March - April 2014 : Reel West Magazine

2013 western magazine awards finalist MARCH / APRIL 2014

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Evangeline

Karen Lam’s terrifying revenge thriller

Battle cats

Ai rw al

l On set: When Calls the Heart

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G Re re vo en lu Sc tio re ni en zi Bu ng si the ne ss

The Mountie RIDES AGAIN

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PERFORMANCE CAPTURE

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Contents

14 BRINGING BACK THE MOUNTIE

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The new Langley-shot TV series When Calls the Heart is set in a frontier mining town and promises a new take on the iconic Mountie figure.

5 bits and bytes

18 AIRWALL RAISES THE BAR Grips David McIntosh, Mike Branham, Steve Smith and Michael Kirilenko revolutionize the green screen business with inflatables.

20 GENRE GIRL Karen Lam was told women don’t direct genre pictures. She proves them wrong with the revenge thriller Evangeline.

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Production Update indie scene

9 Legal BrIEFS 12 Beginnings 30 FINAL EDIT

24 BATTLE CATS HEADS INTO THE RING In a diary on the making of the zany competiton/comedy series Battle Cats, René Brar of Vancouver’s Soshefeigh Media recounts the trials and tribulations of producing a series starring house cats.

@reelwestmag Cover/contents: Erin Krakow and Daniel Lissing star in When Calls the Heart; © 2013 Crown Media, USA / Eike Schroter 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. Executive publisher: Sandy P. Flanagan. Editor: Cheryl Binning. Publisher: Ron Harvey. Sales: Randy Holmes, Adam Caddell creative Director: Andrew von Rosen. art director: Lindsey Ataya. Photo Editor: Phillip Chin. Contributors: Nathan Caddell, Katja De Bock, John thomson.

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 2013 Reel West Productions Inc. Second Class Mail. Registration No. 0584002. ISSN 0831-5388. G.S.T. # R104445218. Reel West Productions Inc. Suite 114 – 42 Fawcett Road, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, V3K 6X9. Phone (604) 553-1335 Toll Free: 1-888-291-7335 Fax: (604) 451-7305 Email: info@reelwest.com URL: reelwest.com. Volume 29, Issue 2. Printed In Canada. To subscribe call 1-888-291-7335 or visit our website at reelwest.com.

Reel West welcomes feedback from our readers, via email at editorial@reelwest.com. All correspondence must include your name, address, and Phone number.

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Production update

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

The Killing, starring JOEL KINNAMAN and Mireille Enos returns to Vancouver to film a fourth and final season.

Photo by Frank Ockenfels

Local Comedy Goes to Camera

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ancouver producers Kevin Eastwood and Dylan Collingwood are shooting the comedy Preggoland March 17 through to mid-April. The movie, written by

Sonja Bennett, is about a 35 yearold woman who fakes being pregnant to fit in with her friends. Jacob Tierney directs a cast that includes Bennett (Donovan’s Echo, Cole), James Caan, Danny Trejo, Laura

Harris (Defying Gravity, Dead Like Me), Paul Campbell (Spun Out) and Jared Keeso (19-2). The DOP is Steve Cosens, production designer is Caitlin Byrnes, production manager is Aaron Au, production coor-

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dinator is Derek Lowe, and the locations manager is Mark Gamache.

Brendon Woollard is editing the picture.

On the TV front, The Killing has returned to Vancouver for a fourth and final season on Netflix. Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman reprise their roles as Det. Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder, but this season the plot centres around an all-boys military academy outside of Seattle.

New cast members include Joan Allen as head of the academy. Veena Sud is exec producer, Craig Forrest is producer, DOP is Greg Middleton, production manager is Chris Foss, production coordinator is Michelle MacInnes, and locations manager is Kent Sponagle. The six episode series shoots late February through to May. A strong slate of new American pilots have landed in the city, including a new zombie series for The CW. iZombie, in production March 20 to April 8, is based upon a DC Comics title about a med student turned zombie who takes a job in a

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coroner’s office to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat to maintain her humanity. But there’s a catch – she takes on the corpse’s memories. While working at the morgue, the med student also helps out solving homicide cases. The exec producers are Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, who also directs, Diane Ruggiero-Wright (Veronica Mars), Danielle Stokdyk, and Dan Etheridge. The producer is Jae Marchant, the production designer is Matthew Budgeon, the production manager is Scott Graham, the production coordinator is Shalia Edl, locations manager is Sheri Mayervich and the SPFX coordinator is Wayne Szybunka.

Another superhero could be coming to the small screen. The CW pilot for The Flash features Grant Gustin in an origin story about Barry Allen, aka The Flash, a Central City assistant police forensics investigator who arrives in Starling to look into a series of unexplained robberies that may have a connection to a tragedy in his past.

Cast also includes Candice Patton, Rick Cosnett, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, and Tom Cavanagh. The Flash is co-created by Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg who, along with Geoff Johns, wrote the pilot episode. The shoot runs from beginning to end of March with producer JP Finn, and director David Nutter. The production manager is Carol Milne, the locations manager is Kirk Adamson, and the production coordinator is Almaz Tadege.

ABC has several new pilots shooting in Vancouver, including Sea of Fire, based on a Dutch format and starring Jack Davenport (Smash) and Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) in a drama about the fallout from three teenage girls starring in a pornographic film, which tears their families apart and leads to a disappearance, a murder and host of other secrets boiling under the surface in a small town. The pilot is directed by Allison Liddi-Brown, exec produced by Jenna Bans, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, and Laurie Zaks and line produced

by Tim Iacofano. The production designer is Maria Caso, production manager is Erin Smith, production coordinator is Jill McQueen, and locations manager is Deborah Reel West MARCH / APRIL 2014

Bose. The shoot ends March 20.

The one hour ABC pilot Exposed shoots March 17 to 27. The crime thriller is written by Charles Randolph (Love and Other Drugs), and adapted from the best-selling novels

by Liza Marklund that were previously made into a Scandinavian TV series. Exposed centers on an investigative journalist who will stop at nothing to uncover the truth including making questionable alliances.

Patty Jenkins directs with Christina Toy and John Lenic as production managers, and Kandis Armstrong as production coordinator.

The ABC medical pilot Warriors is in production March 12 to March 25. The one-hour drama centers on the doctors and nurses at a national military medical center who treat returning soldiers. The cast includes Steve Kazee, Morena Baccarin, Courtney B. Vance and Eloise Mumford. The executive producers are Chris Keyser, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Laurie Zaks. The director is Martin Campbell, the production manager is Colleen Mitchell, the location manager is Kendrie Upton, and production coordinators are Susan Crawford and Cathy Fullerton.

The TNT pilot Agent X, shot Feb. 20 to March 11. The action drama stars Sharon Stone as America’s first female Vice President and Jeff Hepner as her secret weapon Agent X. Peter O’Fallon directed a script by William Blake Herron.

The producers were Hilton Smith and Suzann Ellis, the production manager was Patti Ellen, the locations manager was Bill Burns and the production coordinator was Judith Swan.

The MOW Veiled Threats, based on the book by Deborah Donnelly, shot throughout February. It follows a wedding planner who takes on the nuptuals of one of Seattle’s most prominent families and finds herself in the middle of an extortion, kidnapping and murder. The MOW was directed by Ron Oliver and exec produced by Tom Berry and Meyer Shwarzstein. The producer was Gilles Laplante, the DOP was Neil Cervin, the production designer was Bob Bottieri, the production manager was Michele Futerman, the production coordinator was Emmy Wu, and the locations manager was Costa Vassos. n

Bits and Bytes

Gener8 Opens VFX House and Signs Deal with Rainmaker Vancouver’s Gener8, a media technology company specializing in 3D stereo conversion services, is expanding into visual effects with the launch of subsidiary company The Feder8tion.

The VFX division will specialize in composite, set extension and environment work.

The Feder8tion plans to hire up to 30 new employees by the end of the summer.

Jennifer Meislohn will head the new division as managing director, where she will be responsible for identifying, managing and delivering VFX post-production film work to build on the success of Gener8’s existing business.

Meislohn is the former VP of Visual Effects at 20th Century Fox where she oversaw major films such as Life of Pi, Chronicle and Titanic 3D. “I’ve seen firsthand the impact that Gener8 has had on Hollywood’s 3D conversion industry,” said Meislohn. “From a groundbreaking process and technology to a growing list of major studio clients and films, Gener8 is fast becoming recognized as a key player for unbeatable quality and service. I’m very excited to get The Feder8tion up and running and help expand the business in a broader direction.”

Rory Armes, Founder and CEO of Gener8 added: “We are delighted to add Jennifer to our growing team. Her financial and operational expertise will help us build on our success in Hollywood, and open up doors to new and lucrative opportunities.”

In other Gener8 news, the company has signed a multi-picture 3D conversion deal with Rainmaker Entertainment. Under the terms, Gener8 will convert three animated films, including the upcoming Sly Cooper 3D movie.

“We’ve been impressed with Gener8’s quick rise to becoming a leader in 3D conversion since our first project together,” said Michael Hefferon, President and Executive Producer at Rainmaker. “Our partnership on these new films will reinforce Rainmaker’s ability to develop and deliver theatrical feature films to compete with the majors for worldwide release.”

