came to him in the form of an invitation from Guildwood premiered at TIFF. I Declare War also won the audience award Entertainment. The prodco invited a group of writers to tour at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX, screening alongside Cold an abandoned hospital set it had access to, and submit script Blooded and The Captured Bird, a short Lapeyre produced ideas based on the set. Lapeyre submitted two, for both a with EP Guillermo del Toro. zombie movie and a crime movie; the latter eventually turned He’s also branched out to TV with the prep school sex into Cold Blooded. drama Restless Virgins, a Lifetime MOW shot in Vancouver. Immediately after wrapping that feature, he was back in the “It’s kind of my attempt at a John Hughes movie… my hospital environment with Faceless, a feature documentary fi rst TV experience, period,” Lapeyre says. And he recently about Toronto General Hospital’s in-patient psychiatric unit, pacted with director Randall Okita on an agreement to where he spent a year as the fi lmmaker-in-residence. produce each others’ projects and make fi lms together. So Two months later, Samaritan Entertainment approached him far, it’s a success: their fi rst short fi lm, Portrait as a Random to direct I Declare War. Lapeyre had written the fi lm’s script in Act of Violence, will premiere at TIFF this year. 2002, about a kids’ game of war in the woods that gets out of - Danielle Ng-See-Quan

MICHELLE LATIMER DIRECTOR

Michelle Latimer makes fi lms about people you don’t know. Elsewhere, Latimer’s Alias, which bowed at this year’s Hot Docs, follows the pitfalls of talented Her documentary subjects are outsiders – gangster rappers, Toronto rappers trying to escape the gangster life Canada’s only female dangerous offender – people often by becoming entertainers. Successfully securing the trust of rappers she misunderstood or vilifi ed by the media and wider society. portrays was a major challenge for the fi lmmaker on Alias, which is now being developed as a But Latimer, a veteran actress-turned-director, is fast winning possible TV series based on the fi lm’s characters. awards and making a name in Canadian fi lm by giving “I was worried. I didn’t want to be an outsider coming into outsiders a voice. a community, because I know that feeling,” Latimer, herself “You’re always speaking other people’s words,” she says Metis/Algonquin, says. of an acting career that has taken her from stage to screen, The fi lmmaker is also developing a feature documentary including lead roles on TV series’ Moose TV, Paradise Falls about Renée Acoby, Canada’s only female dangerous offender and Blackstone. – a designation she earned for crimes, including assaults and Having picked up a camera, however, has allowed Latimer hostage-takings, committed while in prison. to shine a light on injustice to effect social change. “I feel a tremendous responsibility, being true by her,” For example, the 2009 documentary Jackpot portrays Latimer says. die-hard regulars at a bingo hall, while the 2011 Bravo short And she’s collaborating on a number of projects with Choke uses stop-motion animation to portray a fi ctional young iconoclastic fi lmmaker Peter Mettler, including jointly doing the man leaving his First Nation reservation for big city life, only to artist residency at the Christie Digital/CAFKA gallery in Toronto. face isolation and a loss of identity. “We’re both interested in pushing our boundaries as artists Choke debuted in Sundance, where it won a special jury and not falling into preconceived ideas of what the style of the honourable mention. fi lm will be,” Latimer says. - Etan Vlessing

fall 2013 | 43

PB.10toWatch.2013.indd 43 13-08-21 8:40 PM 10 TCH2WA

JORDAN NAHMIAS LAWYER, EVENT/FILM PRODUCER

A specialist in entertainment law, Jordan Nahmias is under the stars on the Toronto waterfront. While fi lms screened aren’t always Canadian – most making a name for himself in the world of Canadian fi lm. are festival picks curated by eOne execs and Open Roof programmers Charlotte Mickie and How many lawyers does it take to organize a fi lm festival? Christina Kubacki – profi ts earned from the event go to Just one, apparently, if that lawyer is Jordan Nahmias. supporting Canadian independent fi lm and music. The Toronto-based entertainment lawyer-producer-festival Not content with his success to date, Nahmias has started director is one of the Canadian fi lm industry’s brightest producing as well. He is currently associate producing young professionals, successfully blending together a career From The Four Corners of the Earth, a documentary in law with a love of fi lm and music. about a community in the remote Ghana village of Sefwi By day, Nahmias runs a law practice in Toronto Wiawso, the inhabitants of which fi nd out that the religion specializing in media, intellectual property and corporate they’ve followed for over 200 years is in fact Judaism, law. Of late, he’s been focusing on helping his clients navigate sparking a desire to visit the religion’s homeland of Israel. the byzantine world of rights management and cross-platform The fi lmmakers successfully raised over $15,000 in a distribution, which has grown increasingly complex as Kickstarter campaign to shoot the fi rst phase of Four audiences have fragmented across new mediums. Corners’ production earlier this year. But by night, Nahmias has made himself a name as “Reaching out further into production allows me to put co-founder of Open Roof Films Entertainment and the Open my negotiation, business and ultimately, creative skills to Roof Festival, a summer event series featuring food, fi lm further use,” Nahmias says of his evolving career. “Having and live music. a background in entertainment law really does set one up The Open Roof business, which is non-profi t, has helped well for navigating the landscape and issues that come with him create a niche in the Canadian entertainment scene, production.” - Georgia Graham with one side of his business informing and helping to develop the other. The Open Roof Festival events, which he co-founded and co-directs with Canadian TV mogul Michael MacMillan, offer fi lm screenings, beer tasting and food

