March - April 2009: Reel West Magazine

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MARCH/APRIL 2009

$5.00

FILM, VIDEO, INTERNET AND DIGITAL PRODUCTION IN WESTERN CANADA

Western Canada takes the lead role in this year’s LOCATIONS ISSUE a Q+A with BEN STILLER Tom Sholte gets his VFF debut with CRIME

You Better Watch Out...

ZACK SNYDER’S WATCHMEN BECOMES ONE OF THE BIGGEST FILMS EVER TO SHOOT IN VANCOUVER

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CONTENTS

16 WATCHING ZACK After Zack Snyder’s made them half a billion dollars with 300 Warner Bros gave him a movie that had been sitting on studio shelves for over 20 years. To make Watchmen, which is based on a graphic novel of the same name, Snyder built hundreds of sets and spent millions on production. On the Vancouver set of the movie, Snyder and others talk about the high risks, challenges and rewards that are part of the making of a highly anticipated film.

20 HOW THE WEST WAS SOLD In words and pictures, a look at some of the most important locations in western Canada, places that have helped to tell both our own stories and those of others over the course of several decades.

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PRODUCTION UPDATE

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BITS AND BYTES

10 BEGINNINGS 12 BEHIND THE SCENES 14 QUESTION AND ANSWER 15 EXPERT WITNESS 29 LEGAL BRIEFS 30 FINAL EDIT

26 CRIME STORY Tom Scholte, who has combined acting and producing with a day job teaching film at UBC, witnessed an incident at a Granville Street restaurant and was inspired to tell a story. In his diary on the making of the film Crime, he looks back at that inspirational moment, the day he came to the conclusion that he should take a role himself and the 12 days that saw him shoot 115 pages with a crew of five.

ON THE COVER: THE WATCHMEN’S STEPHEN MCHATTIE AS NIGHT OWL. ABOVE: MALIN ACKERMAN AS SILK SPECTRE II AND JACKIE EARLE HALEY AS RORSCHACH STAR IN THE WATCHMEN

REEL WEST MAGAZINE IS A WHOLLY OWNED ENTERPRISE OF REEL WEST PRODUCTIONS INC. IT EXISTS AND IS MANAGED TO PROVIDE PUBLICITY AND ADVERTISING THAT SUPPORTS THE GROWTH OF THE WESTERN CANADIAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY. PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER: SANDY P. FLANAGAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: IAN CADDELL. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS: RON HARVEY, PAUL BARTLETT. SALES: RANDY HOLMES. ART DIRECTOR: ANDREW VON ROSEN. PHOTO EDITOR: PHILLIP CHIN. ASST. ART DIRECTOR: LINDSEY ATAYA. REEL WEST MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED SIX TIMES PER YEAR. SUBSCRIPTIONS CANADA/US. $35.00 PER YEAR (PLUS $10.00 POSTAGE TO USA). REEL WEST DIGEST, THE DIRECTORY FOR WESTERN CANADA’S FILM, VIDEO AND TELEVISION INDUSTRY, IS PUBLISHED ANNUALLY. SUBSCRIPTION $35.00 PER YEAR (PLUS $10.00 POSTAGE TO US). BOTH PUBLICATIONS $60.00 (PLUS $10.00 POSTAGE TO USA) PRICES INCLUDE GST. COPYRIGHT 2009 REEL WEST PRODUCTIONS INC. SECOND CLASS MAIL. REGISTRATION NO. 0584002. ISSN 0831-5388. G.S.T. # R104445218. REEL WEST PRODUCTIONS INC. 101 - 5512 HASTINGS STREET, BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, V5B 1R3. PHONE (604) 451-7335 TOLL FREE: 1-888-291-7335 FAX: (604) 451-7305 EMAIL: INFO@REELWEST.COM URL: WWW.REELWEST.COM. VOLUME 24, ISSUE 2. PRINTED IN CANADA. CANADIAN MAIL PUBLICATION SALES AGREEMENT NUMBER: 40006834. TO SUBSCRIBE CALL 1-888-291-7335 OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.REELWEST.COM. REEL WEST WELCOMES FEEDBACK FROM OUR READERS, VIA EMAIL AT EDITORIAL@REELWEST.COM OR BY FAX AT 604-451-7305. ALL CORRESPONDENCE MUST INCLUDE YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, AND DAYTIME TELEPHONE NUMBER.

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PRODUCTION UPDATE

What’s coming. What’s shooting. What’s wrapped.

Moon Over Vancouver One of last year’s surprise hits is already shooting a sequel. After the success of Twilight, which has made $350 million worldwide, Golden Compass director Chris Weitz was asked to shoot a follow-up movie and chose Vancouver. The sequel, New Moon, will be here from March 23 to late May and stars Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson as a vampire in love. The film is scheduled to open on U.S. Thanksgiving, November 20, 2009.

New Moon has Mark Morgan, Karen Rosenfelt and Marty Bowen as executive producers, Wyck Godfrey and Greg Mooradian as producers, Bill Bannerman and Kerry Koshansky as line producers. Weitz’s DOP is Javier Aguirresarobe while David Brisbin is production designer, Barbara Kelly is production manager, Kathleen Whelan is production coordinator and Abraham Fraser is the location manager.

Wrapping in February was Dear Mr Gacy, which stars William Forsythe as serial killer Wayne Gacy and Jesse Moss as the lawyer who befriended him when he was on death row. It was executive produced

by Tom Berry and Clark Peterson with Gordon Yang producing and Svetozar Ristovski directing. The DOP was Larry Lynn, the production designer was James Willcock, the production manager was Gilles LaPlante, the production coordinator was Genevieve Bridges and the location manager was Darryl Griffiths.

The Hole3D is the story of two brothers who discover a hole in their basement, one that leads them to a

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world of nightmares. It has Gary Walters as executive producer, David Lancaster, Michel Litvak and Vicki Sotheran producers, Joe Dante directing, Brent Harron as the production designer, Donald Munro as production manager, Tricia Leigh as production coordinator and Jamie Lake as locations manager. It stars Nathan Gamble and Chris Massoglia and wrapped in February after two months of production.

Mordecai stars Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins and Emmy winner Bradley Whitford in a thriller about the horrors that take place at a cabin in the woods. It has Jason Clark as executive producer, Joss Whedon producing, Drew Goddard directing, Peter Deming as DOP, Martin Whist as production designer, Mary Anne Waterhouse as production manager, Kasandra Griebel as production coordinator and Geoff Teoli as location manager with Joel Whist as special effects coordinator.

Smokin’ Aces: Blowback is the sequel to the 2006 film about the Las Vegas mob. It has Mike Elliott producing, Chris Foss as line producer/production manager, PJ Pesce directing, Chris August as production designer, Louisa Main as production coordinator and Ken Brooker as location manager. The feature is scheduled to wrap at the end of March after a six week shoot.

Defying Gravity tells the story of eight astronauts assigned to spend six years in space. The executive producers are Jim Parriott, Michael Edelstein, Brian Hamilton and Michael Chechik while Ron French is the producer, Stephen McNutt is the DOP, Steve Geaghan is the pro-

duction designer, Craig Forrest is the production manager, Jennifer Aicholz is the production coordinator, Kent Sponagle is the location manager and Andy Chamberlayne is in charge of special effects.

The series Stargate Universe introduces a new crew, one trapped on a ship as it travels through the universe. The executive producers are Brad Wright, Robert Cooper, Carl Binder and John Smith. The producer is John Lenic, Jack O’Neill is the line producer, Ronn Schmidt, Jim Menard and Michael Blundell are the DOPs, James Robbins is the production designer, George Horie is the production manager, David Magee and Tanja Balic are the production coordinators, Lorne Davidson is location manager and Wray Douglas is special effects coordinator.

Food for Thought has two lifestyle programs shooting in Vancouver in March. Cultivation focuses on historical and contemporary garden design, home agriculture, garden renovation, and natural history while the series Food for Thought sees farmers and cooks travelling together throughout British Columbia in search of good food. Both shows have Dina Walker as executive producer and Lucy Wells as production manager. Henry Kipling is the producer of Cultivation and an executive producer on Food for Thought while Graeme Robinson is the location manager of Cultivation and Chester Andrews is the location manager for Food for Thought.

Bardel Animation worked throughout the winter on Nicelodeon’s toddler-oriented animated series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy which had Cristina Tanase as production manager.

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BITS AND BYTES NFB Opens Vault The National Film Board recently announced it will be providing free access to over 700 productions, films, trailers and clips via its online Screening Room. NFB spokesperson Jennifer Mair said the collections will provide Canadians with “a unique screening experience: high quality, free viewing of over 700 productions from the NFB’s vast collection – a national treasure of our stories.” She said that the collection will run the gamut from historical films dating back to 1928 to current contemporary releases, including award-winning documentaries, animation and fiction.

“This new online Screening Room is the latest example of how the NFB plays a major role in the free exchange of ideas through cinema,” said NFB chairperson Tom Perlmutter. “At a time when issues are inter-connected and global communications are mobile and instantaneous, Canada needs a voice. More than ever, the NFB provides that voice: empowering Canadians to share their concerns, express their points of view and tell Canada’s stories. The world is changing – our stories continue.’’

SANCTUARY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND STAR, AMANDA TAPPING, WILL ALSO BE AWARDED AT THE WIFTV’S

West Weighs In

Mair said award-winning films that are either now online or coming soon include Chris Landreth’s 2004 Oscar-winner Ryan, Richard Condie’s The Big Snit and Cordell Barker’s The Cat Came Back, as well as several works from animator Norman McLaren. Live action films currently available online include Claude Jutra’s

A show that covers 13 families in three different western Mon Oncle Antoine, Don Owen’s Nobody Waved Goodbye and Cynthia Scott’s The Company of Strangers.

Canadian cities will wrap in May after six months of principal photography. The documentary series XCreatures Featured Weighted will spend its fourth season talking to families HBO has agreed to sign LA and Vancouver-based Todd Masters’ MastersFX to a that have agreed to show how they are working together second season of the series True Blood. MastersFX spokesperson Dan Harary said the company will continue to create the original characters and special makeup to lose weight. effects featured in the show.