Armes points out that “this collaboration between two Vancouver-based companies is also a testament to the depth of talent and industry experience located right here in this city.”

Gener8, which currently has close to 200 staff, is also in the midset of expanding its operations and hiring additional staff. The company also recently acquired a 48% stake in Reelhouse Media Ltd, a Vancouver start-up with a direct-to-consumer film distribution platform.

Founded in November 2012, Reelhouse is an online video community that provides both independent filmmakers and larger movie studios complete control to distribute films directly to their viewers. The toolset includes various monetization, customization and social tools to help filmmakers build their fan base.

“We have been supported by Rory and the Gener8 team since day one,” said Bill Mainguy, co-founder and CEO of Reelhouse. “Our partnership will continue to be a cornerstone in helping us build out our platform to support additional online movie formats, increase the speed in which we evolve and test ground-breaking ideas, and roll out our premium revenue models.”

“Reelhouse burst on to the scene and unraveled a complex digital distribution problem for the film industry,” said Armes. “ Like other technologies developed within Gener8, Reelhouse has quickly emerged as a leader in their space.” n

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Canada Signs Co-Pro Deal with India

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Kyle Fogden

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The Government of Canada has signed an Audiovisual Coproduction Agreement with the Republic of India, a county with an entertainment industry that is expected to grow to $25 billion by the end of the year.

“This signals tremendous new business opportunities for producers in both India and Canada,” says Michael Hennessy, President and CEO of the Canadian Media Production Association, in response to the news. “And it is the partnerships that will flow from this deal that will allow Canadian tele-

vision, film and digital media producers to substantially expand their reach, thrive in the global economy and contribute to creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity here at home.”

Once ratified by Canada and India, the Agreement will allow producers to combine their creative, distribution, technical and financial resources to create productions.

During the last ten years Canada has undertaken nearly 720 coproductions, with combined production budgets of almost $5 billion.

Falcor the Ferret and JACOB TREMBLAY star in The Magic Ferret Tony Lee Photography

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The Magic Ferret, a short film directed and produced by Vancouver’s Alison Parker has won best short film at the Canadian International Film Festival and is an official selection at the TIFF KIDS International Film Festival in April.

The 12-minute short stars Fred Ewanuick (Corner Gas, Dan For Mayor), Beverley Elliott (Once Upon a Time), Lisa Durupt (Less Than Kind) and Jacob Tremblay (Smurfs 2, Somnia). It’s the story of six-year-old Sam and his pet ferret Booger work together to put on a life-changing magic show.

Legal Briefs

Paul Tiller and his crew in Cold Water Cowboys Photo c/o bell media

Adventures in Copyright Infringement Kyle Fogden Entertainment Lawyer

A Cold Water Cowboys Rides High Wave

Paperny Entertainment’s documentary series Cold Water Cowboys premiered in February on Discovery Channel, attracting 569,000 viewers, making it the third-highest series premiere in the network’s history.

The 10-part series is set in Newfoundland and follows fishermen through an intense season on the water.

They venture hundreds of kilometres offshore in the North Atlantic, facing swells as high as houses and icebergs the size of small cities to catch crab, shrimp, turbot, herring, and mackerel.

With 1.4 million unique viewers overall, the first episode attracted 237,000 A18-49 viewers and 260,000 A25-54 viewers.

In February, Paperny also premiered a second season of its hit History series Yukon Gold. It follows gold mining crews in the Yukon as they face a mire of challenges in their search for a big payday.

NFB Names New Pacific Executive Producer Shirley Vercruysse is the new Executive Producer of the National Film Board of Canada’s Pacific and Yukon Centre, based in Vancouver.

Vercruysse previously worked in independent production, serving as a partner in Burns Films, with writer-director Gary Burns, where she produced such acclaimed works as waydowntown and the NFB coproduction Radiant City.

“Shirley Vercruysse joins the NFB at a time when we are engaged in reinventing how we work and create, as part of a bold new Reel West MARCH / APRIL 2014

strategic plan that calls for the NFB to connect more profoundly with Canadians and their communities, to create works of social impact that help to put Canada at the forefront of global media innovation,” said Ravida Din, Director General, English Program, National Film Board of Canada. “With her strengths in independent film production and grassroots cultural events, Shirley will be a great addition to our team and this effort as Executive Producer of NFB Pacific and Yukon Centre.”

t the end of 2013 the Supreme Court of Canada released its unanimous decision in Cinar Corporation v. Robinson, a case which is notable for the statements of the Court on copyright law issues that are particularly relevant to television and film producers and creators. Notwithstanding the name of the decision, it is a ruling on an action initiated by Claude Robinson against Cinar and its production partners. In the 1980’s Mr. Robinson created an idea for a children’s television series entitled The Adventures of Robinson Curiosity, which was inspired by Mr. Robinson’s own experiences and the original Robinson Crusoe novel from 1719. The materials that were created, pitched, and registered for copyright by Mr. Robinson consisted of “detailed sketches and storyboards, [written] scripts and synopses, and … promotional materials”. One of the production companies that Mr. Robinson pitched was Cinar.

Ultimately, Mr. Robinson’s Curiosity series was not picked up by any broadcasters, so Mr. Robinson put it on the backburner. Then, in the mid1990’s, Mr. Robinson happened to see the first episode of the children’s television show entitled Robinson Sucroë. In Mr. Robinson’s opinion, the Sucroë series was a blatant copy of his own series, in that Sucroë’s protagonist, setting and other characters closely mirrored those of Curiosity. When Mr. Robinson learned that Sucroë was produced by Cinar (with a number of co-producers) and another producer to whom he had pitched Curiosity, he commenced a copyright infringement claim against the producers.

Cinar and its co-defendants argued that there were substantial differences between Robinson’s Curiosity materials and the Sucroë series, including Sucroë’s animal ‘sidekicks’ (not human sidekicks as in Curiosity) and pirate “villains” who did not exist

in Curiosity. Cinar also argued that, to the extent there were any similarities between Sucroë and Curiosity, they were elements not subject to protection under copyright laws because they were either generic or from the Robinson Crusoe novel and therefore in the public domain.

After a lengthy trial, the Quebec Superior Court found in favour of Mr. Robinson in 2009, and awarded him a judgment of more than $5 million in lost profits, psychological suffering, punitive damages and legal costs. Cinar and its co-defendants appealed and in 2011 the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the Superior Court decision, but substantially reduced the awards of lost profits and punitive damages. Both parties appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, and Mr. Robinson was largely successful, achieving damages in an amount closer to the original Superior Court award.

The following is a brief summary of the holdings that represent the most important precedents to producers and creators: Scripts are not the only development materials that can benefit from copyright protection. According to the Court, “(t)he development of a group of characters that have specific personality traits and whose interactions hinge on those personalities can require an exercise of skill and judgment sufficient to satisfy the Copyright Act’s originality criterion”.

A finding of infringement is not dependent on a literal copying of the words contained in the original materials – the Copyright Act “protects authors against both literal and nonliteral copying, so long as the copied material forms a substantial part of the infringed work”.

The Court will conduct a qualitative analysis when making a determination on whether substantial copying (and therefore infringement) has occurred. Little weight will be given to generic or public domain elements of the works being examined; instead, it will look primarily at the similarities and differences in those elements of the works which are not Legal Briefs continued on page 28

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Bell Media Opens Development Offices in Vancouver and Winnipeg Bell Media has opened development offices in Vancouver and Winnipeg, and hired Michele McMahon and Brandice Vivier as Development Managers in Vancouver and Winnipeg respectively.

Both will report to Susan Makela, Director, Independent Production, Canadian Programming Management, Bell Media.

“These appointments reiterate Bell Media’s commitment to Canada’s creative and vibrant independent production community,” said Corrie Coe, Senior Vice-President, Independent Production.

Based at CTV Vancouver, the West Coast office will serve the

production communities in B.C. and the Territories, while the office based at CTV Winnipeg will be the point of contact for producers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. McMahon and Vivier will act as creative executives on projects in development and production and lead community engagement and outreach initiatives.

Prior to joining CTV, McMahon spent 10 years with Omnifilm Entertainment, the last five as Director of Drama Development where she developed Primeval: New World for Space and Arctic Air for CBC. Vivier was most recently Senior Manager at the National Screen Institute (NSI).

Spooksville launches on Super Channel

Spooksville, a new horror series from Vancouver’s Front Street Pictures, premieres April 3 on Super Channel.

Shot over four months on Vancouver Island (May through August 2013), the family-friendly series follows Adam, the new kid in town who discovers that he holds the key to a battle between good and evil that has been taking place for centuries in the place he now calls home.

Spooksville is based on the popular book series by Christopher Pike and stars Keean Johnson (Billy Elliot, Broadway), Katie Douglas (Defiance) and Nick Purcha (R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: The Series).

The series is exec produced by Harvey Kahn (R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour)and Jane Startz (Tuck Everlasting, Ella Enchanted) and adapted for TV by James Krieg (Scooby-Do, Batman, Spider-Man). The series has already premiered on The Hub Network in the U.S. Reel West MARCH / APRIL 2014

Indie Scene

Crazy8s Send-off Paul Armstrong Producer

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nd that’s a wrap on Crazy8s 2014 – at least as far as the production and the Gala screening goes. But the work isn’t over. Now it’s about getting the six films made in just eight days out into the world.