SEAN PATRICK O’REILLY FOUNDER AND CEO, ARCANA COMICS

With roots in the comic book industry, Arcana Comics property. He also picked up producing and writing credits on 2010’s Circle of Pain and CEO and founder Sean Patrick O’Reilly is building a the recently completed Arcana original, The multimedia empire (no, it’s not an evil empire) with Clockwork Girl. O’Reilly describes his fi lm career to date as a Arcana’s colourful slate of original IPs. mix of both hands-on and hands-in roles. “For hands-on productions, I’m primarily given The 38-year-old Vancouver native began his career – and a producer fee and credit, and my work will be optioned, by association, Arcana – by self-publishing his fi rst graphic acquired and someone else will actually make the movie,” novel, Kade and shopping it at San Diego Comic Con. Since he says. “I became a hands-in producer for The Clockwork that fateful trip, our hero has built Arcana’s portfolio to Girl, and at that point I was hiring people and seeking include more than 250 titles. He’s now got his eye on both fi nancing, tax credits and equity investment.” the big and small screen. Currently on tap for O’Reilly are the animated series “We’re looking to continue to develop and produce Kagagi and the feature fi lm Pixies. O’Reilly will direct and selected content from our library and ultimately own all produce Kagagi, which is in development with APTN and the rights,” he says of Arcana’s business strategy. “As slated for early 2014 release. long as we can keep telling the stories we want to tell, I’m Pixies, meanwhile, is in pre-production and will be somewhat media-agnostic.” written, directed and produced by O’Reilly. The film already O’Reilly got his fi rst taste of the big screen in 2007 while has legendary actor Christopher Plummer on board and working on Red Lotus: Mark of the Warrior, an original has attracted private equity investment, a valued “first” for animated short series for SpikeTV. Around the same the producer. time, L.A.-based Platinum Studios hired him to consult “The biggest challenge has been getting people to believe on its comic book arm; there he published Scott Mitchell in us because we don’t have a long track record [in fi lm or Rosenberg’s Cowboys & Aliens, which was later turned into TV],” he says. “It feels good to have other people believe in a blockbuster feature. us and start to invest towards Pixies.” - Jordan Twiss In 2009, he executive produced A Dangerous Man and in 2010, Paradox, a Kevin Sorbo-starrer based on an Arcana

44 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

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PATRICK O’SULLIVAN DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE & PRODUCER

What do you do with a B.A. in English? O’Sullivan led the transition, developing successful webseries’ such as My Pal, Satan and If you’re Patrick O’Sullivan, you use that storytelling Seth on Survival and going on to manage the background to build a fast-rising career in TV development, CFC’s NBC Universal Content Creator Program and Primetime Television program. earning fans in the industry along the way. Moving to the CBC in 2010, he started as executive in charge of comedy development, taking At 35 years old, O’Sullivan has already earned the respect of on drama duties when the two departments merged in 2012. seasoned production and media execs for his good taste in O’Sullivan credits his time at the CFC with building the content and programming, which he started developing as a foundation for the rest of his career. CTV intern while at Ryerson. There, he worked on shows like “You get to know people at a different level and you get Degrassi: The Next Generation and The Eleventh Hour, and experience with writers, producers, agents, unions and guilds, was eventually hired on full-time. and production suppliers,” he recalls. “You get to know the As his skills developed, CTV exec Tecca Crosby recognized entire industry and what people want and value within [it].” his talent and connected him with Kathryn Emslie at the CFC, Despite having not yet seen one of his CBC projects go to which was just launching its TV Pilot Program to foster the screen, O’Sullivan says he’s hopeful for a few he’s leaving development of Canadian pilots. Emslie hired O’Sullivan in behind in preparation for his next move – launching a prodco 2005 and he went on to become the program’s manager, called New Metric Media with producer Mark Monteﬁ ore. working with networks, writers and producers to produce “We’ll focus on traditional ﬁ lm and TV with an eye to half-hour pilots. digital,” he explains. “We’ll identify writers we think have “Soon after we made [the program pilots], everyone started potential and try to get some ideas out of them. My focus will producing pilots. So the program became redundant and we be on trying to get TV projects off the ground,” he says. changed it to focus on webseries pilots,” he explains. - Jordan Twiss

fall 2013 | 45

We know your work is tough enough. Let us find the best route from A to B.

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RAMONA PRINGLE DIGITAL STORYTELLER

Storyteller. Media maven. Producer. Speaker. Teacher. interactive iPad-based app she’s producing that will be distributed by TVO. Set for a 2014 release, Actor. At the intersection of digital media and the human the combination memoir, documentary and experience, Ramona Pringle is charting a new course. graphic e-novel examines how the virtual worlds of gaming inﬂ uence the “real world.” Even grander in scale is her Rdigitallife multi- If the next expert you see on TV explaining a digital platform project, an online hub examining “what it means to mediatrend looks more like a movie star and less like your be human in today’s wired world.” In 2012 she transformed typical talking head, it’s probably Ramona Pringle. the project into an interactive installation for Toronto art event The former ﬁ lm actor (Shoot ‘Em Up, Model Behavior) Nuit Blanche and is this year expanding the project to print – who still works in TV as an actor and host – is gaining with a partnership with Metro newspapers and a six-part prominence as a digital media producer and expert/futurist series with The Walrus magazine. in the shiny new world of transmedia storytelling and how “I’m fascinated by human experience and always have digital media affects the human experience. been,” she says of her eclectic, busy career. “So many of With her screen-friendly persona and intellectual the conversations we have about technology are about prowess – she holds a Masters in Interactive gadgets and apps. We talk about Facebook or the iPhone Telecommunications from New York University, a BFA in 5, as opposed to speaking about people and our changing Film and Video from York University and is an assistant relationships, not only with those gadgets but with each other professor at Ryerson – Pringle is custom-tailored for and the world around us. today’s multi-faceted media environment. “And that’s what’s really fascinating to me and I think This combo has earned her punditry gigs on TV – as there’s a tremendous conversation to be had,” she continues. Playback caught up with her in August, she was fresh off “That’s how I end up being in media production and speaking the air with CTV’s Canada AM – and speaking engagements to people and teaching – because it’s something that I’m so at Idea City, NXNE Interactive and TEDx events in Toronto invested in: the human side of life in the digital age.” and the World Future Society’s Conference in Chicago. - Katie Bailey However, her primary focus this year is Avatar Secrets, an