“With the alarming increase in childhood obesity in “True Blood is by far my favorite television project,” said MastersFX’s Dan Rebert.

Canada, the X-Weighted team decided it is important to “I love the fact that the show’s mythology goes much deeper than just the relationtackle weight loss as a family issue this season,” says exec- ships between humans and vampires. In the world of True Blood, many races of magutive producer Margaret Mardirossian of Anaïd Produc- ical creatures exist right under our noses. It is dark fantasy mixed with drama and tions. “There is a lot to learn from delving into the lives of humor. What’s not to love? We are very fortunate to have the same core crew of everyday people, so we are very grateful to these families artists for the show’s second season. These guys have been with us for years and are for opening their homes and lives to us and sharing their the finest craftsmen I’ve ever worked with. We all look forward to the challenges ahead of us on a darker and scarier True Blood season two.” stories with our Canadian and international audiences.”

Harary said the first season of True Blood premiered on HBO in September 2008 According to Mardirossian each hour of the 13-part se- and is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries books by Charlaine Harris and has ries will focus on a family living in Vancouver, Edmonton been adapted for television by Alan Ball. He said the show details the fictional coexistence of vampires and humans in a small Louisiana town after Japanese-made or Calgary. The subjects include a mother who grew up synthetic blood becomes available for purchase. Anna Paquin, who won a Golden poor and over-compensates by stocking the house with Globe award for her performance on the series, stars as a telepathic waitress at a fattening snacks; a family of committed church and com- diner who falls in love with one of the vampires. munity volunteers who are so busy taking care of others Panasonic Wins HPA Prize they don’t take the time to look after themselves and a Panasonic has won the Hollywood Post Alliance Engineering Excellence Award for young woman with cerebral palsy and epilepsy who its development of the AVC-Intra 100 video codec. According to Panasonic Canada wants to lead a more healthy and independent lifestyle. spokesperson Trell Huether, the company’s video codec can achieve “the

Killer in Vancouver Dear Mr. Gacy, a film based on The Last Victim by lawyer Jason Moss, called Vancouver home in January and February. Set in 1993 it is a look back at Moss’s days as a University Student communicating with serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who was on death row for acknowledging 33 murders. According to spokesperson Debbie Walker, Moss felt that he could get close enough to Gacy that he could find out more information about where other potential victims may be.

The film stars William Forsythe as Gacy and Jesse Moss as Jason Moss (no relation.) Walker says that after writing the book Moss went on to gain REEL WEST MARCH/APRIL 2009

a measure of celebrity from his interactions with Gacy. However, his story ended tragically when he committed suicide in 2006. His book has been described by critics as a real-life Silence of the Lambs.

Producer Clark Peterson, who also produced Monster, starring Charlize Theron, told the Hollywood Reporter that the movie will focus on Moss’s story. “The theme here is once you encounter that kind of darkness, it’s hard to escape it. Jason seemed to be a success because he had this encounter with John Wayne Gacy, wrote a book and went on television. But ultimately it came to a tragic end.” The film is being directed by Svetozar Ristovski.

compression ratio required to encode full resolution, 10-bit independent (intra) frame HD video at 100 Mbps. The codec allows users to capture master-quality video with exceptional colour depth and higher encoding efficiency.”

“Panasonic’s work on AVC-Intra is a direct result of requests from our customers and technology partners for a cost effective 10-bit, full raster, intra-frame HD codec, capable of operating in field acquisition equipment as well as in desktop hardware and software,” said Panasonic Canada’s Terry Horbatiuk. “Panasonic really appreciates this HPA award. HPA represents the professional imaging community which depends on products like AVC-Intra for their creativity and quality. The recognition of our peers is highly valued by all of us at Panasonic.”

Huether said AVC-Intra is available in Panasonic’s new P2 HD VariCam camcorders (AJ-HPX2700 and AJ-HPX3700), AJ-HPX3000 P2 HD camcorder, AJ HPX2000 P2 HD camcorder and the AJ-HPM110 P2 Mobile recorder/player and that it is suitable for portable field acquisition as well as making master archives. He said recent Canadian productions using the AVC-Intra 100 include Screamers: The Hunting which was shot by John P. Tarver.

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Studio B Slap Happy Vancouver-based Studio B Productions recently announced that they have signed a development deal for the 2D animated series B.O.O.M. Boys, created by Slap Happy Cartoons.

“We are excited to be partnering with Slap Happy on this new project,” stated Jillianne Reinseth, Studio B’s director of development.

“B.O.O.M. Boys is an original and highly entertaining series that will appeal to audiences in Canada and around the world.”

“We’re thrilled to be working with Studio B on B.O.O.M. Boys,” said Slap Happy’s Vito Viscomi. “Their experience and proven track record are second to none.” According to Reinseth, the show is a comedy series about three bionic brothers who build “out-of-this world inventions while escaping the grasp of the evil military agency that developed them.” She said the series was created by Studio B veterans Josh Mepham, Greg Sullivan and Kathy Rocchio.

Revolution Coming

2009 Digest is now on sale!

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Filming of a documentary about the cultural revolution of the 1960s is currently underway in Vancouver and several other cities. Revolution: The Legacy of the Sixties spokesperson Paul Armstrong says the documentary will uncover, through interviews with the witnesses of the era, “the ground breaking cultural and social transformation” of the period and ask whether the changes affected today’s society.

Armstrong, who is co-producing and co-directing the documentary calls the film “a serious yet entertaining investigation of the origins, experience and long-term impact of the cultural shift of the Sixties, arguably the transition from modern to postmodern society.” He says the film will feature interviews with many of the key innovators as well as music, period stock footage and current footage of locations of many of the Sixties events covered in the film.

Armstrong says the interviews will be conducted in the US, Canada and England and other European centres.

He says completed interviews include those with singer Donovan Leitch, The Doors’ John Densmore, Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood and country singer Willie Nelson.

Armstrong is co-producing the film with Karl Ferris and Melonie Haller-Ferris and co-directing with Ferris and Tony Papa. Devin Lund is the DOP.

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Chula WIFTV’s Woman Vancouver-based actor Babz Chula is the 2009 Women in Film and Television Vancouver’s Woman of the Year. Chula, who has won two Leo Awards, a Gemini and a Genie nomination for her work in Canadian films and television shows, will receive her prize at WIFTV’s Spotlight Award Gala, to be held on March 7 in Vancouver.

Sanctuary executive producer and star Amanda Tapping will be awarded the Woman of Vision Special Jury Prize and The Tracey Fragments screenwriter Maureen Medved has won the Artistic Achievement Award. The Wayne Black Service Award will be presented to Whistler Film Festival founder Shauna Hardy-Mishaw while the National Film Board’s Al Parsons will take home the Special Jury Award for Lifetime Achievement. Telefilm Canada executive John Dippong will receive the Honourary Friend award.

The Sharon Gibbon Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to accountant and volunteer Jacqui Ellis and the Kodak Image Award will go to DOP Moira Simpson.

The Spotlight Awards are part of the Women in Film Festival, which runs from March 4 to March 8.

According to a spokesperson, the awards gala will see the presentation of the Women in the Director’s Chair Feature Film Award and Legacy Awards, which are given to the top three BC-made films of the festival.

The Legacy Awards will be guest juried by Eve & the Fire Horse director Julia Kwan, Corner Gas actress Gabrielle Miller, She’s a Boy I Knew director Gwen Haworth and Creative Native host Tamara Bull. The awards gala will be hosted by Kissed star Molly Parker.

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UWE BOLL

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Boll on Janjaweed

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Brightlight Pictures is going to South Africa to make a movie about Darfur. The company will be working with Uwe Boll and his Event Films on Janjaweed, which will star Kristanna Loken and Billy Zane as American journalists who go to Sudan to report on the atrocities. Eventually, they come to the conclusion that they would make a greater impact if they stayed behind to help the victims they have encountered.

“Making this film is very important to me on a personal level,” says Boll, who is perhaps best known for movies adapted from video games. “But what’s most important is for people to see the on-going genocide that’s slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Sudanese. My hope is that this movie will open eyes to what is going on in our world.”

“Janjaweed is a story that needs to be told,” says Brightlight’s Shawn Williamson. “As producers, it’s a privilege to create a project that can further human rights and this film will bring attention to the atrocities being committed in Darfur.”

According to spokesperson Lorraine Jamison, “janjaweed” is Arabic for devils on horseback and refers to the nomadic militia terrorizing the people of Darfur. The film will be produced by Williamson, Boll, Dan Clarke and Chris Roland. Principal photography was scheduled to begin on location in South Africa on February 23.

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A partnership between Rogers Media and the Women in Media Foundation has contributed $147,500 over four years to the National Screen Institute according to the NSI’s Susan Millican. Millican said the funding supports training opportunities for women from Alberta and Manitoba, and in particular women of Aboriginal heritage, of colour, from ethnocultural communities, or women who have disabilities. She said NSI training programs receiving the funding include NSI Storytellers, NSI New Voices, the NSI Drama Prize and NSI Totally Television.

“Rogers is proud to support the NSI and the essential training it has long been providing to content creators from coast to coast, including women” said Rogers Media vice president Alain Strati. “This new funding will help ensure the continued training and advancement of women in the industry, particularly those of diverse backgrounds who bring very valuable perspectives to film and TV.” Millican said that several shows have been developed at NSI through the fund. She said the list includes Wapos Bay, ‘da Kink in My Hair and Less Than Kind.

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Wild in Squamish Several films from the 2009 Vancouver International Film Festival will be heading north to Squamish as part of the town’s Wild Art Festival. According to spokesperson Ivan Hughes, the films and some personalities will be part of a night entitled Wild at Adventure. The festival runs from March 6 to 7.

Hughes said that extreme skier Greg Hill and alpinist Jeremy Frimer and an exhibit by adventure photographer Rich Wheater will play a big part. “Squamish has such an eclectic mix of artists and adventurers, it seemed like a natural fit to combine the two in one festival,” says Hughes, “Wild at Adventure showcases the wildest BC adventurers, photographers and musicians all under one roof. It should be a really inspiring evening, and a lot of fun.”