I am in the first year as Executive Director of Crazy8s, which is celebrating its 15th year. Partly as a result of increased film activity again in BC, Crazy8s had a very successful year, with a record number of entries – 154; a record number of attendees at the Gala screening March 1 at The Centre in Vancouver - over 1500; and an increase in the number of sponsors.

Past Crazy8s films have had great success on the festival circuit. Man Feel Pain by Dylan Akio Smith for example won Best Short at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Many of the films have also been picked up by broadcasters, most recently the 2013 films Under the Bridge of Fear by Mackenzie Gray and In the Deep directed by Nimisha Mukerji which will be broadcast on CBC this spring. The 2014 filmmakers are hopeful their films will have an impact outside Crazy8s as well.

Director Matthew Kowalchuk confidently says “because Bedbugs: A Musical Love Story is a musical, and family friendly… and with puppets, our audience is broad and crosses a lot of demographics.” Greg Crompton, director of Dial Y for Yesterday, agrees that “you have to dream big!”.

Michelle Kee, director of Mattress, plans to submit “to the big festivals and choose others based on interest and countries we want to visit.

If we manage to get distribution and screen at a lot of festivals, then super bonus points!”.

“I’m hoping to get into some top tiered festivals and keep making the network connections I’ve been finding during this Crazy8s process,” says Ryan Atimoyoo, director of Sacrifice.

“Of course, distribution would be

great too.”

Tony Mirza who directed Earthlickers also plans to get his film into as many festivals as possible. “I believe ours is a fun little movie and will round out any festival program.”

Body Language director Maéva Thibeault says ideally her film “will win awards in many film festivals and will help me to launch my career and provide me the opportunity to make other professional shorts and perhaps a feature.”

Helping launch careers is a primary mandate of Crazy8s, even for those who have already directed a feature, such as Kowalchuk who recently directed Lawrence & Holloman, now on the festival circuit. “ “Making Bedbugs has pushed me as a director and allowed me to stretch my own comfort zone quite a bit,” says Kowalchuk. “Who knows, maybe I can pitch myself as director of the next Muppet movie!”

“Earthlickers is a first calling card that I will use as evidence that I can actually pull off a short in eight days,” says Mirza. “ I would love to use the film as a way to direct some more short form projects like commercials and PSAs and eventually features.”

Cromton hopes Dial Y for Yesterday will help get more people interested in working with him to fund his projects. For Thibeault, one of Crazy8s youngest directors ever at 21, “Body Language is now my biggest experience as a filmmaker so I think that it will boost my career because it will show the world that I have the talent and creativity to make amazing films.”

Kee says that the amount of exposure they have received from Crazy8s has already been amazing.

“I learned so much about directing and writing through this process,” says Kee. “I’m hoping this film is going to help me make the next one!”

“It’s already helped by having screened at the Gala and having so many industry professionals offer support for future projects,” adds Atimoyoo. “I’m planning to use this as support material for future grants to support future projects.”

Aspiring and semi-experienced, filmmakers will get an opportunity

Indie Scene continued on page 28 9

Calgary Film Studio Gets Green Light

APTN’s sci-fi animated kids series Guardians Evolution has been picked up for a second season.

The half-hour stop motion series depicts the adventures of a group of idealistic teens as they strive to rebuild civilization 41 million years in the future. The series is a fresh take on the post-apocalyptic genre, with themes of humanism and environmentalism.

A Guardians Evolution companion game and web site has also been launched and is available for free on the iTunes App store.

The series is created by Dennis and Melanie Jackson, the award winning creators of the Wapos Bay TV series.

Guardian Evolution is produced by Anand Ramayya, (Wapos Bay, Who Killed Gandhi?), principal of Karma Film Inc., and Doug Cuthand (Bionic Bannock Boys, Oskayak Down Under) of Blue Hill Productions.

Digital Media producers Torin Stefanson and Teri Armitage led the development of the web site and video game, working with Ontario game studio Phantom Compass.

Production Management Mentorship Announced WIFTV and William F. White’s annual Production Manager Mentorship has been awarded to Magali Gillon-Krizaj.

Gillon-Krizaj is an up and coming creative Producer/Manager who has over 12 years experience in the film and television industry, including work on the features 50 Shades of Grey and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

The mentorship is designed for 10

independent producers interested in increasing their knowledge of Production Management including equipment requirements and rentals as well as budgeting and resource planning for both low and high budget shows. It includes up to five days at William F. White’s under the supervision of Ed Brando, Manager of Client Services, as well as up to five 1/2 day sessions with a professional Production Manager.

Alberta – Alberta’s film, television and digital media industry was responsible for over $400 million in economic activity over the last five years.”

The studio will feature two purposebuilt sound stages (20,000sq ft and 30,000 sq ft); and 18,000 sq ft of warehouse space with an additional 10,000 – 15,000 sq ft for workshop / production, props, sets, wardrobes, etc.

CED is partnering with ComWeb Group/William F. White International, and working with Lawson Projects and Pacifica Ventures in the development of the studio. William F. White will be the anchor tenant and act as the sound stage operator.

Photo by Pink Monkey Studios

More Guardians Evolution

Calgary Economic Development (CED) was selected through an open competition process to receive $5 million in Alberta government funding to develop the city’s first permanent sound stage.

The studio is projected to open in the summer of 2015 and will cost about $22.8 million.

“We’re confident in the new business model developed by Calgary Economic Development and believe it has what it needs to be successful in attracting and retaining film productions,” said Alberta Minister of Culture Heather Klimchuk in a statement. “This move forward is good for the industry and good for

Nicole Oliver Honoured

The UBCP/ACTRA Women’s Committee celebrated International Women’s Day by honouring Nicole Oliver for her outstanding contribution to the union, the industry, and causes of social justice.

Oliver has worked for over twenty years in the entertainment industry as an actor, producer, and director.

Her credits include voice work on Littlest Pet Shop and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the TV movie Christmas Ornament.

“We are thrilled to recognize the work Nicole has done,” said UBCP/ACTRA’s Women’s Committee Chair Jo Bates. “She is such a great example of a woman balancing a career and family while still finding the time to contribute so much to the Union.”

The Union of British Columbia Performers (UBCP/ ACTRA) is an autonomous branch of ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists.

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Photo by Phil CHin

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Beginnings

Dressing the Set Jim Erickson is an award-winning set decorator who has worked on some of Hollywood’s biggest epics, from Seven Years in Tibet and The Last of the Mohicans, to Independence Day and and Ali. The Salt Spring Island-based artist has won an Oscar for his work on Lincoln and was also nominated for an Academy Award for his work on There Will Be Blood.

I

grew up in a small farming town in Northern Minnesota, population of 237. It was the post war 50’s and while the rest of the world was booming, we prided ourselves by staying the same and conservative.

My grandfather used to say he couldn’t think of any reason to leave the county and he never did until grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer and he would drive eight hours down to Minneapolis for her treatments. We were 13 miles from the Manitoba border and were visited by so many Canadians the local restaurant had vinegar ready to put on the table for the French fries.

How odd we thought. I tried it once and really liked it. We lived on the edge of the town where the tar road ended and the gravel began. Summers were spent helping Dad and both sets of grandparents on their small subsistent farms, stony black gumbo that would suck your boots off in the spring and dry so hard shovels would glance off as if it had turned to stone. It was the swampy borderland between the beautiful rocky and piney Canadian Shield and the flat rich loam of the Red River Valley.

It wasn’t a bad life but there wasn’t much to stimulate the imagination.

The school and the church were the centers of the community life. We sang in choirs, played in bands, participated in Christmas programmes, memorized bible passages, played in whatever sports the school could afford or find enough kids to get a team together. Expectations weren’t high. I felt a little cheated and wanted to get away.

There were a couple of events that set me on the life and career I was to eventually pursue. In grade nine I volunteered to organize the design of the homecoming float for our class. It was a glorious pile of pastel coloured napkins stuffed into chicken wire and real moss gathered from the swamp. It was brilliant. I got the idea from hearing about the Rose Bowl Parade and the thousands of flowers used on their floats. We won the football game that year I am sure as a result of the beauty of ‘my’ float. It gave me the reputation of being “artistic” and license to be the odd child in the village.

In grade eleven I was to head the decoration committee of the JuniorSenior prom, the biggest social event of the community calendar. As head of the committee I was handed a catalogue of materials one could order and ideas on themes for the prom. I broke into a sweat. I had never seen so many different types of crepe paper and the thousands of ways it could be used. To this day I still have a fondness for crepe paper but they don’t make it like they used to.

Anyway, fast forward, I graduated with honors from high school and as was

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the custom in our family, got a new suit and a suitcase. I got the hint and left our small town for college. I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I tried different majors like art, music and never felt comfortable. I finally found the theatre department and found a home. I got rid of my Northern Minnesota accent and found a niche for myself in which I was comfortable and productive.