CHLOÉ ROBICHAUD DIRECTOR

One of Canada’s most promising young directors, Chloé “This was the last thing I needed to get fi nancing for my fi rst feature fi lm,” she says.“It Robichaud is on the fi lm industry fast track with a was a confi rmation that I was ready to go for the series of festival hits and the upcoming bow of her fi rst next step. It gave me credibility.” Not one to rest on her laurels, Robichaud is feature, Sarah Préfère la Course, at TIFF. already hard at work on her next feature Pays (Country), which she’s in the process of writing To say that the past few years have been fast-paced while she travels the festival circuit with Sarah Prefers to for Quebec-based director Chloé Robichaud would be Run. Her next stop brings her to TIFF, where her fi lm will understatement. Since 2010, the 25-year-old has seen screen in the Discovery program. three of her short fi lms and her fi rst feature, Sarah Préfère She’s also interested in working in advertising, a move la Course (Sarah Prefers to Run), make it all the way to the that makes sense given a childhood spent on commercial Cannes International Film Festival, putting her on the radar shoots with her father, an ad exec. alongside rising Quebec-based talent such as fellow 10 to But for right now, there’s a lot to be said about being in Watch alumnus Xavier Dolan (Tom à la ferme). the right place at the right time. The Concordia University fi lm grad began her Cannes “In Quebec we’re not scared of trying things,” she says. career with the short fi lm Moi Non Plus (Me Neither), which “We’ve had a tendency in recent years to make our fi lms screened in the Coup de Coeur category at the fest’s Short more universal like Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies, or Kim Film Corner, and she’s returned every year since. Nguyen’s Rebelle. We don’t have frontiers anymore. We Nature Morte (Dead Nature) was presented by the Quebec want our fi lms shown everywhere.” government’s Société de Développement des Entreprises - Jordan Twiss Culturelles (SODEC) in 2011, while 2012’s Chef de Meute (Herd Leader) competed for a Palme d’Or. This year, Sarah Prefers to Run was a selection in this year’s Un Certain Regard category. Robichaud considers Herd Leader’s festival success her true breakthrough moment.

46 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

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BRANDON JAMES SCOTT ILLUSTRATOR & DESIGNER

At 30 years old, Brandon James Scott has wasted no As it turns out, Justin is just the ﬁ rst in a long line of characters that have been waiting to leap time in earning accolades. This year alone has brought out of Scott’s imagination and onto the screen. an Emmy nomination, three Annie nominations and a “I was always making pictures, creating characters and comics, and as I grew up I found Youth Media Alliance nomination for his pre-school a big love for movies. I decided to combine animated series Justin Time. the two and learn animation,” he explains. “Animation is a wonderful medium for telling They say luck is when opportunity meets preparation. For stories. You can bring pretty much whatever you Scott, his “lucky break” came just after graduation, when he want to life – your imagination is the only limit.” got to pitch an idea that he’d developed while in Sheridan Scott has also turned his creative talents to teaching, College’s animation program to his employer, Guru Studios. speaking, writing and illustrating other children’s books, Guru was expanding into original content and Scott had working on commercial projects and developing other a well-formed idea about a time-travelling kid named Mike animation projects. He’s also directing a new series at Guru and his friends. Mike became Justin, and Justin became for Mattel called Ever After High. Justin Time, an animated series for children aged three to Of Justin Time’s success, Scott says the series’ pace is a six that airs on Disney Junior in Canada, PBS Kids Sprout, big part of its allure. NBC and Netﬂ ix in the U.S. and in international markets. The “I think a lot of the shows kids get at this age are slow show now employs around 50 people, has its own app and and safe and sleepy,” he says. “There’s certain things has also spawned several iOS games. preschool television needs, certain standards and practices Scott has also written and illustrated two Justin Time you have to follow – but you can still make it awesome. We children’s books – The Pancake Express and The Big Pet tried to focus on the awesome.” - Seine Shetty Story, which just came out in July.

fall 2013 | 47

con b expo THE NEW BRAND CONTENT UPFRONTS new york ny • october $!th #!@$

PRESENTED BY Government of Alberta Supports the Province’s Screen-Based Production Industry Alberta’s film, television and digital media industry is an intrinsic part of the province’s culture and economy employing more than 3,000 people and generating over $400 EVERYTHING ( AND EVERYONE ) YOU million in economic activity over the last five years. Dedicated studio space in southern Alberta is needed to ensure the ongoing success for Alberta’s film, television and digital NEED TO KNOW TO ACHIEVE KILLER media industry, attract more productions to the province and create opportunities for developing and retaining talented Albertans within the province. CONTENT & INTEGRATION As such, the Government of Alberta is inviting industry leaders to submit proposals for the development and construction of a film studio facility in the Calgary region. The Alberta government is holding a formal open submission process in order to assess all ideas and will support the successful applicant with an up to $5 million investment. registration now open For details on how to submit a proposal BCONEXPO.COM go to culture.alberta.ca/filmstudio. All proposals must be received no later than 4:30 p.m. on September 27, 2013.

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SERENDIPITY POINT FILM

With industry legend Robert Lantos at its helm, Serendipity Point Films has produced some of Canada’s highest-profi le features. As the prodco marks its 15th anniversary, Playback pays tribute to Serendipity’s many achievements and fi nds out how the growing infl uence of its up-and- coming executives has the company poised to embark on a new era.

