Halifax (and her Areas) Film/Tv Stuff

Not too much happening, apparently, in the tv/film biz in Halifax. Slowing down for Christmas, I suppose. If I could leave the apartment I'd take in some of the parties that'll surely be going on. Even when I lived in California and Vancouver, I was always able to come home to Halifax at this time of year and there'd be parties, pretty well every night leading up to Christmas; NSFDC, Telefilm, Collideascope (ed. hopefully they've cleaned the washroom since that last time. Or maybe they just boarded it up.), plus many private ones.

But the best was always the Salter Street parties. It was invitation only but I had a friend in the government who I would always tag along with. (ed. presumably in the money supply side.) It was always interesting to watch the room(s) seperated into cliques; the managers, the office worker bees, the honoured guests (ed. funding people?), the young, bright-eyed filmmakers who were excited to have just gotten themselves a job on a production (ed. visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads) and the other prodction workers who had been there a while. (ed. with that "soul sucked out of them" look.)

The high point was when the producers and the executive producers, were wheeled down from the executives offices just drunk enough on imported scotch and the blood of a hundred virgins, to be able to mingle amongst the riff-raff without shuddering.

Sometimes they even made eye contact.

This was before Charles "the Green Arrow" Bishop was part of the "team". At one party, I remember he and I in the kitchen joking about what a farce the film industry was with its stupid tier system and status battles. Now that I think about it, the year after that he was having me kicked to the curb by a bouncer when I tried to crash the Salter party. That was the last time I saw him.

Legend has it that after the sale of Salter Street to Alliance Atlantis, he could be heard in the Barrington Street office, scurrying through the heating ducts, playing Hot Cross Buns on his recorder, and bemoaning the fact that he gave up a lucrative film production company (ed. Who can forget The Food Show, and that Loto 649 commercial with the squirrel)

The next time I heard about him, he had been hired , then fired from Alliance Atlantis, The final indignation; he had to sit in the cheap seats at the Academy Awards while Michael Donovan shared the stage (ed. 1/4, 3/4's who is who, you decide.) with Michael Moore. (ed. Rumours persist to this day that it was Charles who was boo'ing the loudest.)

I wonder whatever happened to him? Hmmm.... I wonder...wonder....won...

Oh right.

I have to log off soon as my issue of Playback came today and I'll be snuggling up in my beanbag chair to see what THE publication of CANADIAN TV has to say about the industry this week. The cover has House from Global and some American chick from a "CTV" show.

Who says we can't produce popular programming in this country, eh?!

There's a special supplement on The Comedy Channel's 10'th Anniversary. I really should watch more of this channel representing Canadian comedy classics; from 6 year old 22 Minutes (ed. doesn't "news" start with "new"? to the latest Jon Stewart, this channell has it all!

Otherwise in good old NS, the only production related news is the "attempted" sale of a soundstage in Shelburne has been stalled again. A few years ago, the government of the province was so keen on film and tv production being the saviour of our economy (ed. anybody remember Clairtone? Heavy Water? Call Centres? sigh, oh well its only money and Pfft , only government money at that!) they decided that turning a big empty building in the middle of nowhere would draw hollywood stars like...spiders to butter? I dunno, make up your own allegory here. (ed. I think you mean metaphor.)

Whatever. Surprisingly the movers and shakers of lala land may be enticed to come to Halifax (ed. given the money) but a three hour trip to the boonies (ed. 2 and 1/2 by Hummer with a Mountie escort) was not on the plate.

So other than Virginia's Run a movie about a horse, starring ahorse ans ome other people, the government had spent another $2,75M on a big empty nothing.

So the property was turned over to a local development agency to sell. And an item in the Daily News suggests that this is not as easy as it sounds.

Steve Gilmour wanted to buy the place but says the development agency rep Frank Anderson gave him only "constant delaying tactic and mistruths". Frank Anderson said that the opposite was true. (ed. nice comeback, Potsie.)

Frankly, I never heard of either of these guys but if anybody needs a sound stage for a movie, I thing the rent is real cheap. Just don't expect the Cappocinno to be "not Tim's".