Through different circumstances and acquaintances, in 1972 I found myself at the Banff School of Fine Arts and spent the most glorious ten weeks of my life so far, totally immersed in what I loved best. There I met some of the most interesting and talented people who encouraged me and enlightened me to the effects of total commitment and hard work.

At the end of the summer I decided to go back to university for a degree of some sort and ended up in Portland, Oregon. It didn’t work out. I was so poor I would pick up windfall apples and walnuts on my way to school and that would be my lunch. I managed to scrape together $20 for a bus ride up to visit my friend Anne Cameron in Nanaimo for Christmas break. I think I was clinically depressed and expressed my anxieties to Anne and she said, “stay here — everyone else is.” There were a lot of American draft dodgers hanging around.

I had some things to resolve in Portland so on my way back I stopped at the Canadian Consulate in Seattle and applied for immigration to Canada. On the application form one was asked their profession and I told the gentleman I was an actor. “Oh”, he says, “don’t put that down most actors are out of work.

What else have you done?” I had some experience as a short order cook at a ski resort in Idaho. “That’s better. You can always get a job cooking”. So, on my emigration form for occupation it says, “short order cook.”

In April 1974 I immigrated to Canada, found work in the lumber mill in Nanaimo, drove truck and after a couple of years ended up in Vancouver.

The CBC was busy and I managed to get some part time work there as a props-master. Here I met Jim Chow and Doug Higgins who were to play an important role in my career. Late summer 1979, Jim called. I was working on a CBC series up the coast having a great time. He asked if I wanted to be his prop assistant on a feature film, Mr. Patman. I said sure then went off to help. The next year he called me from Lethbridge, Alberta and asked If would decorate a film Doug was designing. Of course I went along with it and that was the beginning of my career as a set decorator. As the industry grew so did I. Soon American designers asked me to work with them in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Because of my dual citizenship it made working down

Beginnings continued on page 28 13

© 2013 Crown Media United States / Eike Schroter

Cover Feature

Re-imagining the Mountie

Period drama When Calls The Heart promises to show heroic RCMP in a new light Story by

O

Nathan Caddell

n the outskirts of Langley, B.C., you will find a frontier mining town complete with the dashing red serge uniforms and regal horses of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This is home to the new Super Channel / Hallmark period piece When Calls the Heart.

Based on a series of best-selling novels of the same name by Canadian Jeannette Oke, the period drama centres around two characters, a young teacher 14

Elizabeth Thatcher (played by Erin Krakow), and Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer Jack Thornton (Daniel Lissing). Elizabeth has been uprooted from her high society life, and is dealing with the challenges of the harsh climate, restless students and a new way of life in the Western Frontier.

The series began shooting in Langley last September and wrapped end of February. This lot has seen numerous films and television shows come and go since it first housed a production in 2006 for Scary Movie 4. Appearing more like a museum than a film set, the entire village is set up so that you won’t see any one-sided camera angles or sound stages in any of the multiple houses and buildings that make up the town.

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“It’s fully operational, you can go into any of these buildings and walk around,” said set designer Brentan Harron. “It was very hard to set up but it’s so worth it. It makes the town much easier for us to work in.”

For When Calls the Heart, the set involved turning a church into a mercantile and revamping a parking lot to resemble a working mine. The mine, complete with train tracks, fake rocks that run 20-feet high and chopped rubber playing as gravel (“It’s so much easier on the feet, it’s a dream for the crew”), is such a rarity that other productions and companies are inquiring.

“The word has gotten out that we’ve got a mine and we’ve just had so many people ask about it, because it’s so hard to build from scratch,” says Harron.

The inaugural season just wrapped on February 21st but Harron has big set dec plans if they get picked up again.

“If there is a second, the town will just keep growing.”

The series premieres in Canada on Super Channel on April 16th but half the season has already aired in the US on Hallmark where it has averaged more than a million viewers per episode.

Krakow, a Philadelphia native who starred on ABC’s Army Wives, made her first trip to Canada for the show and admits it was a bit odd making the transition from 2014 to 1910.

“Every now and then I’ll take out my phone and check my email between takes or something and the kids will be like ‘We don’t have iPhones in 1910, Ms. Thatcher!’ And it’s true, we have so many luxuries these days, it’s been interesting traveling back in time and being reminded of how easy we have it,” says Krakow.

The actress, who now calls Los Angeles home after stints in New York and Florida, admits to doing some research on the era but mostly put her trust in the character on the page and the crew around her.

“I did a lot of reading before we started to try and get into the time period, but as far as acclimating to the world, no I think it’s more about what I’ve created as a character and then the wardrobe and the set and the props, all of that really helps support that,” says Krakow. “I don’t have

(Top to bottom) The widowed wives enter the mine; Chelah Horsdal as Cat Montgomery, Lori Loughlin as Abigail Stanton and Erin Krakow as Elizabeth Thatcher; On set in Langley, B.C. © 2013 Crown Media United States / Eike Schroter

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to work so hard because I have so many amazing, talented people in the crew who are helping to support that cause and we’re all sort of creating 1910 together.”

The series was launched with a television movie that aired last year but it has little in common with the series.

“The film is actually really different from the series because when it finally did get greenlit to go to series, they did a major overhaul,” says Lori Loughlin, who plays Abigail Stanton in both installments. “They recast the two main characters, and changed it dramatically, so I would say that except for the name and my character making the transition, those are really the only similarities between the two.”

Loughlin, a Hollywood vet who’s best known for starring as Rebecca on TV’s Full House, was drawn to the project in part because of the way the show depicts women.

“I think Abigail is a really strong woman, I think she’s a fighter, I think she’s not afraid,” states Loughlin. “What I really like about all the women in Coal Valley is they come together and they support each other. And even though when we find the women, they’ve just been through a terrible tragedy, they’ve lost their husbands in a mining accident, but that’s just the jumpingoff point. It’s really a story about triumph, and women and people coming together and human condition, fighting for love and happiness and moving on and moving forward through the tragedy.”

Telling stories through the eyes of women is something that Loughlin takes very seriously.

“I always think it’s important to show strong female characters and empower women in that way,” she says. “Even when I was a child, I remember my mother saying to me ‘Make sure you are self-sufficient, make sure you can rely on yourself and take care of yourself.’ And I think that’s an important message to both males and females, you have to learn to support yourself.”

When Calls the Heart doesn’t follow the trend of edgy period dramas along the lines established by Mad Men . This series opts instead to go the

(Top to bottom) ERIN KRAKOW as Elizabeth Thatcher; ERIN KRAKOW with DANIEL LISSING as Jack Thorton; LORI LOUGHLIN as Abigail Stanton. © 2013 Crown Media United States / Eike Schroter

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family-friendly route.

“Everyone seems to try to out-edge people in the genre, and this show is sort of going the other way,” says executive producer Michael Shepard. “It’s about finding your purpose in life.”

Adds Krakow: “It’s a show you can watch with anyone, family, friends, anything. It’s just a good time for the entire family.”

Although there are a number of foreigners starring on the show, When Calls the Heart remains a very Canadian production, with numerous Canuck actors, writers, directors and crew working on the show. This is, after all, a story centred on a Mountie. The transplanted Americans involved are appreciative of their working home, even on a muddy day in Langley as the smell of horse refuge flows through the air.

“I love it out here; it’s so picturesque and beautiful. I think it’s perfect for the story that we’re telling,” says Loughlin.

Soap opera veteran Jack Wagner, who plays investigator Bill Avery has had tons of experience working and playing with Canadians and while it doesn’t seem like anything in the business could surprise him, he’s clearly impressed by the Langley set.

“I’ve worked in Vancouver for a lot of years and I love it here,” he says.

“They built this whole town for the show and it really feels like an older western town.”

While the Mountie in Canadian pop culture has been indelibly defined by Due South’s perennially polite Constable Benton Fraser (Paul Gross), Krakow, who had never seen a reallife Mountie before, promises that the show will depict the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a way that even Canadians won’t have seen before, thanks to her costar Lissing’s performance.

“I knew of the Mountie as being this very strong, brave, iconic figure but Daniel has really brought the Mountie to life in a way that feels very real, very human, still very brave and adventurous but he does it in a way that’s so accessible,” says Krakow. “ I think viewers are going to be able to build on their idea of what a Mountie is, based on Daniel’s performance, because it is very layered.” n

(Top to bottom) LORI LOUGHLIN as Abigail Stanton leads a group of widowed wives; MARTIN CUMMINS as Henry Gowan; ANDREW W. WALKER as Billy Hamilton with ERIN KRAKOW. © 2013 Crown Media United States / Eike Schroter

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Feature Story

Airwall Raises the Bar A made-in-BC inflatable revolutionizes the green screen business

Story and photos by

John Thomson

“W

e built them out of pure laziness,” laughs Dave McIntosh about his invention, an air-supported green screen called Airwall.

Airwall is a system of inflatable sections that can be arranged to form walls up to 1,000 feet wide by 50 feet tall. Drape them in greens, blacks or blues and you have an instant VFX backdrop. It’s a cheaper and faster alternative to the conventional system of draping fabric over metal frames.

McIntosh jokes about the driving force behind his creation. Lazy? Maybe.

But there’s another reason he turned to inflatables. Frustration.