Hughes said the exhibit will feature Wheater’s images depicting action sports and fashion. He said Hill is a modern day explorer who has skied in Alaska, New Zealand, Europe and all over North America but lives in Revelstoke and “has been pushing the backcountry boundaries ever since he moved there in 2000.” He said Frimer is an elite alpine climber who is responsible for establishing significant new alpine routes and publishing articles about them in alpine journals and magazines.

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BEGINNINGS

Vicci Weller “I was going to quit school in grade 10 and run away back to Toronto and live in Yorkville, in a commune. Instead I discovered drama...”

Y

es, I had lunch with Harrison Ford in Kamloops, which is a rather odd place to network with the stars. Even odder was reuniting with Mark Gordon, the executive producer of 2012, on a field near Savona. “Savona?” you say. Sure, you know, down the hill and across the dirt road from where they filmed the TV mini-series The Andromeda Strain, which is down the road and down the hill from the ranch where An Unfinished Life with Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Lopez filmed. Remember when “Bennifer” was the craze?

But I digress. Mark and I worked on our first feature films together way back, many, many moons ago when my hair was big and hips were small (now it’s the reverse). When he got to Kamloops, where I now work as ThompsonNicola Regional District Film Commissioner, we reminisced a lot about other films and other places. It was a typical set gab session. And then he popped the big question: “how the heck did you end of up in Kamloops?”

My first traumatic memory: I was 14 years old, sitting in the back of my dad’s station wagon, crying my eyes out, while he was explaining why he moved the family from Toronto to Kamloops. I told my dad, clearly and with all the venom I could muster, that he ruined my life. In a sympathetic voice he said “Come on sticky-Vic, can’t you picture John Wayne riding over those hills?” I replied “I hate John Wayne” and vowed that I would never speak to my dad for the rest of my life. I was going to quit school in grade 10 and run away back to Toronto and live in Yorkville, in a commune. Instead, I discovered drama.

Several mentors have made a difference to my life. Tom Kerr, then high school teacher and Artistic Director of the Western Canada Theatre Company took me under his wing and tutelage. I managed to stay in school, barely, and he gave me the opportunity to work with professional actors and technicians from all over the world. By the time I was 16 I was stage managing and working on every play available, both professional and amateur. By the time I was 19 I was touring professionally with theatre companies and by 20 I was an Equity Stage Manager. At 22, I helped establish the University of Saskatchewan Summer Stock Theatre Company, earned a degree in Theatre and English, and was an Equity Production Manager. I was also restless. I wanted to move into television.

I didn’t forget his words but neither did I become less determined. In the early 1980s I headed to Vancouver to work in the television industry. I registered at Simon Fraser University in their film program and became very disillusioned when I was told that I couldn’t touch a camera until my fourth year.

I circulated resumes in Vancouver, but was told, by a commercial director, that Vancouver only produced commercials. At about that time I got married to an American and we moved to the United States. He wanted to be near his parents and I wanted to be near LA, a land of opportunity.

In Los Angeles I got a job at the Burbank Holiday Inn as a desk clerk working the 3PM to 11PM shift, which allowed me to look for work during the day.

I handed out resumes to every TV station, to all the production companies listed in The Hollywood Reporter, to every production door along Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd (which took more than two full days to complete) and hung out at bars (with my husband of course) across the street from the networks. Hey, it got me two interviews! I snuck onto studio back lots and gave out resumes to offices in bungalows and trailers. (Michael Landon’s secretary was really mad and called security on me.)

I then read that Picture Music International was releasing their music video Foolish Heart by Steve Perry. A new untapped resource! I drove to their office and with resume in hand walked into the middle of a bunch of LA bikers auditioning for a video by the rock band Molly Hatchet. Well, I got an interview. Seven interviews later I got the job. I was the new Assistant to the Executive Director of Pro-

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duction for PMI, which was the music video production arm of Capitol Records.

PMI oversaw all the music videos of Capitol’s artists (Tina Turner, Bob Seger, Heart, Tom Cochrane, and EMI artists David Bowie, Corey Hart, Duran Duran, Power Station and many others) plus there were directors on staff who directed all the Phil Collins videos, Eric Clapton in-concert videos and videos for Billy Idol and others. I was in charge of booking all off-line and on-line projects and struggled, along with the rest of the world, as we transitioned from analogue to digital.

I soon became the in-house production coordinator and was sometimes able to work on music videos during work time (but usually on weekends.)

The first project I produced for Capitol Records was a Karaoke music video for The Man I Love and I liked it. But I got restless and after three years I quit to work freelance. I worked on music videos, commercials and feature films, starting as a production assistant, then a craft services person, a caterer, a casting director (on three commercials and a music video - I hated it), and a production coordinator. (I got to work with gangs in East LA, which was scary at times).

But what I really wanted to do was to work as an assistant director. I was 2nd AD on a few features and then 1st AD and I hit exactly where I wanted to be. I was more than 2/3 complete in acquiring AD days for the DGA when I had an accident – I got pregnant. I switched gears pretty quickly and started producing.

I converted half of our home into a production office, hired a production coordinator and nanny, and ran productions from there. Director/executive producer George Bloom and I produced commercials, documentaries and straight-to-video dance tapes. We also produced promos for NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC for numerous shows including Wings, ER, Spin City, The Drew Carey Show, Seinfeld, and one for comedian Martin Short, which ended up supplying me with the funniest two days of my life. My husband was working as a gaffer and we were buying a house and life was great and busy. I had another baby, and we managed to work.

Then the earthquake hit, figuratively and literally. My husband was shooting in Texas and I was home alone with our babies. It was very early in the morning when all hell broke loose. The plaster began chipping into my 10-month old child’s crib, and the room was shaking too badly for me to reach her. My other daughter, who was two years old and clung to my neck, screamed continuously. We survived but were not emotionally intact. Within three weeks my best friend died from cancer, leaving three children behind. Within a year, our marriage fell apart and I ended the career and left the glamour of LA. I moved back to Kamloops, upgraded my degree and started teaching film classes at Thompson Rivers University. I started a legal, bona fide association called the BC Interior Film & Television Association in order to meet and train crew who wanted to live and work in Kamloops. At the same time, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District was looking for a new film commissioner. I applied and got the job. I’m now the Executive Director of Film and what a fabulous title. I location scout, go on surveys, market the area and have a blast doing it. No day is ever the same. Plus, I get the privilege of raising my two girls; teenagers now, who tell me I ruined their lives by coming to Kamloops.

Through production I meet old friends and acquaintances and make new friends along the way. It is miles away from where I was and yet right back where I started. We’ve had great successes and attracted some of the best talent in the world from Los Angeles and Vancouver to this region with credits that include Shooter, Iron Road, Firewall, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Snow Walker, Partition, Battlestar Galactica (twice), Alien Trespass, Flower & Garnet, Ill-Fated, Lost Treasures of the Grand Canyon, Lola, Cole, Thirst, The Wicker Man, Deepwater, Smallville and others. I love it here now. And I’m not restless yet so I imagine I will be here for a little while longer. And I hope to work with all of you. ■ 11

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Photograph by Phillip Chin

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Branching Out CFTPA BC branch growing with producers’ success

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wo decades after Phillip Borsos and Sandy Wilson were forced to go to Toronto to find a producer for their Genie-winning BC films (The Grey Fox and My American Cousin respectively) the province has enough production talent to have its own separate organization representing independent BC-based producers of film, television and interactive media. The BC Producers’ Branch of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association, which has 75 member companies, is the only provincial branch of the CFTPA, giving local producers the unique advantage of dealing directly with the local governments, unions and guilds.

The local branch came out of an ad-hoc panel that was founded in the early 1990s in response to the film and television industry growth that had occurred in the province. According to Neil Haggquist, Executive Vice President for the BC branch, the panel worked hard to forge relationships. “As the film industry was growing, there were changes occurring in labour and management relations that encouraged the guilds and unions to seek and receive recognition from the BC Labour Relations Board. In order to deal with these unique labour laws and to heighten its profile in the province the CFTPA registered as an Extra-Provincial Society in British Columbia in April 1993.”

Since that time the BC Branch of the CFTPA has been involved in the negotiations of collective agreements with all of BC’s guilds and unions. According to Haggquist, the result has been a series of long term agreements that have helped to stabilize the labour relations climate. He says that in tandem with provincial tax credits, the contracts created a “certainty” that led to a decade of growth in all

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levels of production.

Tracey Wood, the Branch’s Vice President, Industrial and External Relations says that in addition to negotiating and administering the collective agreements specific to the BC film industry, the BC Producers’ Branch works on provincial and municipal levels to ensure a stable industry in BC. And she says it works with other industry stakeholders - through its membership in MPPIA (the Motion Picture Production Industry Association) - “to create a level playing field with the rest of Canada” and to bring as much business as possible to the province.

“The BC Producers’ BranchCFTPA, in conjunction with the Motion Picture Production Industry Association, encouraged the provincial government to modify the ownership provisions for British Columbia production companies wishing to access the domestic tax credit” says Wood. “In agreeing to this change the province has created an environment that will allow companies to grow in British Columbia and compete on even terms with companies in Ontario.”

The Branch has not only helped local companies to grow, its members have made movies and television programs that have been seen around the world. The long list includes Brightlight Pictures’ White Noise, Anagram Pictures Fido; Haddock Entertainment’s Da Vinci’s Inquest; Force Four Entertainment’s Playing for Keeps; Paperny Films’ The Week the Women Went, Infinity Features’ Capote; Omni Films’ Smart Cookies and Studio B Productions’ Being Ian. Dianne Scott, the Branch’s Director of Operations & Member Services says the organization also offers professional development sessions to members. She says this year’s session cont. on page 28 is the Global 13

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QUESTION AND ANSWER

Thunderstruck Why Ben Stiller is happy that Robert Downey Jr. stole Tropic Thunder

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here have been a lot of actors who have gone on to direct movies that have been nominated for major Academy Awards. However, Ben Stiller is a rarity. He’s a comic who has directed only comedies and has helped win an acting nomination for one of the stars of a comedy. Although Robert Downey Jr. was (at press time) a long shot to win this year’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, a nomination really is as good as winning when it comes to comedies.

