® A PUBLICATION OF BRUNICO COMMUNICATIONS LTD. WINTER 2012 BEST OF THE YEAR ISSUE DHX ROCKETS further into kids’ space ALSO: Bell Media chief on PLANS FOR 2013 LIONSGATE’S BIG GAMES YEAR MORE: 3D | ITHENTIC | JEREMY PODESWA | TEMPLE STREET | ITEM 7 | COMEDY NETWORK PPB.Cover.winter.inddB.Cover.winter.indd 2 007/11/127/11/12 55:29:29 PPMM WINTER 2012 table of contents Unlike the characters in the upcoming indigenous feature The Colony, Playback isn’t so gloomy about what might be around the next corner. 9 Up front 23 Independent production executive 28 Person of the year Top CMF-backed TV exports, creative of the year Bell Media topper Kevin Crull on keeping fi lm distribution, Canuck Big Brother, How Corrie Coe, senior VP of the broadcaster on top in 2013. working with China. independent production at Bell Media, is attuned to a perfect pitch. 30 Digital company of the year 14 3D productions Toronto-based iThentic on the Time to take the plunge into the 24 Distributor of the year company’s 360-degree strategy. added dimension? Mongrel Media maintains its indie fi lm focus. 32 Indie studio of the year Lionsgate expands its share 18 Best of the year of the global market. 25 Director of the year James Podeswa helms marquee U.S. 19 Kids distributor of the year Spotlight on startups cable dramas and international copros 34 Halifax-based DHX Media puts its Checking in with veteran execs who with ease. hand in the Cookie Jar. launched their own companies in 2012. 22 Film producer of the year 26 TV producer of the year 35 Comedy Network Montreal-based Item 7 on Temple Street execs on the company’s Nothing’s middling about the perseverance. recipe to TV riches. channel’s mid-teen years. ® A PUBLICATION OF BRUNICO COMMUNICATIONS LTD. WINTER 2012 BEST OF THE YEAR ISSUE The cover image was created for Playback by DHX Media DHX ROCKETS further into kids’ space and features some of DHX’s popular TV show characters. ALSO: From left to right: DJ Lance from Yo Gabba Gabba!, Caillou, Bell Media chief on PLANS FOR 2013 LIONSGATE’S BIG GAMES YEAR Johnny Test and Angela Anaconda. MORE: 3D | ITHENTIC | JEREMY PODESWA | TEMPLE STREET | ITEM 7 | COMEDY NETWORK PB.Cover.winter.indd 2 07/11/12 5:29 PM winter 2012 | 3 PPB.TOC.2012.inddB.TOC.2012.indd 3 008/11/128/11/12 22:08:08 PPMM PUBLISHER Mary Maddever • [email protected] EDITOR Matt Sylvain • [email protected] NEWS EDITOR Danielle Ng-See-Quan • [email protected] CONTRIBUTORS Adam Benzine, Mark Dillon, Etan Vlessing INTERN Jordan Twiss LUCKY ‘13 BRUNICO CREATIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR I look positively upon the fl ipping of the calendar to 2013. For many, of course, the number Stephen Stanley • [email protected] 13 is a bad omen, and perhaps some people in the industry, haunted as they are by the ART DIRECTOR ghosts of this year’s federal budget cuts, provincial tax-regime changes and audiences’ Mark Lacoursiere • [email protected] slow but steady migration to video-on-demand and online viewing will conclude that next PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION SUPERVISOR Robert Lines • [email protected] year will be a doozey. For someone who has spent most of his life living in houses with ‘13’ in their addresses, ADVERTISING SALES and whose wife was born on the 13th day of a month, I simply can’t get such an ill portent (416) 408-2300 out of the calendar. FAX (416) 408-0870 1-888-278-6426 I don’t think you should either. I’m not taking this stance out of some Pollyannaish ADVERTISING EXEC tendency – like most everyone else, the metaphysical dealer at the card table of fate has Jessamyn Nunez • [email protected] dealt some tough hands to me, and even worse to some family and friends. MARKETING CO-ORDINATOR Being in the screen-entertainment industry has always required a healthy balance Vakis Boutsalis • [email protected] between optimism and thick skin. The creative and fi nancial stakes are high, and while the BRUNICO AUDIENCE SERVICES roots of creative success seem clear – good stories that inform and move us (those are ASSISTANT MANAGER easy enough to come by, right?) – the path to fi nancial success seems ever more elusive, Christine McNalley • [email protected] especially since how to make money via digital distribution remains murky, even as it MANAGER becomes more important to the bottom line. Deborah Brewster • [email protected] Indeed, to help you get a better handle on where things may be going in the digital space next year, Playback will be putting together an entirely new spring edition pegged to all ADMINISTRATION things digital. Not to give away editorial secrets here, but that issue will appear not long PRESIDENT AND CEO before the inaugural Canada Screen Week , which will culminate with a glitzy TV awards Russell Goldstein • [email protected] gala