Airwall actually grew out of an earlier design that had nothing to do with 18

green screens. His original concern was with overhead diffusers. As a key rigging grip with over ten years experience in features, McIntosh was getting frustrated and just a tad nervous about handling overheads in high winds.

“One of our biggest concerns is trying to deal with Mother Nature,” he says. “It gets really dangerous with all the crane work we do.”

Bunched up close together, overheads become almost impossible to control when the wind picks up.

“We actually have to go up and cut the material off and then remove them.

We can’t fly again until the winds die,” he says. “So the first start was to do overhead diffusion.”

The game plan was to build a one-piece unit with the frame married to the fabric, light enough to be transportable but strong enough to withstand buffeting.

“We built some prototypes and they worked extremely well. They’re so strong. It’s amazing how stiff they are.”

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So far, so good. And then in 2009 while working on Watchmen an unbraced VFX wall fell over.

“We’ve got to figure out another way here,” McIntosh said to himself. “What are we doing? All we’re doing is putting up a fabric. Do we need metal? Do we need any of that stuff?”

Would his inflatable overhead idea work with walls?

“The opportunity came up and I said ‘I’m pretty sure these things will work.’”

His grip buddies Mike Branham, Steve Smith and Michael Kirilenko joined him in building a prototype.

They created a company, Aircover Inflatables. They worked on the weekends and in between gigs. They tried doing it with scale models to keep costs down but as McIntosh says, air doesn’t scale well and they were forced to go full-size. Disheartening? Sure. But as McIntosh points out the depression didn’t last long.

“There’s always moments like that but all it does is sit for a month or two and it [the enthusiasm] starts to come back.”

Three years later, the prototype was patented. Airwall was ready.

Then Godzilla came to town.

“Mike (Kirilenko) and I went up to Seamus (DP Seamus McGarvey) and said ‘would you be interested in trying something new?’ and he said ‘Let’s have a look.’ And then we went down to talk to Jim Rygiel, the VFX producer on the show and they jumped on it. ‘Can you do a test?’

‘Yeah, yeah’ so we went down to the Watchmen backlot and set up a few.

Those two guys absolutely loved it and after that there wasn’t any question. It wasn’t much of a sell.”

McIntosh remembers the first day Airwall arrived on set.

“People didn’t know what to think

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at all. What the heck is this? I’ve never seen so many people eating burritos looking up. It was like standing around a giant campfire. Everybody was standing around eating their breakfast, looking and touching stuff.”

“I have to admit I was skeptical at first,” says Visual Effects Supervisor Jim Rygiel. “A blow up green screen?

Never. But after setting up almost 600 feet wide by 34 feet high I am now sold. The ease with which we were able to blow it up and take it down was incredible.”

It was really windy and the production wanted to change from green to black really quickly.

“So we deflated the wall and everybody ran over and tied on the black and put it up in 12 minutes,” says McIntosh.

Airwall figures prominently in Godzilla. Watch the aircraft carrier scene. The carrier’s bridge is real; everything else is computergenerated. And the Golden Gate bridge? It isn’t a bridge at all but an Airwall 400 feet long.

The company makes its product in its North Vancouver shop out of heavy duty vinyl stitched together by industrial sail-making sewing machines. As with his Airwall invention, McIntosh had to break new ground trying to figure out how to do it.

“I basically built train tracks for the sewing machines so they could travel,” he says nonchalantly. “We just put the material in and the machines travel back and forth.”

The team tried to outsource the job but nobody could do it. So the company perfected the manufacturing process themselves. “Better control,” says McIntosh.

They can make the sections in any

size the customer wants but 20 x 24 works well for sets. The walls can withstand winds of up to 70 kilometres an hour and have actually been used as wind blocks.

Green screen needs a tight, seamless surface. How do they get the screen wrinkle-free?

“We do them so tight and sealed up. The only air leakage is through the stitching and so it tales very few fans to keep them up”, says McIntosh.

Airwall uses portable carpet fans to keep the structure airborne and although they have their own generators, the crew usually taps into movie power.

“Then we tie what we call an inflation tube,” he says. “It goes along the whole top edge of the screen.

We inflate that tube at the top and it pushes everything out. It ends up looking like a drum.”

Noise isn’t a problem because the fans are on the other side of an eightfoot thick vinyl wall.

“On Godzilla we did our sound tests and I had the sound guy drive out with the sound van. On the back of the wall you can hear stuff but on the filming side it’s quiet, quiet.”

Airwall is a third to two-thirds cheaper than using conventional walls because they don’t require scaffolding, go up faster and don’t require as many people to install.

The company presently has about 1,000 feet of inventory in stock. It intends to expand into other North American production centres, and eventually Europe, by partnering with industry locals. In the meantime, Aircover Inflatables unveiled its latest creation, a mobile version in a 53 foot refrigerator truck, on the Big Eyes set last February.

“We just take a reefer trailer,” says McIntosh. “one of the big 53’s, and

we rip the roof off and put all our inflatable stuff inside. So you just back this thing up and pipes slide out of the sides all the way to the ground, push a couple of buttons and within an hour you have a large blue or green screen.”

McIntosh says Airwalls can also be used as inflatable billboards for advertising. It’s a market he intends to pursue but admits movie work takes up most of his time.

And he hasn’t forgotten about his original design which spurred Airwall in the first place, inflatable overheads. The company has perfected the original design and offers overheads as rain or sun covers in two sizes, 40 x 40 or 40 x 60 feet.

There are four principals in the company, McIntosh and his three grip buddies, and they do everything themselves, sales, manufacturing and assembly. McIntosh says they’ll hire a sales agent soon. Orders are piling up and the company is poised on the brink of a major breakthrough.

“I think it’s quite clever,” says producer Jim Rowe who’s seen Airwall grew from a glimmer in McIntosh’s eye to where it is today. Rowe provided McIntosh with the industrial space to build his prototype.

“Now that it’s built, it’s a viable thing,” he says. I’m trying to get one for our next production.”

It’s an idea whose time has come, says Godzilla DP Seamus McGarvy.

“I was so impressed when I first saw the designs,” he says. “I know they’ll become the industry standard.”

A simple idea borne of insight and persistence.

“I don’t know why nobody’s done it before,” says McIntosh, a bit pleased but overwhelmed with Airwall’s success. “It just makes life so much easier.” n

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Photo by David Feuillatre

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FEature Story

Genre Girl

Karen Lam’s Evangeline puts a female lens on a revenge fantasy tale Story by

Katja De Bock

W

hether or not you are a horror fan, Karen Lam’s sophomore film, the revenge thriller Evangeline, is a jaw-dropping experience. So much so, that the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival (VIWIFF) opened their March 6th to 9th festival with the B.C premiere of the film.

“This decision marks a first for WIFTV — never in our festival’s history have we opened with a thriller, but Lam’s careful craft and stunning vision blew us away,” says festival committee chair Amanda Burke. “In a genre traditionally dominated by male directors, we are particularly pleased to support Karen’s work and recognize its significant contribution to the industry.”

Evangeline is also heading to the Pifan/NAFF festival in Korea and will debut Super Channel in the fall.

According to Lam, who produced feature films, shorts and television series before taking the leap to directing, there is an unspoken hesitation in the entertainment industry to allot what are usually bigger budgeted productions to women.

“When I was a producer, I never saw the gender issues. It was not until I started writing and directing I slammed up against that brick wall and I didn’t even know the wall was there,” she says.

“I hear that women don’t direct CGI [computer-generated imagery], they don’t do action, they don’t do genre and don’t do these commercial ventures.

And yet, what I am saying is that, yes, we do! In fact, this is all I do,” says Lam, who put her private equity on the line to finance Evangeline, a low budget indie production.

The film was shot over 18 days in February of 2013, during the hiatus of pilot season, with a small team in different Vancouver locations, including University of British Columbia, Capilano University campus grounds, and Terminal City Studio. The budget included Canadian and BC tax credits and a license for an exclusive window by Super Channel.

The supernatural revenge fantasy deals with freshman Evangeline (Kat de Lieva), who goes missing after hanging out with an enigmatic, violent fraternity leader (Richard Harmon) and his pals. Beaten and left for dead in the woods, Evangeline finds herself trapped in a supernatural nightmare, and starts a violent quest to avenge her perpetrators.

In spite of a brutal storyline and mesmerizing visual effects, the film is not mere entertainment for the bloodthirsty. It asks the question whether it is better to turn the other cheek or risk losing one’s soul to hatred, and what is true justice?

An avid newspaper reader, the concept came to Lam after she read about B.C.’s Highway of Tears and the Robert Pickton and Joran van der Sloot murder cases.

She felt angry reading about all those women who fell between the cracks.

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“I am a genre girl. Ultimately, it gets fulminated into a revenge story,” says Lam, who watched Kung Fu movies and revenge films as a child.

Growing up in Manitoba, Lam was the oldest daughter in a Chinese-Canadian family with a professor dad and tiger mom, always forcing her to study with iron discipline. As a way of relaxation, the family gathered in front of the television with a pile of Asian action movies on VHS. “Watching the films was probably a time for bonding with my dad. I was the oldest and he always treated me a bit like a boy,” says Lam. “If I covered my eyes from a scary part, he’d stop, rewind and say, ‘You missed the good bit.’ I think I learned to appreciate a good decapitation!”