Stiller started directing with 1994’s Reality Bites and followed it up two years later with The Cable Guy. Then, in 1998 he became a movie star thanks to the hit comedy There’s

14

Something About Mary. He has only directed two feature films since then: 2001’s Zoolander and last year’s Tropic Thunder, the story of a group of actors who go to modern Vietnam to make a movie about the War and find themselves fighting a real war against a drug cartel. Downey Jr. played an Oscar-winning Australian actor in the latter film, one who decides to play the role of a soldier as an African-American. Asked during interviews for Tropic Thunder how he felt about Stiller’s directing, Downey Jr. joked that he is “really really hands-on.”

“Even just the first day of shooting everyone went home and said ‘he (Stiller) is a monster’” he said. “Later on we figured out that he is a leader

and an artist and capable in every single department. He is in relentless pursuit of perfection and that is why it turned out as well as it did. If I had been shooting the movie it wouldn’t have turned out that well because I am not going to get people mad at me by saying ‘let’s do this 300 times and then go in for coverage.’ Every day I would say ‘welcome to Ben Stiller’s comedy death camp. Isn’t it good to be on his comedy gulag?’”

In interviews for Tropic Thunder and the animated movie Madagascar: Escape to Africa, both released months prior to the announcement of the Oscar nominations, Stiller told Reel West that he was confident Downey Jr. would get a nomination.

He also talked about the realities of

being a director and the fun he had making the Vancouver-shot Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, which opens in May. There has been talk about Robert Downey Jr. getting an Oscar nomination for playing this ‘obsessed with the Oscar’ actor. Do you think he has a chance?

“I see it as an opportunity for a comedic performance to be recognized in a way that most comedic performances don’t get recognized.

But yes, there is a whole other level there in terms of what he does in the movie relating to the idea that Oscarwinning actors do take themselves too seriously. I find that amusing in its own way. I think he is an incredibly talented actor who is very deserving. I would love to see it just to see a comedy role get recognized because if there is one then he deserves it.”

Your parents (comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara) brought you up in the world of show business. Do you think that had an influence on you that eventually led you to make a movie about life behind the scenes?

“I think so because I have always enjoyed humour where people are making fun of things behind the scenes. If you are in the business it is funny to you so I just wanted to figure out a way to make it funny to a broad audience. I think actors like to make fun of themselves and the business because there are so many people who take themselves so seriously, including myself. We all have these moments where you read a quote in an interview and you think ‘what the hell was I thinking’ because it is a trial and error process. Some people get caught up in it. Sometimes you sound silly and sometimes you take yourself too seriously and it is hard to navigate through the show business world without being involved in the b.s. of it all.”

You worked on this film for a long time prior to principal photography. Was it worth the wait when you finally got to the set?

“Oh yes. I was so excited to be doing it because I had been making it for so long. We spent a lot of time on drafts of the movie over the course of eight or nine years and there were times when I thought we would never get it made. There were other times when I thought ‘this is a good idea but how do we figure it all out?’ The idea was there for a first act and a second act right at the beginning but not the actual articulation of it. I think I stuck with it because it is the kind of film I would like to see and it REEL WEST MARCH/APRIL 2009

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has been a long time since I have made a movie for which I am the core audience.”

Downey Jr. has said that he would say “welcome to Ben Stiller’s gulag every morning. “Do you see yourself as being a control freak when it comes to directing?

“There are control issues because you have a vision and you have to carry it out. But I like to work with directors who know what they want. It was important for me to get what I wanted.

I like it when I walk on a set and a director says ‘I was thinking you might do this and this. I am going to put the camera here and I want you to do this.’ You don’t want the director to say ‘okay, what should we do?’ That’s horrible. You begin to ask ‘who is running the show here?’ So I think you have to strike a balance. The toughest part of acting and directing is you want the actors to feel like they are being directed and you don’t want them to think that you are not there for them or that you are too concerned with your own performance. But you have the responsibility of getting it shot every day and you have to get the day done. People are looking to you for what you want so it can be difficult. But I think we had fun and I think it comes across in the film.”

Would you rather just be an actor or do you need the input that comes with being a director?

“Any movie that I am acting in I will have some input into. But that is the thing about directing a movie. It’s a very subjective thing. So any movie I am acting in is going to have the imprint of who is directing it and I am not trying to put my stamp on other people’s movies. I will be whatever I am supposed to be in that film and I enjoy that process too. But directing is the thing I like most and the thing I feel most connected to.”

Was this the toughest movie of the four you have directed?

“Yes, but It was the most enjoyable experience I have had making a film.

I had been going to Hawaii for years and so I knew where I wanted to shoot it. There were years of getting ready to shoot it and to be able to go in the helicopters and scout these places you could really get to and to work on these big action sequences and build a bridge and then blow it up and work with all these great people. But I enjoyed it a lot.”

There have been a lot of war movies lately but this is the only war comedy out. In fact, none of the war movies about modern war have connected with an audience.

Do you think that war dramas are a

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thing of the past?

“I think it is unfortunate that people don’t go to see the movies about Iraq but we are in a conflict that is close to home and it is not surprising that people would not want to go to those films for entertainment. But this is a comedy about making movies. It is not a war comedy. So it is a different thing. I love war movies like the movies that we are satirizing like Deer Hunter and Full Metal Jacket and Platoon. They are movies that I grew up with and enjoyed but this is a comedy and it lives in its own place and I think sometimes in times of war people want escapism.”

That era also brought with it protest. Apparently you are interested in directing a film about the famous trial of dissidents that took place in Chicago after protests occurred during the 1968 Democratic Party convention.

“I am interested in doing different things as a director but someone leaked that story because there was a meeting. Someone wrote a story about it but independent of whether I do that film I think the trial of the Chicago Seven is still relevant. The issues that it was dealing with including freedom of speech and the counterculture and what the government did makes it relevant to the Bush era.

It’s great to be considered for something that is different than what you have done. I am always thinking about doing different things. I hope it won’t be that long before I direct again. I really had such a good time working on Tropic Thunder but I would like to go and do something a little smaller next time and just have fun.”

You recently completed work in Vancouver on the second installment of what could be a successful franchise. You didn’t direct but you were working alongside some funny people. What was it like making Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian?

“We shot it and finished it in Vancouver a few months ago and it comes out for the (US) Memorial Day weekend (May 22.) We had this incredible cast of comics including Ricky Gervais, Chris Guest, Amy Adams, Dick Van Dyke, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan and Hank Azaria.

We had a lot of fun and a really good time. On the first one Ricky really made me laugh. I am such a huge fan of his but he just happens to be one of these guys who cracks up easily.

He cracks himself up and this time it was worse than the Carol Burnett Show. We were like Harvey Korman and Tim Conway.” ■

EXPERT WITNESS

“We were on Oprah during the first season, the six of us, and they put together this series of clips with people talking about watching the show. Oprah said ‘you’re a phenomenon’ and we were all in shock and she said ‘why are you all acting as if you didn’t know?’ and it was because we didn’t know until that moment. When I look back at the show I think of it as only a good thing. It was everything for me.” - Lisa Kudrow on the moment she and her fellow Friends cast members realized they were famous.

“The hardest part of writing the autobiography was remembering things. It is interesting how your own history can be found outside of your own mind, in talking to other people and going through the memorabilia that I would toss into a cardboard box. I described it in the book as being like an archaeological dig because it was in sequence. At the bottom was the oldest. It was a writing challenge because I didn’t want to brag but I didn’t want to deny accomplishments. I won’t write another volume because I think that it is an interesting story before you make it (to stardom.) But by the 1980s I was just making movies. I wanted to write it step by step in terms of what had gotten me to a certain place. From there on it was anecdotal. You could say ‘I met him and then we laughed’ and you could replace any name with anyone else’s in the movie industry.” - Steve Martin on why his first attempt at writing an autobiography, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life, will also be his last.

“It can be a gift but there can also be a danger growing old in that you know so much about the process on stage that maybe you will start imitating yourself somehow. If you keep the idea ‘I don’t want to imitate myself but instead I would like to serve the scene with the guy who is in front of me’ maybe that is the way to stay young. You have to be in the moment because to dance you need two people.” - Actor Jean Reno who, in his 60s has moved from acclaimed French and American dramas to playing Steve Martin’s deputy in the Pink Panther movies.

“Distant Voices was about coming to terms with the damage and suffering my father inflicted. Long Day Closes was about the loss of innocence and the loss of childhood.

I was from a large working class family, I was Catholic in a Protestant country and I was gay in a country where it was illegal until 1967. So this is about those things, and particularly the effect being Catholic had on me. I really believed in the church and in God. I was made to examine my conscience every day and all those dos and don’ts are embedded in me. There are some things that I just couldn’t do because God would know. I don’t believe that but at one point I did and it rules your life still.” - Director Terrence Davies on the reasons behind his decision to follow up the acclaimed drama Distant Voices, Still Lives with a documentary called Of Time and the City that covers some of the same territory.

Excerpted from interviews done by Reel West editor Ian Caddell.

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By Ian Caddell

Watching Zack

Zack Snyder has inspired the confidence of Warner Bros. Ten months after the studio’s Snyder-directed 300 became the surprise hit of 2007, earning over $450 million worldwide and setting all-time box office records for a March release, he is roaming around the huge sets of Watchmen, one of the most expensive movies ever shot in Canada.

The toys that the studio is paying for at Burnaby’s Canadian Motion Picture Park include a temple (known on set as Karnak) flanked by 30 foot high idols.

A few blocks away is an entire back lot that Warner allowed Snyder and his crew to build. His hit movie has given him capital and he is using it, with the production costs alone estimated to be over $120 million.

Snyder was just out of high school when the first efforts at making a movie from the 1985 Alan Moore and David Gibbons’ graphic novel were undertaken by 20th Century Fox. The idea went through the offices of several filmmakers but no one could get it made. Eventually, it came to Warner Bros and when Snyder delivered a hit with 300 they asked him to take on the project.