BY MARK DILLON

or the better part of 15 years, Serendipity Point Films has been driven by the creative desires of owner Robert Lantos. And while he still has some dream projects to produce, rising Serendipity executives Mark Musselman and Ari Lantos, Robert’s son, are part of a renewed focus on more commercial movies and a stronger push into television. F At 64, Lantos could easily sit back and bask in his legendary achievements, but he remains committed to producing drama. “The passion doesn’t seem to change. It’s an addiction. If I could kick it, I would,” he says, seated in his elegant three-storey ofﬁ ce building in Toronto’s posh Rosedale neighbourhood. It’s where Lantos wanted to be after 13 years as CEO of Alliance Communications, the production/distribution/broadcast empire he cofounded. Atlantis Communications bought Alliance in 1998 for nearly $500 million, a number Lantos revealed 10 years later in a Playback interview. He sold his shares for $60 million and returned to his ﬁ rst love of producing. “He loves it here a lot more. He never did like answering to the shareholders and having to watch what he said, which he did because he

48 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PB.Tribute.Fall13.indd 48 13-08-21 2:26 PM had so many people depending on him. Now “We live a block apart,” Lantos says, during TIFF and he is always invited. They like he has to answer to himself,” says Cherri referring to their homes in Forest Hill. “We can him. They like his fi lms.” Campbell, Lantos’ executive assistant for the walk over to each other’s place. He walked Efforts paid off in 2004 as Annette Bening past 26 years. “I wish he would take it a bit over yesterday. It sounds trivial but it helps. captured the Golden Globe for best actress easier, though. He promised that once we But what it comes down to is mutual respect.” in a musical or comedy for her turn as a started Serendipity he was going to relax a bit He and the 70-year-old Cronenberg are fading 1930s actress in the $18 million more, but he hasn’t so far. I don’t think it’s in discussing a new fi lm, but as for the long-held Canada/U.K./Hungary copro Being Julia, him to slow down.” rumour Eastern Promises would give birth to a directed by Sunshine’s Istvan Szabo and And this is a man who has already realized sequel, he says, “It doesn’t seem that way.” earning $22 million worldwide. (She also several highly personal fi lms, including Another frequent fi lmmaking partner is received an Oscar nom.) That fi lm’s success Sunshine (1999), which follows a Hungarian Atom Egoyan, for whom Serendipity produced took away some of the sting from the family over three generations and which Ararat (2002) and the Canada/U.K. copro previous year’s Canada/France/U.K. copro nabbed him and fellow producer Andras Where the Truth Lies (2005). “David and The Statement, which took in $11 million Hamori the Genie Award for best motion Atom usually write their own material,” Lantos on a $27 million budget, despite direction picture. Then there was Jeremy Podeswa’s notes. “They have a unique perspective on by Norman Jewison and Michael Caine in adaptation of Anne Michaels’ novel Fugitive it so they make the movie and I’m here to the lead role as a French Nazi collaborator. Pieces (2007), about a Jewish boy who fl ees support and voice my comments and notes. Lantos acknowledges that the production Poland for Greece during World War II. These But it’s up to them to implement their vision. was rushed for consideration in that year’s are meaningful to Lantos, a Hungarian-born I’ve tried a couple of times, but I’ve never awards season. child of Holocaust survivors who immigrated been able to bring them a project. It’s always to Montreal 50 years ago. Meaningful in their project.” a different way is Barney’s Version, the Box offi ce is one way to measure a fi lm’s FEATURE PRODUCTION long-percolated adaptation of the novel by success, but Lantos also rejoices in the AND DEVELOPMENT Mordecai Richler, with whom Lantos was recognition from award wins, which he calls Next year, eOne Films will release a pair friends (see sidebar on pg. 51.) a “pleasant perk” of the business. But he of Serendipity features that point to a These are prestige pictures that had mixed no longer has a small army to campaign for more commercial direction for the prodco, box-offi ce results. According to Serendipity, those stateside prizes, as in the Alliance days. including The Right Kind of Wrong, based on LMS BRANCHES OUT

Viggo Mortensen and Naomi while Barney’s Version took in $22 million Serendipity has a long-serving, multi-tasking Tim Sandlin’s novel Sex and Sunsets. Shot Watts star in the 2007 thriller internationally and Sunshine earned $18 staff of nine and in this case, the task falls amidst the splendour of Banff, the $15 million Eastern Promises, Serendipity million, Fugitive Pieces made only to VP publicity and marketing Wendy Saffer, romantic comedy follows dishwasher Leo Point’s top-grossing film to date. $3.5 million. who began with Alliance 27 years ago and (True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten), who falls in love (Photo: Peter Mountain) The company’s biggest hit by far is the joined Serendipity in 1999. She helps raise with Colette (Canuck Sara Canning of The 2007 David Cronenberg thriller Eastern awareness of Serendipity’s fi lms, going up Vampire Diaries) on the day she’s to marry Promises, a U.K./Canada copro about a against American indies and the studios. another man. The fi lm, which will get the British midwife (Naomi Watts) who gets “It gets really crazy around awards time. I gala treatment at TIFF, is directed by veteran entangled with a secretive Russian gangster work closely with the marketing department Montreal helmer Jeremiah Chechik, who (Viggo Mortensen). It hauled in $62 million of the U.S. distributor and the L.A.-based brought the project to Alliance when Lantos and earned Mortensen an Oscar nom, while publicist who handles the Hollywood was CEO. Lantos produces alongside Ari, both he and the fi lm were nominated for Foreign Press Association,” Saffer explains. Serendipity’s VP production. Golden Globes. Cronenberg and Lantos Serendipity has done particularly well at The $4 million Stage Fright, meanwhile, is previously collaborated on Crash (at Alliance the Golden Globe Awards, voted on by the a mash-up “horror musical” starring Meat in 1996) and eXistenZ (1999), and the mysterious 93 members of the HFPA. “Robert Loaf and Minnie Driver in a tale of a killer on producer chalks up their fruitful collaboration has a good relationship with them,” she the loose at a theatre camp. Produced by Ari in part to geography. continues. “They have a party every year and Jonas Bell Pasht, it marks the feature

fall 2013 | 49

We climbed the mountain, Robert. With love and thanks, Atom NORMAN ORENSTEIN MUSIC