After studying English literature at Brandon University and law at UBC, Lam worked for years as a legal council at BC Film, followed by one year as a business advisor at Price Waterhouse Coopers, before branching off into successfully producing films and TV series such as The Unprofessionals, The Bone Snatcher and Eighteen.

“No matter what I did, I wanted to be passionate about it. I really loved film finance and producing,” she says.

Fast-forward half a decade and Lam was up for yet another adventure.

“Honestly, I never thought I’d be a screenwriter or a director. I love film and television – and I love working in the industry,” Lam says. “My dream was to be Sherry Lansing or Lynda Obst.”

Lam wrote her first short script, The Cabinet, as an example of the kind of film she wanted to produce.

“If the script wasn’t chosen for the NSI Drama Prize and if Norm Bolen, who was vice-president of Alliance at the time, hadn’t told me I had the chops to pursue directing, I don’t think I would have gone down this path. If I had known how hard it would be, I’m not sure I would have had the courage,” she says.

Luckily, Lam had the steady support of her family and producer Karen Wong, who produced Lam’s first short, The Cabinet, and most recently Evangeline.

“Karen [Wong] and I have worked together for 12 years – she started as my production accountant on my first television series, and she has become a producer in her own right,” says Lam. “I see us as Kirk and Spock,” adds Lamb of their relationship. “I can be a bit of a Kirk. I truly need someone who deals with the details. Karen Wong keeps me wonderfully balanced. She asks the tough questions, and comes up with contingency plans.”

Another partner of many years is DOP Michael Balfry, who shot Evangeline.

“Working with Michael Balfry feels effortless because we have such a similar aesthetic sensibility,” Lam says. “I know him so well that I can just lean out from behind the monitor, give him a look, and he knows exactly what needs to get done. It’s like telepathy, and I know it’s so rare to have that sort of creative connection.”

21

This close relationship proved crucial on the Evangeline set.

“80 per cent of the shoot took place out on location at night in rain and wind, so it was fantastic to have the director and DP work quickly, harmoniously and decisively,” says Wong. “It really kept the momentum of the shooting day going and we were done our days in 12 hours or under.”

Before the shoot of Evangeline, Lam and Balfry had long talks about how to visualize the story. Lam made a look book, an elaborated album assembled from photos taken from all over the Internet, conveying colour, tone and mood.

“I never shot list, my scripts tend to be very visual,” says Lam. “I made the look book in order to give all the creative people and potential financiers an idea of how the film should feel.”

It’s not surprising that a film about a missing woman contains a rape scene, which is unpleasant to watch and to shoot. But Lam did not want to shy away from it.

“A rape scene is a tough thing to do as a woman director. If you hold back too much, people will say you don’t have the guts to show that rape scene,” explains Lam. “But if you exploit her again and you do exactly as a male has already done, what’s the point?”

To solve this problem, she focused on the female perspective of the rape.

“It’s the victim’s perspective of these guys. People talk about the male gaze – often the perspective of the predator,” Lam says. “You’re scared for her, but you’re not in her perspective, you’re stalking her, which is a big premise for horror. But what if you reverse it?”

In order to show the victim’s horror and confusion during the assault and rape scenes, Balfry used a Lensbaby, a system that allows the lens to be bent, squeezed, tilted or rotated while shooting. The resulting scenes have a slightly wide angle of view and a circular sweet spot of focus that falls off into blur around the edges.

Kat de Lieva’s transition from a victim to a revenge angel takes place in a cellar-like purgatory room, where a spirit creature possesses her.

These scenes are is done with re-

Kat de Lieva (top and botton) as Evangeline with Karen Lam directing (center) PhotoS by David Feuillatre

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markable SFX, considering the low budget.

The practical effects on set were done by local FX house Brant FX. “They are incredibly experienced and collaborative, and they have an incredible workshop of FX delights, so it meant that could work with our nonexistent budget and create magic from nothing,” says Lam. The CGI/VFX were done by Dreamcatcher in Sofia, Bulgaria.

“The company did all my effects on the short film Doll Parts, so we were used to working together already,” says Lamb. “In some odd way, the Eastern European sensibility is closer to what my sensibilities are.”

“Brant FX as the set SFX and Dreamcatcher as the post VFX team were definitely talented and creative,” agrees Wong. “Dreamcatcher actually had a fire in their office, during which they lost all their computers and servers before delivering to us, so they actually had to re-create the effects! They worked very hard for the film.”

Evangeline was edited by Jeanne Slater and finished at Side Street Post with colourist Gary Shaw, who co-

“I know him so well that I can just lean out from behind the monitor, give him a look, and he knows exactly what needs to get done.

It’s like telepathy, and I know it’s so rare to have that sort of creative connection.”

- Karen Lam on working with Michael Balfry

lour corrected all of Lam’s films.

Though the mainstream media refers to her as a horror director, Lam says she sees herself as a fantasy thriller director.

“It’s funny, because in genreland, Evangeline is actually not as brutal,” she says. “In terms of a general audience, it’s still quite graphic, but for

a genre audience, it fits into thriller category.”

Lam gets her inspiration from masters such as Park Chan-wook, the Coen Brothers and David Lynch, and admires directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Roman Polanski and Stanley Kubrick because of their diverse oeuvres.

But genre is her passion.

“I make genre films because I watch genre films. I’m a genre fan, first and foremost,” she explains. “I do watch more than genre, but if I have a choice between genre and a straight-up drama, I’ll almost always pick the genre film. If there’s a dragon, I’m in.” n

János Molnár Photography A motion-picture photography company

janosmolnar.com

604.339.4083 • info@janosmolnar.com

Behind the scenes • Set Stills • Location Photography • Portraits

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Diary Feature

Battle Cats Heads into the Ring

Battle Cats is a new comedy series coming to Bite TV in the Fall of 2014, produced by Vancouver’s Force Four Entertainment and Soshefeigh Media. In the following diary Soshefeigh partner René Brar describes the process of pitching and producing this oneof-a-kind series showcasing the nation’s greatest ‘cathletes’ and their quirky owners who test their mettle on extreme challenges from the ‘Hammer Paw’ to the ‘Catapult.’

Diary by

René Brar Late November 2012: Matt O’Brien and I decide to launch a new production company, Soshefeigh Media. We haven’t worked together since doing The Mole on ABC and that was probably the last time work was truly fun. We figure – this is TV, shouldn’t it be more fun? So we come up with a company 24

name, some business cards, a few show ideas and hit the road…

We arrive in Los Angeles with our first wave of pitches, including Battle Cats. “People f***ng love cats…” That’s how we open the pitch before describing the insane world we want to create on the screen. Everyone agrees the show is hilarious… although nobody actually buys it.

But we’ve been around the block, so we know that you have to work the circuit to get a sale. (Within the next 12 months we will end up taking 16 more pitch trips to LA, Toronto, NY, London, Dublin, Mumbai and Singapore!)

Reel West MARCH / APRIL 2014

December 2012: Back in Vancouver now and we share the treatment and some sample characters with Robert Hardy who’s running development at Force Four Entertainment. The man is a cat lover and he gets comedy. Looks like we’re going to be in business with Force Four!

They option the series. Rob later tells us that Battle Cats has become his “go to” pitch when a meeting is going south. People laugh. But still, no one buys it.

April 2013: Our first trip to Toronto where we meet Marcia Martin at Bite TV. She’s looking for new comedy concepts and we pull out the trusty onesheet for Battle Cats.

By now, we’re used to executives who “love” the idea but don’t make a move. Marcia is different. She REALLY loves the idea. But she still needs to think about it…

June 2013: Our company’s first trip to the Banff World Media Festival. We decide to begin the week with a party in the backwoods with a few friends from LA. We hike 30km in and let loose for three nights before the festival begins. Eventually, we stumble off the mountain exhausted, but excited to circle back with Marcia from Bite TV. She still loves the show. But she’s still thinking about it…

September 2013: Marcia sets up a conference call for us and Force Four. Good news, we got the green light! All things considered, five months from pitch to green light doesn’t seem so bad.

October 2013: We’re in Cannes for our first MIPCOM. Feels good to have the green light under our belt.

Whenever a meeting is going south, we just show folks the sizzle reel for Battle Cats and it always makes them laugh. The power of cats cannot be underestimated.

November 2013: Matt and I are sitting in an Irish pub in Mumbai. Just had a great meeting with the folks over at Fremantle India – they’re bullish on some of our formats but couldn’t care less about cats. Interesting. I guess some territories don’t “f***ing love cats.”

We head back to the hotel and check our email. The folks at Force Four have begun their casting blitz

(Top to bottom) The jib spooks Theo during the “Catnip Smash”; Abby is cautious on the obstacle course; Romeo on the “Hammer Paw”.

(Next page) Abby poses for her ID shot.

Photos by Bobo Zhao

Reel West MARCH / APRIL 2014

25

“We have feather lures, plastic toys, relaxing phermones, dried fish treats and catnip spray.

We’re fully prepared for anything except fear itself...” back in Vancouver. It’s weird to watch the local “six o’clock” news doing a segment on your show from around the world. But it’s cool.