(Fox sued Warner alleging that they should receive some of the revenues.

They settled out of court and the film, which was in danger of being shelved, will open March 6.)

The story is set in the year the graphic novel was written. Richard Nixon never resigned and is still the president and is dealing with a Cold War that has created greater tension than ever. Superheroes exist but they are being murdered. A vigilante decides to investigate the murder of one hero and discovers that there is a plot to discredit and murder several others. The film stars Patrick Wilson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jackie Earl Haley, Malin Akerman, Carla Gugino and Billy Crudup.

Snyder is no stranger to working in Canada. In fact, all three of his features have been shot here. Dawn of the Dead was mostly shot around Toronto, 300 was filmed at abandoned shipyards in Montreal and now he has completed the locations circle by shooting Watchmen in the Lower Mainland. Vancouver wasn’t the first choice, according to the film’s executive producer, Herb Gains, but it was the one that made the most sense both economically and visually.

“We were talking about making it in Australia but having worked there I didn’t think it was right for every film. Then we looked at Eastern Europe and Spain, but the tricky thing about this picture was not just the tax incentive. We needed a facility that would work and we needed a strong crew base.

Those elements were important. At one point we were going to use New York because they have a great tax incentive but Zack didn’t feel he could find in New York what he wanted visually. I told him I felt he could but as I REEL WEST MARCH/APRIL 2009

came to understand his approach to the movie I could see that he was very specific about every frame and that we needed locations that could fit that.

At the same time there was an effort to do it at the Warner back lot in LA but I always had Vancouver in the back of my mind and I didn’t know if there were facilities available. Once I heard that some stages had opened up I felt it was the best choice for all the things that we needed.”

It would appear to have worked for Snyder who says, on the set, that he does what he can to find the tone of the material and feels that all three of his films reflect that. “I am all about finding the tone of the movie and making the movie based on its tone rather than the particulars of it. For instance, with Dawn of the Dead I wanted to make a cult movie at a studio with studio quality, and when we made 300 I was very specific about making a movie that felt and looked like the book (by Frank Miller.) Here it goes again to the tone which is very specific in that it has to be able to allow you to enjoy the fetishistic aspects of being a superhero. It also has to ask ‘what is the link to this enjoyment?’ By contrast, 300 is very straightforward in its psychology.

Watchmen is constantly analyzing itself. That makes them very different to me tonally. So I have tried in the shooting of this movie to be formal with my approach. I felt the book is very formal in its presentation of imagery. It is very symmetrical and that is how we presented the shot-making. It is like 300 in one way, in that they both have operatic qualities but it is intimate as well. And there are way more sets. We still use visual effects to enhance and expand the sets we have but we need a lot of them to tell the story. We needed the space and we have it here.”

Snyder had done most of 300 on green screen but wanted to combine CGI with real sets for Watchmen. He hired Alex McDowell to be his production designer because McDowell had a resume that showed he knew how to work in several mediums. His resume includes the computer animated Bee Movie, the stop motion animation Corpse Bride and live-action productions that range from The Cat in the Hat to Minority Report. McDowell says Snyder fit the profile of the kind of director he needs to work with in order to feel that there will be collaboration.

“I have been lucky to work with directors who have a strong vision,” he says. “I have found that puts you into collaboration and when you add the 17

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graphic novel there is another layer of collaboration. It doesn’t feel like a restraint to me because I think that is the design task. The question, on the most basic level, is ‘how do you translate a graphic novel as complex and with all the history it contains into a different medium?’ That is the design challenge but to know that the material you are basing it on is rich is great and it’s wonderful to have a director who supports the idea of honouring the material and really digging deep into it and enjoy-

stuff. For me it is all about the arc of a film and when we go into any film we are not sure how it is going to be broken down. Even when we started with the script, it was not clear what sets would be real and what sets would be CGI.” The trick is to have the option to do either. Warner Bros. gave the filmmakers several options when they allowed them to build a backlot that contains the city sets that are at the centre of the film. McDowell says that while it has helped to make

ing that process. I think we (McDowell and his design crew) have enjoyed it as much as Zack has enjoyed it.”

McDowell says he was particularly excited about having so many sets to work with. He admits that some, like the Karnak temple set are large, but says that they are the exception in a film with a real range of sets. And he adds that even though he was aware it was going to be setdriven the sheer number of sets was still a bit intimidating.

“They all have a narrative role so it doesn’t feel like any of these sets are transitions from one set to another. They all have functional and metaphoric places in the story. The challenge is how many of them there are. I knew from the beginning that we were going to do a largely incamera film. I was briefed about it to the extent that we looked at filming everything rather than doing CGI at all. So I knew that it wasn’t going to be a 300 style green screen. But I am still surprised at how many sets we are building. We are building two or three a day and just the newscast component of the story involves so much. However, I think they need me more than ever because I am just as involved in the CGI stuff as the builds. In fact, I think there is a misconception that the production designer job is all about the on-camera

the film look better, it was one of the more difficult builds of his career.

However, he admits that it was also a highlight of his work as a production designer.

“Our construction team has had the equivalent of a big movie’s scenery to build but there is so much detail and the back-lot and building a city became the most technical challenge. You don’t usually build a back-lot from the ground up and build the components of a city that absolutely fits the story. It’s great because you are not compromised by the location. For instance, if we used the Warner back-lot we would have to convert half a dozen sets from TV shows into something that might work.”

Although the Canadian Motion Picture Park and the back-lot can accommodate a lot of sets the film’s producer, Deb Snyder, says that the crew can’t leave sets up for long.

When a scene has been shot, they have to consider tearing the set down in order to have the room needed for the next set.

“We don’t strike until after we see dailies and our editor is cutting at the same time. Zack loves shooting things in order but unfortunately because of the superhero costumes and the amount of time it took to get them ready and actors’ availability it’s not always doable. We do it as

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much as we can and as we go they are editing at the same time and I think that helps. We are saving flats in storage but because the film is so massive you have to make some of these hard choices so that it doesn’t get overblown in terms of costs. We have been flip-flopping. We tore down an apartment and then put a brownstone in its place and then we tore it down too so we are just constantly recycling.”

So was the 23 year wait for a movie based on the graphic novel

“I am all about finding the tone of the movie and making the movie based on its tone rather than the particulars of it...”

– Zack Snyder

worth it? Snyder says that had he not been a fan of the novel, he probably wouldn’t have been as determined to get it made. He says that he sees it as a great story with great artwork, one that made sense to turn into a film despite the obstacles.

“First of all Watchmen is the work that made it okay for an adult to read a comic book. You could say ‘I am literate but I read Watchmen.’ Secondly, it is about the ultimate reality of the superhero. You are judge, jury and executioner and when you see a crime you solve that crime. If you take that all the way to the end isn’t that what (the movie’s villain) Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) does? He says ‘kill millions to save billions.’ This is the world’s punishment for flirting with World War III. If you look at it at face value, it appears to be a moral exercise like the bombing of Hiroshima during World War II, which I think is an accepted thing now. People say ‘they saved millions of lives so it was the right thing to do.’ But it is the same moral question. A lot of things in this book come out of that moment in history, that sense of sacrificing some to save more. That is what it is about. It is also a mystery and beyond that it is a character movie.

“In fact, to me a lot of times the story takes second seat to who these characters are. It is the ‘why’ of them

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because that is what makes it interesting and contrasts to the standpoint of superhero mythology and what we are used to now in terms of superheroes in the cinema. Watchmen takes that apart and says ‘no.

Superman doesn’t care about humanity. The bad guy wants world peace.’ That is the fun of it in that it takes that perspective and never flinches. It is my hope that you can look at what Hollywood has presented to you from a mythological standpoint and then perhaps feel that what happens here is the normal thing. You can always see that in the film because it never flinches from what these guys (Moore and Gibson) have done with these archetypes.”

That said he did have doubts about making the film. He admits that not having Alan Moore’s support for the film was difficult. “The only reason not to do it was that I didn’t have the master’s blessing. I would be a liar if I said I didn’t want him to like it even though I would make no assumptions about how he feels. I would hope that he wouldn’t think it sucked super bad. I don’t know why Warner said yes. I think everyone thought ‘Watchmen is something you should make into a movie.’ The studio thought ‘yes, it’s a big graphic novel and people like graphic novels. They can be successful so let’s make that into a movie,’ particularly with the success of 300.

They wanted a sequel to that but I didn’t know what that was. If Frank (Miller) had written another 300 book then I would have talked about doing that but I was not going to do it just to make money. When we (Snyder and Deb Snyder) decided to settle on this as the next thing we wanted to do they got it into their heads that it would work and the success of 300 made it viable. Whether there was some magical thing that made it happen I don’t know. I think it was perseverance over time that wore down all the obstacles. It is closer to the graphic novel than it has ever been. We got it and started to make it into a period piece.”

The other concern he has had from the beginning, he says, was that the film should be made with the fans of the original material in mind. He says that he has always taken that approach and hopes that it works as well this time as it has in the past.

“I open material and look at it and consider how the people who are fans of it will react to it rather than whether it will be accessible to everyone. It is an cont. on page 29

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More than 20 years after it played host to The Accused the Vancouver Art Gallery is considered to be one of the most viewed courthouse exteriors on the planet.

How the West Was Sold 20

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It looks rural but film crews can reach the Lower Seymour Conservation Area in just minutes from downtown Vancouver.

by Ian Caddell

In words and pictures, a look at some of the most important locations in western Canada; Places that have helped to tell both our own stories and those of others over the course of several decades.

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Winnipeg’s exchange district gives the Manitoba industry an exterior that can play both a small town and turn-of-the-century city with equal ease.

T

he history of film and television production in western Canada, usually considered to be relatively new, dates back to the Roaring Twenties and includes every decade since then. What may be surprising, given the fear of location burnout, is that some of the locations used by Hollywood productions in past eras are still at the top of the list when location managers go looking for backdrops to fit scripts.