that will air on the CBC March 3. We are already brainstorming stories to further VP AND CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER Omri Tintpulver • [email protected] highlight the industry’s successes as they tie into the CSAs. VP AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR The CSAs, as everyone surely knows, is an all-in-one award event that replaces the Mary Maddever • [email protected] formerly separate Geminis and Genies. The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television VP ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE decided to combine the awards in part in response to the changes in how consumers enjoy Linda Lovegrove • [email protected] their TV shows and fi lms, changes that are altering the screen-entertainment ecosystem VP & PUBLISHER, REALSCREEN in Canada and indeed globally. More than ever, Darwinian market forces are causing that Claire Macdonald • [email protected] ecosystem to evolve. VP & PUBLISHER, KIDSCREEN There are Canadian companies and professionals who were positively thriving in 2012, Jocelyn Christie • [email protected] despite the challenging environment. This over-arching idea was in the back of our heads Playback is published by Brunico Communications Ltd., as we debated who to focus on for this issue’s core package of stories devoted to the 366 Adelaide Street West, Suite 100, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 1R9 newsmakers of the year. While in the end we only focused on nine of them, our long list (416) 408-2300; FAX: (416) 408-0870 Internet address: www.playbackonline.ca included dozens of contenders, all of whom, one way or another, are either someone you Editorial e-mail: [email protected] Sales e-mail: [email protected] work with or compete against – or will work with or compete against in the future. Either way, Sales FAX: (416) 408-0870 it’s a good idea to fi nd out more about their strategies. Those stories begin on page 18. © 2011 Brunico Communications Ltd. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. Matt Sylvain Postmaster Notifi cation Canadian Postmaster, send undeliverables and address changes to: Editor, Playback 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 winter 2012 | playbackonline.ca PPB.Editorial.2012.inddB.Editorial.2012.indd 4 007/11/127/11/12 112:372:37 PPMM PPB.22123.EpitomeFullPg.inddB.22123.EpitomeFullPg.indd 1 006/11/126/11/12 22:45:45 PPMM What is Canada’s The Year That Was fi lm & TV industry? The biggest change 2012 has wrought may be an incremental and attitudinal one. We’ve passed a It’s producers, directors, tipping point on a key front: an acceptance that online audiences are not just a wayward group in need of distributors, deal makers, “conversion” to live TV, but a force to be reckoned with in terms of influence, growing size and frequency, and therefore deserving of unique digital strategies. agents, advertisers, buyers, I say this because a) networks are paying more attention to online viewers, b) advertisers are paying more sellers, programmers, VPs, attention to digital/mobile consumers, and c) content is always a handy bridge between the two camps’ EVPs, SVPs, some plain monetization goals. So eventually the two dots will connect in a new value equation. ole Ps, CEOs, CFOs, all On the monetization front, many of TV’s traditional big spenders are moving away from mass media image sorts of acronyms, actors, campaigns to more targeted, interactive and transactional tactics. Advertisers began spending money on editors, composers, techies, everything from apps to elaborate digital content builds, so the old barriers to embracing online viewers (rather than just trying to herd them into the broadcast eyeball corral) have eroded. equipment guys, lighting On the digital audience engagement front, while network video players still offer a paltry amount of specialists, hair dressers, episodes (seriously, we know there are rights issues, but when you’re up against Torrent sites, don’t give make-up artists, costume viewers a reason to look elsewhere), there are more signs of acknowledgment and even welcome, such as designers, cinematographers “watch more” invitations during ad breaks. and more. Digital content strategy is growing up as shows with transmedia trappings and robust social media programs have expanded from the teen demo – going beyond Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl to more mainstream fare. For instance, the feature on Playback’s Person of the Year, Bell Media’s Kevin Crull, outlines the company’s In short, it’s people. digital-specifi c strategy – its Much Closer viewer loyalty push, its fi rst pureplay web series Backpackers out of Toronto’s Smokebomb, and the unique strategies deployed to raise awareness of both offl ine and native- online audiences.