The Twittersphere is also starting to light up. A lot of people are buzzing about the show, and everyone wants to know how they can sign up. And a handful want to report us to the “moral police.” Which is also cool.

December 2013: I’m finally back at home and situated in the Force Four production office. We have hundreds of cats submitted for the show with countless home videos of cats leaping, running and generally causing mayhem in their homes.

Emboldened by the submissions, we set out to design an extreme obstacle course to take advantage of their natural athletic ability. We sit down with Kevin Gubbe at Eclipse Production + Design to lay out the vision: intricate mazes, mirrored hallways and glow-in-the-dark mice. Kevin nails the design – but the only question is, would a cat actually do this?

Fortunately, our set builder, Steven, is also a lifelong devotee of cats and has a keen insight into their 26

minds. We send him the drawings and ask for his thoughts.

He invites us over to his place which he has transformed into a makeshift prototyping lab. He’s got laundry hampers and bookshelves and cardboard boxes arranged in mad configurations to simulate our course. Apparently, he’s been watching his own kitten interact with the course for days before arriving at his Zen conclusion: he holds up a single finger and utters, “Cats can only handle one thing at a time.”

Turns out cat are EASILY distracted and Steven is very clear that if we want the cats to perform, they must only have one stimulus, one path, or one toy at a time. Anything more and they’ll simply shut down.

It’s sobering advice and it means going back to the drawing board.

Over the holidays, principle photography begins with home visits and interviews with the leading cast.

I’m meeting everyone from professional cat breeders to cheerleaders, all of whom want their cats on TV and have agreed to play along with our storylines.

Frankly, this is the easy part of the production. With humans, you can give them a storyline, a character to play, and a direction. But when time comes to get cats in action, it’s anybody’s guess what will happen.

That’s what’s keeps me up at night.

December 25, 2013: Got a lot of cat gifts this year. Awesome… But that’s not my only good news. In its first year, Soshefeigh has sold two shows straight to series along with a number of formats in development, including a game show for MTV and a new interactive series with Fremantle and Morgan Spurlock. After Battle Cats is completed, Soshefeigh is heading to Dublin to produce an original game show called The Algorithm for Ireland’s TV3.

January 2014: Principle photography on Battle Cats continues with the “expert segments.” We’re filming with cat artists, cat chiropractors, cat psychics, and even funeral directors for pets. No matter what we conjure up on the page, there’s an expert out there who wants to be part of the story.

Meanwhile, Kevin has been working hard to redesign simplified ob-

stacles and Steven has begun construction. We were hoping to have a few obstacles ready for callbacks but it’s not going to happen.

For three days, over 60 cats (and their owners) come through our space for callbacks. We have feather lures, plastic toys, relaxing phermones, dried fish treats and catnip spray. We’re fully prepared for anything except fear itself.

As it turns out, fear is our biggest obstacle…

Day 1 goes really well at first. Right out of the gates we have cats bursting into the studio, sprinting left and right, doing parkour against the cyc walls. It’s pretty amazing to watch and a big relief to see that cats will perform for an audience of strangers.

But then one nervous cat – and its pushy owner – comes into the studio and ruins it for everyone…

Turns out, when cats are on edge they emit a “fear spray” to alert all other cats that there’s danger lurking.

For the rest of the day, damn near every cat picks up the scent, refuses to play, and hides in the corner.

How the hell is a producer supposed to guard against “fear spray?”

When it comes time to shoot, a single nervous cat can literally topple our entire production.

To quote Bad Boys 2, “Shit just got real.”

February 2014: By the time studio week rolls around, our thinking has evolved: “Everything in service of the cat.” That’s our new motto and it means several things to the crew.

First there’s the corral. The cat and owner must play each game within a 5 foot tall enclosure. It keeps the cat focused and also keeps it from running away. (Although I can tell you now, Bengals can easily jump over.)

It’s great for the cats but tough for the crew who must stand back several dozen feet from the action.

It’s hard to boom and shoot from a distance.

We’re also learning that cats do not trust jibs. Every time the jib cam inches forward or spins, the cats freeze up and stare down the barrel of the lens, waiting for it to make the next move. What’s up with that?!

Well, our cat expert spells it out, “Mr. Biggles literally believes that camera is an eagle and it’s gonna swoop down and take him away.” So we have to instruct our operator to only move the jib if the cat’s looking Reel West MARCH / APRIL 2014

the other way. Not ideal.

Other than that, we’re adopting new rules all the time. Cats cannot be rushed. Crew can only wear softsoled shoes and speak in hushed tones. And the doors must always remain closed no matter how hot it gets or how desparately we need clean air.

Over the course of the week, we’re also tweaking the obstacles. Certain things are working, others are not.

We learn that our high jump station isn’t working because the cats don’t have a backboard to bounce off. So after wrapping the shoot late one night, we race to the Home Depot to search for the one kind of translucent plastic that the cat expert and DP can agree on. With only five mintues before closing we find the sheets we need and drive right back to the studio. Of course, there was no time to grab the production van so we have to brace the plastic on the roof of my car… with our bare hands… on a bitterly cold night.

On day three we create a new game. Why struggle getting cats to jump up, when you can place them on a pedestal and guarantee they’ll jump down? And thus, the “long jump” is introduced into the Battle Cats competition.

Basically, we rejig some of the existing props to create a raised platform for the cat. Eventually, they all jump down and when they do, we have a Red Epic rolling at 300 fps to capture their leap and graceful flight.

It’s a guaranteed beauty shot and it looks killer in slow-mo.

By now, we’ve got our rhythm and the crew is becoming a well oiled machine. The cats are performing well and we haven’t elicited any “fear spray” from the contestants. Best of all, my allergies have remained in check all week!

Meanwhile, watching the action on the monitor, you can’t help but improv colour commentary along the way. It’s turning into a great way to pre-script the voiceover for the series.

During the last few days, we’ve really loosened up the actors who play the referee and his faithful assistant. New scenes are literally being created out of chaos and the actors are up to the task.

A cat gets loose in the studio? It’s written into a scene. An owner has an open wound and bleeds on her cat? It’s written into a scene. It’s been fun opening up their roles and bringBattle Cats continued on page 28 Reel West MARCH / APRIL 2014

FEature Story Zack Lipovsky on set with Shot Lister Photo by John Thomson

Director turned Inventor: Zack Lipovsky creates shot listing app Story by

John Thomson

suming. If only directors like himself, Lipovsky reckoned, could re-shuffle their shot lists in real time and on their portable handheld devices instead of constantly rejigging and photocopying paper versions, he could save time and money. He sought out

We know him as a VFX wizard turned director but local

a programmer to turn his concepts into reality and in 2012 re-

filmmaker Zach Lipovsky, whose second feature Leprechaun:

leased the tool under his company name Reel Apps.

Origins is now in worldwide release, is a software inventor too.

In addition to its regular features, the 2014 version will

Shot Lister, his shot listing application for iPhones and iPads,

instantly build a project from a Final Draft, Fountain or Celtx

has just surpassed the 10,000 copies sold mark.

screenplay import. A tap of the finger will circle the best take

Shot Lister streamlines the shooting process by keeping

and the Live Crew Sync feature allows crew members to follow

everyone instantly informed of changes in location and set-

the shoot live whether they’re on set, in the office or on the

ups. Need to make up time because of unexpected delays? A

beach in Mexico.

swipe of the finger will instantly recalculate and reorganize the shoot day in a matter of seconds.

The program sells for $13.95 and is available online from the App Store.

Lipovsky has made the app country specific, integrating little tweaks for the foreign market because “every country does things slightly differently.” Shot Lister is particularly popular in Germany.

Shot Lister is promoted via social media, word-of-mouth

Shot Lister has been embraced by filmmakers of all stripes

and tech reviews. Lipovsky keeps the app up to date by incor-

– indie feature directors, the TV series Spartacus and The

porating customer feedback – Shot Lister’s social media sites

Haunting Hour as well as corporate, industrial and educational

are more of a chat room than an advertising tool – and he su-

programmers.

pervises the changes in between directing gigs. Sometimes he

Like all great ideas, it was created to solve a problem.

“I really like to plan ahead,” says filmmaker Lipovsky who specializes in fast turnarounds. He has to be efficient. But onset revisions were dragging him down.

“I was shooting my first feature ( Tasmanian Devils for SyFy Channel) so I built an elaborate spreadsheet and printed it out

refines even during shoots.

The young director has made life easier for himself and his colleagues.

“Everyone was blown away with how well oiled our shoot was,” he says of his Leprechaun shoot in which Shot Lister was put to the test.

every day but as soon as I got to set, things needed to change.

“There was never moment when we were running around

The only thing left to do was get a pen and write all over my

with our heads cut off and we finished on schedule. The crew

carefully crafted plan.”

and the producer were very happy with the app and I was hap-

Retooling on the fly was both nerve-wracking and time con-

py I got all my shots.” n

27

Indie Scene continued from page 9

to potentially join the ranks of these six Crazy8s 2014 filmmakers and the other 79 past Crazy8s winners in Fall 2014. What tips do the directors recommend for those planning on pitching for the next round of Crazy8s?

Kowalchuk suggests to pitch an idea that you love. That you can see yourself enjoying through good and hard times; before, during, and well after the shoot.