www.NormanOrenstein.com

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debut of Montreal writer/director Jerome it’s already well underway to being profi table. “There has been a general alignment among director Kim Nguyen – red-hot after his Sable. The fi lm has landed U.S. distribution It’s just not my kind of fi lm. But it is Ari’s kind the staff that we’re going to focus on fi lms that Oscar-nominated War Witch. The $7-8 million with Magnolia Pictures and, Lantos says, is of fi lm,” Lantos explains. “I’m perfectly happy not only might garner awards or recognition production, loosely based on Nikolai Gogol’s indicative of the tastes of Ari and EVP Mark for Ari and Mark to engage in what they from critics, but that also make a viable 19th century novel, concerns an Irish boy who Musselman, a former entertainment lawyer want to do – provided those projects make business case,” says the 32-year-old, whose leads an uprising of the “undead” after his who joined Serendipity in 1999. business sense.” mother is actress Jennifer Dale. “We’re taking family endures hardships in North America. “I am not going to invest my energy at this According to Ari, this philosophy extends to a more comprehensive approach to the And the prodco is searching for a director for point in my life making Stage Fright, although everything Serendipity will do going forward. selection of our projects than we have in the its long-gestating $15-20 million adaptation of past, and that’s a function of me being here Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion, which and of the evolution of the company over the deals with the immigrant contribution to early last 15 years.” 1900s Toronto. As such, the prodco’s feature development slate is a mix of old and new ideas. There LIGHTS OUT FOR STARLIGHT are two comedies with Goon director Much of Serendipity’s energies over the past Michael Dowse: the $8-10 million Cult- year and a half were dedicated to fi nding de-Sac, about a doomsday sect; and the a broadcast home for Canadian fi lm. The $25 million 500 Keys, about a transatlantic company led the charge on the CRTC licence drug-smuggling operation run by two McGill application for Starlight, a mandatory-carriage University students and their professor. It’s specialty channel showing only Canadian a true story Lantos has held onto since movies. Its backers were a who’s who of attending the Montreal school in the early Canadian fi lmmakers and distributors, with 1970s. The script is by Michael Konyves, Lantos, his friend Victor Loewy – with whom who also adapted 2010’s Barney’s Version he launched Quebec distributor Vivafi lm – for Serendipity. and fi nancier David Kassie being the largest Casting is underway on Dead Souls with shareholders. But the CRTC denied the application bid, unconvinced the channel would have met a “real and exceptional need.” Ryan Kwanten and Catherine O’Hara star in The channel, says Musselman, also a Serendipity Point Films’ The Right Kind of Wrong, the prodco’s first feature since 2010’s Barney’s would-be investor, would have addressed “the Version. (Photo: Sabrina Lantos) struggles Canadian feature-fi lm producers

50 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

Heenan Blaikie congratulates Serendipity Point Films on 15 amazing years. Congratulations to Serendipity Point Films on 15 years of bringing your craft to the silver screen

We are a proud partner!

Joanne Gordon, Vice-President, Commercial, Media and Entertainment

Sandy Hawkins, Vice-President, Private Banking

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VERSIONS BY MARK DILLON Director Richard J. Lewis and Sony Pictures Classics’ Michael Barker found Serendipity Point Films to be an ideal partner on Barney’s Version

Barney’s Version, Serendipity Point Films’ most up going with Michael Konyves’ script, Lewis won the Barney’s Version stars Dustin Hoffman and Paul Giamatti on set recent theatrical release, is one of the prodco’s most directing gig on the fi lm, which is executive produced alongside producer Robert Lantos (right). commercial projects, as well as a major award winner. by Mark Musselman and co-produced by Ari Lantos. For (Photo: Sabrina Lantos) Its partners chalk up its success to the creative drive of Lewis, Serendipity was the perfect partner. Serendipity’s executives. “Their success is largely due to their selection of The comedy-drama was the realization of a long-held great material and the fi lmmakers they choose,” Lewis “We came on board after the fi lm was fi nished, but personal project for Serendipity owner Robert Lantos, tells Playback in an email. “Moreover, passion rules the Robert involved us in every aspect of the process, who brought Mordecai Richler’s book Joshua Then and day. Given the opportunity to make big blockbusters knowing we would end up being the distributor,” recalls Now to the big screen in 1985. For a dozen years he or projects that are fi nancial vehicles, Serendipity has Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics tried to do the same with Richler’s Barney’s Version, opted to make fi lms dear to their hearts.” with Tom Bernard. “He shared with us several drafts of which follows the various loves of a hack producer who The prodco recruited Paul Giamatti in the lead role the screenplay and invited us up to the Montreal set.” gets entangled in the mysterious disappearance of his and Dustin Hoffman as his rough-around-the-edges Barker is impressed not only by Lantos’ conviction and best friend. Lantos embarked with his friend Richler on a father. Giamatti won a Golden Globe and the fi lm took taste in fi lms, but also by his hands-on approach. “We treatment, but the literary lion passed away in 2001. home seven Genie Awards and an Oscar nom for Adrien live in an age where there’ll be 17 producers on a movie Enter Richard J. Lewis, the Canadian executive Morot’s makeup. It was released in Canada in late 2010 and you wonder who the real producers are – the ones producer on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation who also by eOne Films, and stateside, Lantos targeted Sony who do what producers are supposed to do – multitask. directed 1994’s Whale Music for Lantos. He showed Pictures Classics early on, which had distributed The These are producers for whom no job is too menial or his own passion for Barney’s Version by sending Lantos Statement and Being Julia. (According to Serendipity, the too high – who participate in all the creative decisions on an unsolicited screenplay adaptation. While they ended movie would go on to earn $22 million internationally.) a fi lm. Robert is one of those rare producers.”