Even the great locations often play just a small part in a film but they can be a determining factor in whether a picture will shoot in a particular province or even whether they will come to Canada. Some of the locations offer a unique look while others work because they are easily accessible to a production centre. Still others have endured because they can provide scenes needed in so many modern screenplays.

The best example of the latter is the Vancouver Art Gallery which served as the city’s main court house from 1906 to 1983. It has two views, which can be used in separate productions or on the same day. The front view, from Georgia Street, is the Art Gallery view, and has served as an exterior for several museum scenes as well. The back view, from Robson, has steps that lead to another entrance and is usually used for the exterior of a court house.

“I think that we first used the Art Gallery for the courthouse in The Accused (the 1988 Oscar-winning film which was shot in Vancouver in 1987) and for (Stephen) Cannell’s 21 Jump Street, which was shooting here

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around the same time,” says the BC Film Commission’s community affairs manager Gordon Hardwick. “We had law court interiors in warehouses on the east side and then we realized we were going to need permanent law courts to serve the needs of productions that were using the exterior of the Art Gallery so we built them out on Dawson Street in Burnaby. The fact that the front of it has a museum look has also been a boon for us because so many of the scripts call for that look.”

While the Art Gallery has fit into films portraying a number of eras, Alberta’s Kananaskis Country, near Canmore, first hosted a production in 1929 when it was chosen as a location for Eternal Love, starring John Barrymore. It’s still a hot property. In recent years the list of productions shooting in the area has included the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Broken Trail, which won 16 Emmy nominations.

Vancouver’s Lower Seymour Conservation Area (aka Seymour Watershed) has been used since the 1980s when then-BC Film Commissioner Dianne Neufeld managed to get it opened up to filmmaking. More recently, it’s been seen by millions around the world through the international television hits MacGyver and Stargate SG1. Hardwick says that there are few locations in BC that have been utilized as many times as the Watershed.

“There was always a plan for future expansion of the area so there was little public access. (Former BC Film Commissioner) Dianne Neufeld

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Saskatchewan’s Killdeer Badlands fit perfectly with the needs of The Englishman’s Boy, a movie about filmmakers shooting westerns on location in Hollywood’s formative years.

worked hard to open it up and (one of her successors) Mark DesRochers worked to keep it open. We have been very fortunate to have access to it for so many productions for so many years.”

The Watershed and Kananaskis Country give their respective film commissions the advantage of offering producers an outdoor set within a half hour drive of the downtown core of a major city, which gives the provinces a competitive edge over most American states. The same combination does abound, however, on the prairies. Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan can deliver cities and countryside within minutes.

“We’re finding producers are attracted to the wide variety of rural and urban locations found in Saskatchewan,” says SaskFilm CEO and Film Commissioner Susanne Bell. “Our cities easily represent a wide variety of creative settings while our surrounding rural locations help complete the creative needs of the production. We’ve been very successful in landing productions that require urban settings, picturesque towns, scenic valleys, rugged badlands, rolling prairie, country roads and a variety of farms.

Our ‘rural bonus’ offered in our tax credit program provides financial incentives to films that film, in part, outside of our major centers to ensure producers can access a range of rural locations while also sharing the economic benefits of the industry across the province.”

Access to studios a few miles from what appears to be a vast wasteland doesn’t hurt. Saskatchewan has used that combination for several produc-

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“When you have a location that is unique, it will draw people to your region and once they are there, they will find ways of shooting everything else in the script as close to that place as possible.”

– Susan Croome 23

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Clockwise: Alberta’s Kananaskis Country has been piling up credits since the 1920s. More recently it played Montana in the Oscar winning Brokeback Mountain; The versatile Fort Edmonton has hosted train robbers in The Assassination of Jesse James (shown) and werewolves in Ginger Snaps; Riverview Hospital’s bleak exteriors and spacious hallways have made it a hit with both Canadian and international filmmakers.

“It’s not enough for film commissioners and location managers to have an interest in shooting on-site, the place has to be available.”

– Michael Cowles

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tions, including, most recently, The Englishman’s Boy, which won six Gemini Awards last year.

The same approach occurs in Manitoba. Location managers in Winnipeg can find a number of different looks and periods in the city’s exchange district and then quickly and efficiently move the “circus” to the wide prairie. “It (the district) is one of North America’s best preserved, turn-of-the-century architectural districts and includes beautifully restored vaudeville theatres and historic operating train stations,” says Michael Cowles, Manitoba Film and Sound’s manager of film programs.

The area has been home to a number of period-set movies including the recent New in Town and Shall We Dance. Cowles says several films, most notably Oscar winner Capote, have moved seamlessly from the isolated look of the prairies to a more urban setting.

Accessibility has been a key to the success of some locations. It’s not enough for film commissioners and location managers to have an interest in shooting on-site, the place has to be available. Some places seem natural locations but owners and managers may not be interested in working with a production. According to Albert Film’s communications director Kimberly Evans, the province’s Fort Edmonton has a lot to offer and has been home to feature films, episodic television and music videos. She says US director Andrew Dominic, who used the fort for scenes in The Assassination of Jesse James said “there is magic with the light here.” The city can

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Films ranging from the Oscarwinning Capote to For the Moment, starring Russell Crowe, have shot in the rolling hills of rural Manitoba.

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offer it to producers without too much concern because they own it. “Fort Edmonton Park is owned and operated by the City of Edmonton, making the location easily affordable and accessible, with the City of Edmonton working on a cost recovery basis,” she says.

Riverview Hospital, a few miles east of Vancouver, is also governmentoperated. BC Film Commissioner Susan Croome says that while part of it is in use, much of it is used for film and television productions. She calls it “a chameleon” with the facility playing hospitals, police stations and hotels. “It is just a great building,” she says.

The most unique building in the west may be Hatley Park Castle at Royal Roads University on Vancouver Island. It is a location that seems almost a contradiction in a region that was mostly developed in the last century. While BC will never compete with Eastern Europe for the “castle” look, Hatley Park, which was built in 1908 was extensively used as the home of the X-Men in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand.

“It’s our one real castle,” says Croome. “When you have a location that is unique, it will draw people to your region and then once they are there, they will find ways of shooting everything else in the script as close to that place as possible. It is always a good thing if a show’s decision to come here is based on the fact that we have something that they can’t find anywhere else.” ■

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Crime Story Ten years after Tom Scholte was moved by witnessing a petty crime being committed, he was at the Vancouver International Film Festival with the movie that was inspired by the incident. In his diary on the making of Crime, he looks back at that inspirational moment, the day he came to the conclusion that he should take a role himself and the 12 days that saw him shoot 115 pages with a crew of five.

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July, 1998 I’m enjoying some mid-summer sunshine and a late lunch on the patio of a Granville Street sports bar and grill when a sketchy, skinny dude who has been cruising suspiciously around the place tries to pocket $40.00 that’s been left on a table by some recently departed patrons. Having been spotted in the act, sketchy dude bolts down Granville chased by a thick-necked bar employee who soon drags him back up the street in a painful arm-lock. Howls of approval from patrons and staff greet the returning hero with his conquered prey. These howls reach a fever pitch after the captured thief is forced to apologize to the patio waitress in front of a packed house of enthralled spectators. I look at the defeated petty criminal and then at the juiced up crowd of alpha males frenziedly celebrating his capture. It’s not hard to figure out who I’m more afraid of.

September, 2004 Sitting in my office on UBC’s Point Grey campus and settling into my new job as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre, Film, and Creative Writing, I’m still haunted by the events of that sunny afternoon on the Granville Mall. In the intervening six years, feelings and intuitions born on that day have coalesced into a narrative outline for a feature film, entitled Crime, tracking the lives of four disparate characters in contemporary Vancouver all of whom become implicated, as either victims or perpetrators, in a series of “criminal” acts. After a couple of false starts on this project over the last few years, I feel I am finally ready to move from my usual place in front of the camera into the director’s chair. I enlist Robert French as my producing partner and submit a proposal to UBC’s Hampton Research Fund for $7000.00 to begin an improv- driven screenplay development process involving myself, my cinematographer, and eight actors.

January, 2005 Still a few months before I’ll hear about my proposal but I’m already thinking about casting. The character of Rick is a former top-tier junior hockey player taking one last desperate crack at making the pros by playing Varsity hockey at UBC. There’s a student named Evan Frayne in the Intermediate year of our acting program whose actually played some junior hockey and definitely has some of the unnamable haunted quality that I’m looking for but I’m just not totally convinced he’s ready for a role of this magnitude. Better keep looking around.

March Well, they don’t tend to use the term “green light” in academic circles but the end result is the same. I’ve cleared the first hurdle and secured just under $7000.00 in funding for the workshop. Now, casting can begin in earnest. As the film consists of two separate storylines that don’t converge until late in the third act, I’ve only concerned myself with casting the two leads from storyline A in order to get started. Since Carole Tarlington helped cast the hockey pic Miracle a few years back, I figure she’ll have the inside track on the talent pool I need to tap into. Time to get on the phone.

May Two of the four leads are now cast! Fortunately, Carole and I go back a few years so she didn’t need much convincing to generously donate her time and expertise to the project. Canadian independent cinema only survives on the kindness of people like Carole and I am truly grateful for her input. Link Baker, a strong and sensitive actor with a solid hockey background, will create the role of Rick. He’s the perfect fit and I’m thrilled that he’s ready to jump into the project with real enthusiasm. The role of Crystal (an emotionally fragile first-year student who latches on to Rick) was a much tougher nut to crack. After several days of seeing a number of very strong young actresses, the Crystal I had carried in my mind for so long had still failed to materialize. I had almost begun to believe that this person was entirely a figment of my imagination; that I had conjured her up to serve a particular dramatic conceit and that, in reality, no such person could actually exist. Then, at our final session, out of my psyche and into the casting studio walked Crystal in the person of one Andrea Whitburn, a very green but very talented 17 year old fresh from the Langley School of Fine Arts. Anyone can learn technique and I work with young actors all the time. This young woman is the genuine article and her instincts are right on the money. And, for that, there is no substitute. I am stunned, grateful, and very excited to get to work!