“You have to “really, really care about your project,” says Kee. “Consider every single possibility that the film could go into. Then once the inevitable questions come during the pitch, you’re just a little less scared.”

Crompton adds to just “do it.

Make sure your pitch video is concise. Make sure your in person pitch is memorable (we wore dog masks), Legal Briefs continued from page 7

generic or public domain.

In determining the damages suffered by Mr. Robinson, the Court included lost profits from the exploitation of the Sucroë series, plus over $1 million in soundtrack profits, on the grounds that the soundtrack could only have been commercialized as a part of the Sucroë series.

Since the Cinar decision is from

and really spend time developing your script.”

Meanwhile Mirza suggests to “get as much sleep as you can now. Make your pitch as visual as you can. The old saying that a picture is worth a 1000 words really holds true. And above all have fun”.

Thibeault points out that you have to be passionate and believe in the story you want to tell.

For Atimoyoo its “story, story, story! Make sure you completely understand your story and above all, surround yourself with passionate people that love doing this work.”

All great suggestions for any short film, but especially sage advice for those planning to work within the constraints of Crazy8s.

Paul Armstrong is a film producer who also produces The Celluloid Social Club and the Crazy8s Film Event. n the highest court in Canada, producers and creators involved in infringement disputes can expect the foregoing principles to apply throughout Canada for the foreseeable future.

Kyle Fogden is an entertainment lawyer with Chandler Fogden Law Corporation. Kyle advises television and film producers on development, financing, production, distribution and intellectual property matters. n

Now online:

Reel West Digest 2013 www.reelwest.com

Conveniently viewed from your tablet or smartphone, you’re never more than one click away from the definitive index for the film, video, internet and digital production industry in Western Canada.

28

Battle Cats continued from page 27

ing more heft to their story.

All in all, we’re feeling really good on the last day. We have a quorum of dope beauty shots and we have a great mix of cat owners with a range of stories – some intense, some heartwarming, and some absurd.

With all this competition material in the can, with some compelling home visits yet to be shot, and the voice over script starting to take shape, we know post production is going to be a riot.

Beginnings continued from page 11

there easier. The more experiences I got, the more I worked.

It was a perfect fit. I loved everything about the job; the research, the search, the satisfaction of pleasing everyone. It is addictive and all consuming. No matter how difficult or obnoxious a project might be, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. The job will end with the last set.

Are there secrets to ones success?

Probably. I am not sure what they are. I think that mainly it is a strong desire to understand life, how things happen, who these characters are and why they live the way they do.

I have an innate desire to know how things work, where they come from and what happens to them. There are many demands of the script that you simply have to supply but what else surrounds life?

I am often asked which of the films I worked on are my favorites.

There are three or four that stand out: Housekeeping was the first film that actually played out the way I envisioned it. I also think it is a great story. There are so many decisions that come between what I do and what actually ends up in the film that at times it can feel like a totally different film from the one I worked on.

Others that stand out are, not surprisingly, There Will Be Blood, and of course Lincoln. What makes a project memorable for me is not so much the final product but the process we all went through to get what was needed; the work experience and crews with whom we work.

When the work experience is good and the final product is good, it’s a double whammy and that feels great.

Sometimes you remember a film

The Wrap: We’re only part way there. Still so many human stories to be shot. But the hard part, the unpredictable part is over.

We’ve been cooped up in a studio full of cats all week. It’s been hot and smelly and many of us suffered through allergies. (Come to think of it, not so different from our experience in Banff!)

But now we’re out! Finally, it’s just us humans having some beers and letting off steam. And what’s everybody talking about? Their favourite cat stories.

“People f***ing love cats.” n

because of its incredible challenge.

While working on Seven Years In Tibet some mornings I would wake up wondering how I would ever get everything done that needed to be done that day. Somehow you manage — even at 11,000 feet.

Other times a project is remembered mainly by what you have learned in the process. For me, that film is Alexander. Every detail of 3rd century BC Grecian life had to be researched, then designed and built. Luckily, we had access to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and there always was someone who could answer what ever question that arose. There was a bathing scene in the script and I was stuck on what they would have used for toweling. The Ashmolean didn’t seem to have any answers so I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and they have this wonderful textile department where you can pull out large glass incased drawers and look at ancient bits of textiles. I was going through the ancient Egyptian linens, which were dated about the time of Alexander, and there it was, a loop weave linen piece not unlike a thin terrycloth. I then had some weavers in Morocco weave something very similar. And I had another detail of life tucked away in the memory box.

I really don’t know what I would have done with my life if I hadn’t come across this career. When I tell others that in 35 years I can only remember about three mornings I didn’t want to go to work they are impressed. For most people it is three days a week. I’ve had a great career, seen more and done more In my life than I ever dreamed I would. It is not easy but if you really love it, the rewards are immeasurable. n Reel West MARCH / APRIL 2014

Twice voted Western Canada’s Trade Magazine of the Year, Reel West is the most informative magazine for the film, video and digital production industry. Each bi-monthly issue features articles for and about the people, places and events that shape our industry.

Final Edit

Maryl Reed’s film Mimi and Me received the first place Legacy Award at the 9th annual VIWIFF

VIWIFF Award Winners

T

he 9th annual Vancouver International Women in Film Festival came to a close on March 9, with the handing out of a first place Legacy Award to Maryl Reed’s Mimi and Me; a second place prize to Karen Lam’s The Meeting; and a third place Legacy Award to Shannon Kaplun’s Michelle Thrush. All three filmmakers hail from B.C. Lam’s The Meeting was also honoured with the Finalé Editworks Award for Best Short.

The IATSE Local 891 Award for Best Feature went to German filmmaker Frauke Finsterwaldker’s Finsterworld and the Image Media Farm Award for Best Documentary was given to B.C. filmmaker Lisa Jackson’s How A People Live.

Lorraine Price and Juliet Lammers’ Last Woman Standing was given the DDM Award for Best Direction and the UBCP/ACTRA Award for Best Performance went to Noor, directed by Çağla Zencirci & Guil-

laume Giovanetti.

The SIM Digital Award for Best Cinematography was handed out to Venezuelan film El Regreso (The Return), directed by Patricia Ortega.

The Pacific Backlot Award for Best Screenplay was awarded to Never Steady, Never Still by B.C.’s Kathleen Hepburn.

Reel 2 Reel unspools April 4 to 11 The Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth opens on April 4th at the Vancity Theatre with a screening of If I Had Wings, the family feature shot in Langley, B.C. by director Allan Harmon. An uplifting story about overcoming the odds, the film stars Richard Harmon, Jaren Brandt Bartlett (Arctic Air), Lorne Cardinal (Corner Gas), and Jill Hennessy (Law and Order, Crossing Jordan).

Other films screening at the festival include the Canadian premieres of Nino Jacusso’s Shana: The Wolf’s

©Bad Sparkle Media & Blake Corbet Productions

Music, an adapation of a Federica De Cesco novel shot against the backdrop of B.C.’s Lower Nicola forests; and American film We Don’t Wanna Make You Dance, a humorous and poignant documentary about the rock/funk band Miller, Miller, Miller and Sloan, directed by Lucy Kostelanetz.

Inaugural Vancouver Web Fest Announces Lineup Recognizing the rise of entertainment made for the Internet, the first edition of the May 2 to 4 Vancouver Web Fest will feature some of the best web series from around the world, including 3some from the UK, Apt 8 News from Los Angeles, Kensington from Australia, and Nerd of the Dead from Brazil.

B.C. web series screening at the festival include The Actress Diaries, Aeternus, After, Clients from Hell, Fools For Hire, Hitman 101, Lab Rats, The Last Fall of Ashes, The Runner, The True Heroines, Yoga Town and Under the Hud.

Numerous American web series will also be featured including 8.13, Atrabilious, Between Jupiter & Mars, Destroy the Alpha Gammas and Chop Socky Boom.

In addition to screenings, the festival also features panel discussions and an awards ceremony emceed by Lorio Triolo.

Web series will compete for awards in every genre from comedy and horror, to animation and nonfiction, best overall series, and actor and actress awards. The judges panel includes Walter Daroshin (Troika Pictures, Leo Awards), Paul Armstrong (Crazy 8s, Celluloid Social Club, etc.), Christine Elise McCarthy (L.A. Actress and author), and Marina Darling (actress and philanthropist).

All events and screenings will take place at the Imperial Theatre in Vancouver .

Michael Hirsh Joins CineCoup Board DHX Chairman Michael Hirst is joining the newly formed board of Vancouver-based CineCoup Media Inc., which recently shot the indie feature WolfCop through its inaugural film accelerator competition.

Hirsh cofounded children’s production companies Nelvana and Cookie Jar, and now chairs DHX Media, a worldwide leader in children’s content production, licensing and merchandising.

“Having a uniquely talented entertainment maverick like Michael on our board is going to help us as we gear up to expand into the US market and new verticals like television,” said CineCoup Media Inc. Founder and CEO, J.Joly, who is also on the newly formed board along with COO Brian Wideen.

“Michael shares our creative vision for where we want to take CineCoup and is invested in our success.” n

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Reel West MARCH / APRIL 2014