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1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 After selling his Alliance Communications Produced with Andras Hamori, Produced with Denise Robert The $12 million noir thriller Beneﬁ tting from aggressive shares to Atlantis Communications, Robert David Cronenberg’s thriller and directed by Denys Arcand, Picture Claire, directed by marketing, curling comedy Lantos sets up Serendipity to return to eXistenZ makes $33 million bilingual satire Stardom, Bruce McDonald and starring Men with Brooms, directed production. worldwide and wins a Silver starring Jessica Paré, takes in Juliette Lewis, premieres by and starring Paul Gross, Berlin Bear award. $5.5 million worldwide. at TIFF but goes on to makes $4.3 million at the Photo: Ava V. Gerlitz Photo: Takashi Seida disappointing reviews. Canadian box ofﬁ ce. Photo: Kerry Hayes Photo: Michael Gibson

will face in greater proportion over the coming years – chief among those a lack of access to Canadian broadcast licences. So we thought, instead of just complaining about the diffi cult status quo, can we come up with a solution that is commercially viable and meets a whole bunch of cultural and business objectives for the industry?” Upon news of the decision, Lantos said in a statement, “Canadian feature fi lms have been the orphans of the Canadian broadcasting system. Starlight would have, once and for all, resolved this defi ciency.” Regarding further plans for the channel, its

Alison Lohman and Kevin Bacon star in the 2005 film Where The Truth Lies, directed by frequent Serendipity filmmaking partner, Atom Egoyan. (Photo: Rafy)

52 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

Congratulations ROBERT from your friends at

PB.23690.Sony.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 4:09 PM PB.23643.Weisbord.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 4:10 PM PB.Tribute.Fall13.indd 52 13-08-21 2:03 PM 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008 2010 The Statement, directed by The period comedy Being The adult comedy G-Spot, Fugitive Pieces, Jeremy The comedy-drama Real Barney’s Version directed by Norman Jewison and starring Julia, directed by Istvan Szabo, produced with Barna-Alper Podeswa’s $10.5 million Time, starring Randy Quaid, is Richard J. Lewis is released. Michael Caine, opens. opens. Photo: Alex Dukay Productions, airs on TMN and adaptation of Anne Michaels’ released. It is the ﬁ rst feature Photo: Takashi Seida Photo: Jerome Prebois Movie Central for the ﬁ rst of Holocaust-themed novel, produced by Ari Lantos (along three seasons. opens TIFF. with Julia Rosenberg and Photo: Alex Dukay Photo: Alex Dukay Paula Devonshire). Photo: Sophie Girard

backers at press time simply referred to the – as well as the audiences – have migrated to titillating memoir about becoming New York count for a lot more. We had to adjust our enterprise as a “nonrecurring opportunity.” specialty television, an area where Serendipity magazine’s food critic in the late 1960s. sales analysis of where the funds were coming wants to make further inroads. There are also a couple of projects over at from. It’s changed quite a bit in the last two BIG AMBITION, “We are going to broaden the opportunity for CBC, including a miniseries adaptation of the years and [VOD and SVOD] are just growing.” SMALLER SCREENS business activity and have a desire to move Mordecai Richler novel Solomon Gursky Was She expects OTT delivery will eventually yield Television production has always been a into television in a more serious way,” says Here, and the original series Thunderhouse sales at least on par with DVD. part of Serendipity’s plans, starting with CTV Musselman. “We’ve dabbled in the past, but Falls, created by Giller Prize-winning author As Serendipity evolves with the industry and hockey drama Power Play and CBC espionage we’d like to spend some capital on growing Joseph Boyden. Ari describes the latter as a several of its projects move forward, it will likely miniseries Cover Me, both originating at that area, because the expertise gained on the hip, dark drama dealing with the townspeople expand from its current tight-knit group. Alliance and going to air in the late ‘90s. The feature side is valuable and we’d like to apply and issues in a northern Ontario town. In the meantime, Lantos has a moment Brigitte Bako comedic raunch-fest G-Spot ran it elsewhere.” While Serendipity has yet to embark on to look both forward and back. “We will for two seasons on TMN and Movie Central The prodco has two series in development producing web content, it has certainly felt the continue to make movies and are going (2005-07) and one on Showcase (2008-09), with TMN and Movie Central. It is partnering impact of digital distribution. strongly now into television. The company while Men with Brooms, the series adaptation with Fox Television Studios for On the Ropes, “The markets have been changing won’t be what it was. It will be much more of Serendipity’s 2002 Paul Gross feature a fi ctional behind-the-scenes look at the constantly, from theatrical and television diverse and ambidextrous,” he says. “It’s been comedy, aired on CBC in 2010. emerging world of professional wrestling in the to DVDs and now to video on demand and a great 15 years. There have been a lot of While Lantos calls feature fi lms his “main 1980s. Konyves and Bruce M. Smith (John A.: [SVOD],” says Aida Tannyan, Serendipity’s highlights, memorable moments, triumphs and concern,” he and his colleagues note that Birth of a Country) are co-writers. Insatiable VP fi nance. “It made a big difference with disappointments, but I try not to focus on those. much of the talent from independent cinema is a dramedy adaptation of Gael Greene’s Barney’s Version. Our DVD market used to It’s been a great ride.”

fall 2013 | 53

WEISBORD DEL GAUDIO IACONO Chartered Professional Accountants

Congratulations to Serendipity Point Films. It’s been a pleasure being part of your success.

• ARARAT • PICTURE CLAIRE • BEING JULIA • THE STATEMENT • WHERE THE TRUTH LIES • MEN WITH BROOMS • FUGITIVE PIECES • REAL TIME • G-SPOT • EASTERN PROMISES • YOU MIGHT AS WELL LIVE • BARNEY’S VERSION • THE RIGHT KIND OF WRONG • STAGE FRIGHT

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A SPOTLIGHT ON CANADIAN STUDIOS STUDIO