August Finally, the workshop begins! I have provided both actors with detailed character backgrounds and, over the past few months, these have been augmented through collaborative discussion and the actors’ own pychological/behavioural research. Tomorrow I’ll give them a detailed plot synopsis and a chronological scene breakdown and over the course of five eight hour work days, versions of each scene in the breakdown, as well as scenes of back-story and character history, will be improvised and explored with multiple variations and adjustments. All improvisations will be videotaped by Bojan Bodruzic, my director of photography and, at the end of the workshop, I will cull dialogue, as well as useful and appropriate behavioural sequences, from the videotaped improvisations and, with them, produce a written first draft of the screenplay.

Well, half of it, anyway.

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June, 2006 In the midst of a full teaching load, a couple of theatre gigs, and the arrival of my son Jacob back in March, I have finally carved a polished draft of half a screenplay out of the hours of videotaped improvisations between Link and Andrea. Time now to pick up the pace and start work-shopping the other half. My lovely and talented wife, Frida Betrani, will create the role of Tula, a recovering alcoholic working in her father’s Lebanese restaurant, and I’ve approached Tygh Runyan to play Tula’s pot-smoking, unemployed musician boyfriend, Brent. While I feel deeply about all four lead characters, I feel particularly attached to Brent. He is the assemblage of a number of people I was close to growing up in Scarborough, Ontario and is, for me, an archetypal representative of the countless wonderfully talented but socially impaired young men growing older by the second as they languish in their parents’ basements all across this country. My connection to the character is so strong and my idea of him so specific that I spend many agonizing hours wrestling with the idea of

“I know this tiny film faces an uncertain future in a world where digital technology has unleashed a massive wave of innovative and talented young filmmakers into an already overcrowded marketplace.” playing him myself before deciding that my plate is full enough producing, writing, and directing. Tygh is an extremely talented young man with an impressive track record in local independent film and I’m sure that, together, we can craft a character that will serve the story well.

September With the Frida/Tygh improvs in the can, I am now deep in the throes of wrestling the other half of my screenplay into shape. I’m also about to go back to the Hampton committee for a larger grant to take us into production in August ’07. The maximum amount available to me is $70 000 and, of course, I’m asking for the whole shot. This is, of course, a paltry amount of money with which to make a film but, given my embrace of the rigid restraints of the infamous DOGMA ’95 manifesto (available lighting, no music, real locations, location sound only etc), and my access to the UBC Film Program’s DVX-100 camera as well as campus locations, I’m confident it can be done.

The raw and gritty DOGMA aesthetic is exactly what this story needs and I believe in the manifesto whole-heartedly. In the words of my hero, Mike Watt of the legendary punk-band The Minutemen, let’s cut out all the “bloat” and “jam econo!”

March, 2007 In between all of my other responsibilities, progress on the script has been halting at best. The good news this month is that the Hampton committee does indeed want me to make this film. The bad news is that they want me to do it with $22,900. If I really don’t think I can complete the project at this budget level I am encouraged to pass on the money. I assure them that I will get it done. Meanwhile, I’ve watched Evan Frayne have breakthrough after breakthrough in class and on stage at the Freddy Wood Theatre. He’s really emerged as a formidable actor and if I was starting this all over today he’d be giving me a lot to think about. But I’m certainly in capable hands with Link and I’m confident there are lots of great opportunities waiting for Evan just around the corner.

April Alar Thunder is dead and that has changed everything. A gifted drummer with a streak of self-sabotage a mile wide, he was one of the essential inspirations for Brent. Just days ago, after a steady decline into alcoholism and despair, he took his own life. This personal project has just gotten even more personal and, as awkward and uncomfortable as this situation is, I know what I have to do. A movie lasts forever and I’ve only got one chance to get this exactly right; to breathe life into a character that I so desperately want people to witness and understand. I screw up my courage and call Tygh to let him know that I’m starting over and taking over the role. He understands what I’m going through and is more gracious to me than I possibly deserve. I feel stupid, embarrassed, and awful. He’s a wonderful actor and there’s nothing he’s done wrong. This is just what I have to do. It’s what I should have done from the beginning.

June After a frenzied round of new improvs between me and Frida, I’ve finally gotten the writing into high gear and am closing in on a final draft; not a moment too soon as we go to camera in mid-August. Bojan and I have decided to take the DOGMA restrictions a step further by shooting every scene in a continuous moving master with no coverage. This is obviously a dangerous strat-

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egy with no escape hatches through which to rescue scenes that just don’t work and I was initially quite mortified when Bojan floated the idea. But after watching the Dardenne brothers’ L’Enfant and Lodge Kerrigan’s Kean at his suggestion, I agree that there is just no substitute for the particular brand of tension and dread that this style can create and that it suits the tone of this film perfectly.

We agree to build in a solid week of camera rehearsals to shape the delicate dance that he will need to do with the actors on the day.

July Ah, the joys of securing locations on a shoestring budget. A former student of mine and his girlfriend have been gracious enough to let me cast their eccentrically decorated apartment as Brent and Tula’s place and I’ve been able to finagle access to Place Vanier residence at UBC for the bulk of the Rick and Crystal scenes. The big challenges have been the Lebanese restaurant where Tula works and the bar where the two storylines collide. Friends of Frida’s family have been coerced into opening up their shawarma place for us on their day

“...for at least two nights in my beloved home city, these characters that have meant so much to me for so long, and the dedicated and courageous work of the artists who have brought them to life, will have their moment.” off but not before pressuring me for more money than I had originally offered them. Turns out they have a son in LA who knows how much these sorts of gigs usually pay. Great. For the bar, I followed the only lead I really had and inquired at a place that had once been co-owned by a former student of mine at the Vancouver Film School. I can’t possibly afford to close down the main room for a day nor could I deal with all of the clearance issues for the booze logos all over the place, but they will let me use their back room during business hours if I promise to feed my cast and crew from their menu. Perfect! It’s certainly not the location I’ve been dreaming of but I figure I’m not going to get anything else that I can afford so I better damn well make it work.

August It’s two weeks before principal photography and one of my lead actors has dropped out. Link has relocated to LA and simply can’t afford to come back up here for the paltry $50.00 a day UBCP Ultra Low-Budget rate that is all I can give him. He feels terrible but he’s really up against it and feels that he has no choice. Given that this whole project has been based around actors building their own characters from the ground up so that, by the time the camera rolls, their works seems effortless, this turn of events is a serious spanner in the works.

I phone Rob French and break the news. He can’t believe that I don’t sound the least bit panicked. There’s a good reason for this. I’ve already called Evan.

September Phew! 115 pages in 12 days with a fearless crew of five. The actors were magnificent and I can only hope that I’ve managed to hold my own. Evan slid into this role with an astonishing level of ease and, in a way, is the true saviour of this project. Andrea was absolutely stunning and everyone who worked on the film is asking me where I found her. They are all expecting big things from her in the future. And words cannot describe how proud I am of the deep and nuanced work of my amazing wife. Bojan was an absolute rock behind the camera and, on a project where location sound is everything, you can’t do any better than having Jeff Carter swinging the boom and spinning the dials. Things will have to sit for a while as I get re-engulfed in a full time teaching schedule, but we’ll be heading into some seriously indie post-production as soon as possible with Jeff cutting sound on his home computer and Bojan taking care of picture on his. May the digital gods be with us.

May, 2008 You might be able to make a film without lights, without a first AD, CFTPA cont. from page 13

Business Strategies, an intensive 3-day workshop for film, television and digital media professionals seeking business and management training. Scott says the Branch also supports over a dozen industry initiatives including the crazy8s Film Festival, the CFC Go West Project Lab, the VIFF Film & Television Forum and the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards.

According to Scott, the BC Branch believes that supporting both its established members and emerging talent keeps the industry vital and growing. The Branch also supports community efforts. “As a lot of filming occurs in the Downtown Eastside, the BC-CFTPA also feels a responsibility to support the Oppenheimer Park Christmas Dinner Fund,” she says.

The Branch’s 2009 executive includes Rob Bromley, Force Four Entertain-

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without a lot of things, but I’ll be damned if I ever try and make another film without a post-production supervisor! Jeff and Bojan have both done yeoman’s service on their respective ends of things but the movement between two systems in two different apartments across town has been riddled with frustration.

Luckily, we’ve had some generous help from post-production sound guru Marc Benoit who helped us tidy up some bizarre digital anomalies at a drastically reduced rate. Then came the final output to HD-Cam at Deluxe. The tape transfer was fine but, after several passes, the DVD copies I requested were still riddled with stuttering frames that no one seemed able to explain. Completely out of ideas, Ken Johns at Deluxe decided to try the process one last desperate time on a machine that, for at least a year, had been unable to run for more than forty minutes without crashing. And it worked. Isn’t technology wonderful?

June I’ve just gotten home from the ritual round of drinks with the Toronto International Film Festival programmers who are in town to screen the local offerings. Put a room full of film-makers together trying to stay casual, light, and witty while we try and find just the right moment to corner Steve Gravestock for our 15 minutes of face-time and you’ve got something that resembles the first episode of a season of The Bachelorette. I’ve executed the delicate art of schmoozing to the best of my ability and now it’s all up to the film itself which they will screen at the Vancity Theatre tomorrow morning. I just pray they’re not too hung-over.

Early July Rob French got the call this afternoon. He knew the news was bad when he realized that the caller was Jesse Wente, TIFF’s assistant programmer.

They always give the bad news calls to the assistant programmers. I’m crushed.

I can tell myself over and over that TIFF isn’t the be all and end all but I’m kidding myself if I don’t admit that a Canadian film has a much tougher road to hoe internationally without that endorsement. What’s to be done? Suck it up and keep putting it out there.

Late July Okay, now I’m really worried. The Montreal World Film Festival has passed on us as well and I’m racked with self-doubt. I feel like we’ve told an important story in a compelling and truthful way. Can I be that off the mark? I show the film to Canadian film pioneer Larry Kent who I know will give it to me straight. “Congratulations,” he says to me when he emerges from my living room. “You’ve made a tough, courageous, and absolutely uncompromising film.”

“Great,” I think to myself, “that’s exactly what I wanted to make.” “And,” he goes on to say, “nobody’s gonna touch it with a ten foot pole.”