On the heels of a bumper year for ﬁ lm and TV production, an Ontario and B.C. infrastructure building- spree is boosting capacity, while Quebec BOOassesses growth. M

wo years ago, Ron Hrynuik, Media Production Association, Leitch says that the business under the rebranded name, it off ers GM of Bridge Studios in fi nds that production of fi lm and sagged at the start of 2013 to the twelve soundstages, ushering in TV TB.C. decided to lay down television reached an all-time high lowest level in about 10 years, but he series such as Global’s forthcoming the groundwork for a $6 million of $5.9 billion in Canada during the too is seeing signs of improvement. medical drama Remedy, and scenes expansion that would add a seventh 2011-12 fi scal year. Canadian TV Th e Man of Steel sequel elected to from the reboot of Robocop,in soundstage to his six existing units. production increased a sizable 21% shoot in the U.S. instead of returning addition to many other U.S. and However, once permits were in in that period to a ten-year high of to Canada, and several TV shows Canadian productions. place and the ground fi nally broke just under $2.6 billion. did not receive renewals, but six out “It was a slow start to the year, on construction, B.C.’s fi lm and Higher production volumes of eight stages are occupied at North but in the past month or two it’s TV industry hit a rough patch. and budgets have prompted studio Shore, while Mammoth is looking very busy in town, which is good for Following a provincial election in the owners to reinvest in existing for the next feature fi lm to fi ll its everyone,” says Linda Ferguson, GM spring, upped taxed incentives were structures or build anew. Over massive stage, Leitch says. of Revival 629 Studios. taken off the table, to the displeasure the past fi ve years approximately In terms of infrastructure, the Pinewood Toronto is also rapidly of many in the local production 365,000 sq. ft . of soundstage space province is replete with impressive completing construction on three industry. has been created across the country, off erings, says Richard Brownsey, new soundstages that promise to reel All the while, construction stayed equating to 2.8 million sq. ft . in total, president of Creative B.C. in even more interest from television on course, and Bridge Studios according to the study. “Th e last time we checked there and fi lm productions. Th at $6.5 was able to unveil an 18,000 sq. ft . Other B.C. facilities, such as were more purpose-built spaces million investment has started to soundstage in addition to new offi ce Mammoth Studios and North Shore in B.C. than anywhere except reap rewards for Pinewood, as two and support spaces. Studios are also allocating resources Los Angeles,” says Brownsey. MGM productions have booked, “It’s turned out quite well because toward infrastructure. He confi rmed that there are 32 including a remake of the horror it’s 100% occupied,” says Hrynuik, “In the last fi ve years, we made a productions currently shooting in classic Poltergeist. who is positive about the future $4 million investment in improving the province across the spectrum of Recently, Pinewood has diversifi ed outlook as business picked up steam and upgrading offi ce and stage fi lm, TV series and pilots, as well as away from its bread and butter, once again aft er a slow spring. facilities of Mammoth studios,” said movies-of-the-week. namely tentpole features along Bridge Studios has been home to, Peter Leitch, president of Mammoth Meanwhile, in Toronto, Revival the lines of Guillermo Del Toro’s among other productions, CTV’s Studios and North Shore Studios. 629 Studios re-opened its doors epic sci-fi Pacifi c Rim, toward a Motive, the fi rst season of Shaw Big-budget service productions such for business last fall in the city’s variety of productions with far Media’s Continuum, as well as scenes as Man of Steel and episodic series Portlands district. Th e former more diverse budgets, such as the from Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi thriller including Psych and Falling Skies are Toronto Film Studios lot stood forthcoming CTV sitcom Spun Out, Elysium. its notable clients. largely unused since 2008, but now other U.S. network productions, A recent Nordicity report, and independent fi lm and webseries commissioned by the Motion content. Picture Association of Canada in BY MIRELLA CHRISTOU Donna Zuchlinski, Ontario’s Film collaboration with the Canadian []Commissioner says the province is

54 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

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NORTH SHORE’S MAMMOTH IN THE LATE 1980S, FAMED WRITER-PRODUCER Stephen J. Cannell put North Shore Studios on the map - hit TV series 21-Jump Street and Wiseguy were a few of the fi rst productions to make their mark on those B.C. soundstages. Twenty-four years later, North Shore continues to welcome TV series and feature fi lms at its eight purpose-built stages, such as Psych, King & Maxwell or the upcoming Th e Tomorrow People, but it also caters to the $100-million-plus Hollywood tentpoles at nearby Mammoth Studios, a subsidiary of North Shore. Mammoth contains one of the biggest fi lm stages on the planet – 123,000 sq. ft . with a 40 ft . ceiling – and is home to superhero blockbusters, including the latest superman reboot, Man of Steel, and the Percy Jackson fi lms. Peter Leitch, president of North Shore and Mammoth, says the aggregate annual production budget of projects at North Shore exceeds Director Neill $100 million, which he attributes to “a proven track record of high-quality Blomkamp (above productions, great crews, cast, and the best infrastructure outside of L.A.” left) and Matt Damon In addition to B.C’s variety of fi lming locations, Leitch also cites the value. on the set of TriStar Pictures’ Elysium. “You get your tax credits here faster than any other jurisdiction,” says Leitch. Director Roland B.C’s tax credit is 33% on labour costs with additional incentives for eff ects, Emmerich (right) on animation and regional locations. the set of Columbia Beyond the lure of proximity to downtown Vancouver, mountains and the Pictures’ White House Down, starring ocean to ensure repeat customers, Leitch continues to invest in upgrades. Channing Tatum and “We want to make sure our clients have the best experience,” he explains. Jamie Foxx. North Shore Studios also is the home to EP Canada, Pinewood Sound, Technicolor, West Media, Joker Films and other fi lm industry related tenants. Top photo: Kimberley French; Above: Reiner Bajo

known as a dependable option for Film Studios’ president. production requirements. As Ontario studio space grows, “We’re a very mature industry Quebec is also assessing expansion. and I think it shows in the depth of Mel’s La Cité Du Cinéma, a the infrastructure – the number of major studio that has hosted many post facilities, equipment suppliers, $100-million-plus features over the the number of stages available, the years, was bought by Montreal post- size of the crew capacity here,” says production house Vision Globale Zuchlinski. last winter, and there is talk that the “Toronto can comfortably purchase could spur expansions. crew well in excess of 30 major Quebec’s Film Commissioner, productions at one time. Not a lot of Hans Fraikin, says there is a crunch jurisdictions out there can do that,” for soundstage space right now. she added. Last year’s production of Th e nascent fi lm region in White House Down forced Northern Ontario also appears to a reconsideration of how to be gaining momentum with new accommodate the blockbuster’s soundstages open for business. needs, Fraikin says. Th at production Additional tax incentives provided went as far as to convert an indoor by the Northern Ontario Heritage golf range in Laval to the gleaming Fund in the form of grants and loans White House exterior, while the have been a boon for fi lmmakers. West Wing was constructed inside a In fact, since 2005, NOHFC has Montreal metal factory. provided approximately $54 million Most recently, the $200-million to 80 fi lm and TV projects. X-Men: Days of Future Past shot in In May, Wendy Morrow cut the Montreal and at Mel’s La Cité, but ribbon on Muskoka North Film reduced the strain on studio capacity Studios, joining the likes of the by utilizing outdoor spaces around Northern Ontario Film Studio in the city. Sudbury as an additional venue for “[Quebec] is getting more demand production in the region. Lower for purpose-built soundstage space,” costs and scenic locales factor into Fraikin says. “I think it’s going to producers’ fondness toward this new happen, it’s just a question of when.” outpost of Ontario fi lmmaking, says Morrow, who is the Muskoka North

fall 2013 | 55

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PINEWOOD GROWS ITS HOLLYWOOD NORTH HUB ON THE HEELS OF BUILDING at Pinewood and is currently shoot- three new soundstages, Pinewood ing its fi rst season for ABC. Toronto Studios’ vision to carve out While Toronto has attracted a a “cultural hub for fi lm and TV” number of U.S. cable shows, it’s continues to forge ahead. Th e plan is trickier to lure a network series to to expand the existing studio lot. shoot outside of L.A. or New York, Pinewood’s nine-acre backlot says Eoin Egan, VP International is a facet of this larger game plan, Sales, Pinewood USA. However, completed over the summer. “You’re with ABC’s return to Pinewood and not limited by a ceiling,” says Blake Toronto, Egan is looking to build Steels, president of Pinewood momentum and attract more net- Toronto Studios. “Th ink large sets. work shoots. Any concept you can come up with “I think [ABC] looked at some of – from tanks to giant castles – can be the high profi le features and TV that built,” he says. we’ve worked on and thought it was Pinewood is abuzz with new worth it [to return],” says Egan. With productions slated for the fall and orders for as many as 22 episodes a winter. MGM is set to produce season, shows like this provide a lot the remake of Poltergeist in one of of work for Toronto crews, he adds. The size and scope of Pinewood’s Mega Stage has attracted U.S. tentpole features to Ontario. Pinewood’s new soundstages and Earlier this year, Pinewood en- Guillermo Del Toro will return to di- tered into TV territory not breached rect Crimson Peak. Del Toro is set to in Toronto for about 25 years, when ence and unique set ups. house, to advance to this stage, says lens in January at the acre-long Mega it accommodated the multi-camera Th e next step of the development Steels. Th e price tag of the expansion Stage, which he utilized in 2012 for sitcom Spun Out for CTV. Colin plan is an 110,000 sq. ft . offi ce facil- is projected to be just over $30 mil- Pacifi c Rim. Brunton, a producer for the series, ity, to be populated by post-produc- lion, which Steels says is due to be Meanwhile, a new U.S. scripted credits Pinewood for being a huge tion shops and other fi lm-related completed from 2015-16. drama series (which Playback has help facilitating the “massive beast” businesses. Pinewood is on the hunt learned is Lucky 7), has set up shop of a show with its live studio audi- for a partner, ideally a visual eff ects

56 fall 2013 | playbackonline.ca

PINEWOOD TORONTO STUDIOS THE DESTINATION FACILITY FOR FILM AND TV PRODUCTION IN TORONTO

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Contact Jessamyn Nunez at [email protected] to learn more! #TIFFTips @franklinleonard Film sales, talent hunting, script notes, parties and premiere invites – gathering Franklin Leonard, the best possible intel comes down to one thing: networking. We polled the founder and CEO of The Black List Twitter-sphere for some #TIFF13 industry networking tips.

See movies. It’s difﬁ cult @MDowse to network Michael Dowse, co-writer, effectively if director, The F Word; it’s obvious @TheNadiaPR The Grand Seduction Nadia Sandhu, that you’ve executive director, Floss. come only Metropolis Agencies to network. #truetip Aim to dance w @punkﬁ 10 strangers – Ingrid Veninger, lmsnow director, Buy people The Animal Project you can tell a lot about industry shots at the folks by how open bar. they dance.

First rule in I ﬁ nd that networking would people like be to make sure big bear Left eyebrow and smell like hugs when raised = U.S. baby powder. DVD rights are @LaLondeJeremy you ﬁ rst Jeremy LaLonde, meet available. director, Out them. Right eyebrow raised = I think I love you.

@LuckyMcKee Lucky McKee, director, All Cheerleaders Die

@gﬂ ahive Gerry Flahive, senior producer, NFB 58 fall 20132 01 | playbackonline.ca

PB.BackPage.Fall13.indd 58 13-08-21 7:31 PM 2014 JANUARY 27-29 FONTAINEBLEAU RESORT t MIAMI BEACH

PB.23734.NATPE.indd 1 13-08-20 4:54 PM Claude Girard congratulates the outstanding Canadian ﬁ lmmakers being celebrated at TIFF 2013. We are proud to represent some of Canada’s brightest visionaries.

LOUISE ARCHAMBAULT for her fi lm Gabrielle JEAN-FRANÇOIS ASSELIN for his fi lm Mémorable moi CHLOÉ ROBICHAUD for her fi lm Sarah préfère la course and DENIS VILLENEUVE for both his fi lms Enemy and Prisoners*

AGENCE CLAUDE GIRARD

www.claudegirard.ca MONTRÉAL

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