August 12 I awoke today to the glorious news that Larry Kent was wrong.

Canadian Images programmer Terry McEvoy has invited Crime to screen at the Vancouver International Film Festival in late September. This has all been a deeply humbling experience and I am flooded with joy and relief. I know this tiny film faces an uncertain future in a world where digital technology has unleashed a massive wave of innovative and talented young filmmakers into an already over-crowded marketplace. But I know that, for at least two nights in my beloved home city, these characters that have meant so much to me for so long, and the dedicated and courageous work of the artists who have brought them to life, will have their moment. And for that, I am truly grateful.

Epilogue I’m working out the details of a trip to Adelaide, Australia to show the film either on campus at Flinders University or at the Mercury Theatre which is an art-house rep cinema downtown. Some folks who teach in the film program at Flinders saw the film at VIFF and are really interested in the filmmaking research angle of the project. This trip, which would include me making some formal presentations to their film production students, would be the first step towards developing an international collaboration between Flinders and UBC, hopefully culminating in the production of a feature film made by faculty and students from our two institutions. Rob and I are considering the possibility of trying to set up a tour of university film departments across Canada. We are also in the very early stages of having a sales agent Rob works with trying to negotiate a TV sale for us. We’re waiting to hear from a few more festivals before we kick that process into high gear. ■ ment as the Chair; Mary Anne Waterhouse, Anagram Pictures, as Vice Chair: Jayme Pfahl, Crescent Entertainment, as Secretary; and Karyn Edwards, Brightlight Pictures as Treasurer. “Over the years members of the eight-person Branch Council have included a who’s who of a producing community that has come a long way in 20 years,” says Scott.

Bromley says that there are several advantages to having a local branch. “The value to local producers of having an organization right here in BC that can meet face to face with all the players involved in the industry, about the issues and opportunities in this fast changing environment, can’t be underestimated.

These valuable relationships very much ensure our ability to create and market our best product to the world. And now with the Heritage Minister (James Moore) here in BC, the opportunity for open dialogue is even greater.” ■ REEL WEST MARCH/APRIL 2009

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LEGAL BRIEFS

DAVE can help filmmakers find animation success As any producer will tell you, provincial and federal tax credits play a key role in financing most Canadian productions. Many financiers will lend money against a production’s anticipated tax credits. These tax credits, which are calculated based on the production’s labour costs, can be up to 25% of the labour spend for federal credits and 35% for provincial credits. With the introduction of the DAVE credit, producers in British Columbia got the chance to significantly increase their tax credits.

The “DAVE” (or Digital Animation or Visual Effects) tax credit provides refundable tax credits of up to an additional 15% on any accredited qualified BC labour expenditures directly attributable to digital animation or visual effects. In order to qualify for the DAVE credit, a production must first qualify for either the basic Film and Television tax credit or the Production Services tax credit. Once the production has qualified for such tax credits, then it can also potentially qualify for the DAVE tax credit. Activities that can qualify for the DAVE tax credit include designing, modeling, rendering, lighting in animation, painting animations, animating, compositing and visual effects photography. Visual effects photography includes green screen photography, element photography, plate photography, and digital scanning, just to name a few. Audio effects, in-camera effects, credit rolls, animation created solely for promotional materials, and subtitles do not qualify for the DAVE tax credit.

In addition to the prerequisite that a production must first qualify for either the Film and Television tax credit or the Production Services tax credit, in order to be eligible for the DAVE tax credit, a production must meet two further requirements.

First, a production has to pass the “Primarily Digital” test. In order to pass this test, each effect must be created primarily (i.e. more than 50%) with digital technology.

In order to determine whether more than 50% of the effect was cre-

ated with digital technology, a producer can either use the “cost method”, whereby you divide the labour expenditure for digital work by the total labour expenditure (mechanical and digital) of creating the effect, the “hour method”, whereby you divide the hours spent on digital work by the total work hours (mechanical and digital) spent on the effect, or the “other method”, which is determined by looking at the total effort expended to create the effect, but which must be reasonable and substantiated. The labour does not have to have been expended in British Columbia to qualify for the tax credit.

Secondly, a production has to pass the “Directly Attributable” hurdle.

This requires that all of the labour expenditures included in a production’s DAVE calculation must be directly attributable to DAVE activities. This means that the wages of each individual who contributes to DAVE activities can only be claimed in direct proportion to the amount of time they spent doing DAVE activities. More specifically, to include the full salary of an individual in calculating for DAVE credits, that individual must have spent 100% of their time on DAVE activities.

For example, a computer animator would qualify as 100% labour directly attributable to DAVE. However, if an individual spends only part of their time on DAVE activities, the producer must determine the percentage of time that individual spends on DAVE activities and allocate that percentage of their salary to the DAVE calculation.

Watching Zack cont. from page 19

in all the best ways. Everyone who makes a movie says ‘I am doing it for this reason.’ But I am very clear about it. I am trying to get it right for the fans.” ■

R-rated movie. It is a weird movie, actually. That’s just the way it is and I hope people come to it and discover it because it is a strange film REEL WEST MARCH/APRIL 2009

Pro Performance Salre o l Renta

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FINAL EDIT Brightlight Wins VFCC Award Brightlight Pictures’ Fifty Dead Men Walking won the Best British Columbia Film at the recent Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards. The film stars Jim Sturgess as a young Belfast man hired by the British Police to spy on the IRA. The film was directed by Kari Scogland and produced by Peter La Terriere, Skogland and Brightlight’s Shawn Williamson and Stephen Hegyes.

The other nominees in the category were Infinity Features’ Stone of Destiny, directed by Charles Martin Smith and produced by Andrew Boswell and Rob Merilees and Edison and Leo, which was directed by Neil Burns and produced by Dean English, Karen Powell and David

Valleau. Infinity Features’ William Vince, who produced several British Columbia films, was an executive producer of both Stone and Edison, and won an Oscar nomination for Capote, won the Achievement Award for Contribution to the British Columbia Film Industry posthumously. Vince died of cancer in June of 2008. The award was accepted by Rob Merilees.

The Quebec film C’est pas moi, je le jure! won three awards at the ceremony. The movie, which tells the story of a boy who causes problems for his neighbours and family members when his mother moves to Greece, won awards for Best Canadian Film, Best Director of a Canadian Film (Philippe Falardeau), and Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film (Suzanne Clément). Natar Ungalaaq won the

VOTED BEST BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM AT THE VFCC AWARDS, FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING

Best Actor in a Canadian Film award for The Necessities of Life; Marianne Fortier won the Best Actress in a Canadian Film award for Maman est chez le coiffeur, and Randy Quaid won the Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film award for Real Time.

Sean Penn won the Best Actor award for Milk, which also won the Best Film prize, while Kate Winslet won the VFCC award for Best Actress for her performances in the films Revolutionary Road and The Reader. Rosemarie DeWitt was named Best Supporting Actress for Rachel at the Wedding, while the late Heath Ledger won the Best Supporting Actor award for The Dark Knight and David Fincher won the Best Director award for The Curious Case of Benjamin But-

ton. The Germany/Turkey/Italy coproduction The Edge of Heaven won the Best Foreign Language Film award.

West Strong at Genies Western Canadian films made their strongest showing in years when nominations for the 2008 Genie Awards were announced in February.

Movies from the west accounted for 15 nominations including two for best picture. .

Alberta’s Passchendaele led the way with six nominations while British Columbia’s Normal and Manitoba’s The Stone Angel won four nominations each. My Winnipeg won a best documentary nod.

Both Passchendaele and Normal won nominations for best picture.

Passchendaele also won nominations for art direction (Carol Spier and Janice Blackie-Goodine), costumes (Wendy Partridge), overall sound (Lou Solakofski, Garrell Clark and Steve Foster) sound editing (Jane Tattersall, Kevin Banks, Barry Gilmore, Andy Malcolm and Dave Rose) and actor in a lead role (Paul Gross.)

Normal’s other nominations were for directing (Bessai), best supporting actor (Callum Keith Rennie) and screenplay (Travis McDonald.

The Stone Angel won nominations for art direction (Rob Gray), cinematography (Bobby Bukowski), score (John McCarthy), and leading actress (Ellen Burstyn.)

The Quebec film Necessities of Life led all films with eight nominations including best picture. In addition to Passchendaele and Normal, other nominees for best picture included Amal and Everything is Fine. The 2009 Genies will be held in Ottawa on April 4.

Announcements and Appointments Robert Hurst, President of CTV News and Current Affairs, has announced that Paul Workman has been appointed CTV’s Washington Bureau Chief. Workman leaves his most recent post as CTV’s South Asia Bureau Chief to replace Tom Clark, who was recently appointed the new host of CTV Newsnet’s political program On the Hill… Maple Pictures recently announced the hiring of industry veteran Susan Smythe-Bishop and said she will work closely with Maple Pictures’ Angie Burns. The two executives will share the title of VP, Publicity and Promotions. Smythe-Bishop had previously been the VP Publicity and Promotions for Alliance Films…The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters (CAFDE) has appointed Patrice Theroux, president of Filmed Entertainment at Entertainment One, to the post of Chairman. Theroux replaces outgoing CAFDE Chairman Victor Loewy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Films…Sheila Nevins will receive the Hot Docs Festival “Doc Mogul Award” at this year’s festival, which runs from April 30 to May 10. Nevins is the president of HBO Documentary Films.

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The Kodak Totem Award Designed to emulate the artistic combination of the art and science of cinematography, the Kodak Totem Award is presented annually to each of the Genie nominees in the 'Achievement in Cinematography' category.

This award symbolizes the ongoing dedication and commitment to excellence that the nominees bring to their craft.

Kodak is a proud sponsor of the Genie Awards.

Congratulations to the 29th annual Genie Award nominees for Achievement in Cinematography.

Gregory Middleton csc

Sara Mishara

Pierre Gill csc

Bobby Bukowski

Nicolas Bolduc

Fugitive Pieces

Everything is Fine Tout est Parfait

The American Trap Le piège amÊricain

The Stone Angel

Le Banquet