Why is my friend and mentor Michael Donovan smiling whilst grasping his little man? For good reason. His company (ed. and yours. Full disclosure, the author owns 1000 shares of DHX/Halifax Film/Decode etc. etc. mega-monopoly), has been signing deals here there and everywhere including Spain! They've partnered up with a Spanish production company to produce "Poppets Town" which is apparently a 2D animated series for children and not a show about a drug inhalers in a gay spa!
It's been sold around the world and assuming it's being made with Nova Scotia taxpayer dollars through the Film Tax Credit I guess we're all going to be part-owners. (Ed. sorry, those tax credits are just producer money.) Oh, right. Well at least it will make for a healthy bottom line which is what the entertainment industry is all about.
DHX/Halifax Film/Decode (Ed. Just type DHX before you snap your wrists) also bought a chain of fitness centres for kids called Bulldog Interactive. Imagine with me, a scaled down NuBody's where toddlers and up, enjoy a good workout of their lats and pecs and whathaveyous on the stairmaster or that crazy bicycle where you peddle and peddle but don't go anywhere! Little Jimmy chatting up little Janie as they complain that you just can't get workout togs in sizes 6 to 8 that don't have a cartoon character on them. Except of course for Lunar Jim, Poco which just happen to be on all the flat screened TV's in an endless loop! Why the gym shoppes (ed. oh, with a "pe", classy.) will be forced to carry all the toys and gadgets and clothes and zit creams with our shows logos on them. As a shareholder, this makes me moist. A captive audience with disposible income to spare. I'm assuming that their parents take them here to see and be seen rather than have the tykes get all dirty in their backyards like we had to do.
DHX (ed. thanks) also secured a deal with The Family Channel to produce a season of "The Latest Buzz", (ed. also not a show about the latest pharmachuticals). It's a show about teens who mock authority and rock their world while putting together a student newspaper. This is nothing like Radio Free Roscoe which a show about teens who mock authority and rock their world while putting together a student radio station. Radio - newspaper. Different, see.
In other DHX news (ed. Do you ever write about anything else?), they are producing or have produced a spelling bee show for kid's. Now some may say this was a fad that's come and gone (ed. yeah like two heartwarming movies, a documentary and already a bunch of reality shows like it!), but I like to think of it as a "re-magining, kinda like Battlestar Gallactica. (ed. If they were up against spelling cyborgs, that would be interesting.) But anyway it was done at the local CBC, so it didn't cost us anything. And it used up studio space, resources, crew that would just have gone to make some other pilot for a non-conglomorate producer. In fact it seems to be a right of passage that springtime brings another DHX pilot that will never see the light of day; "Rhymes With Canuck", (ed. another 're-magining of an improv show, years after "Whose Line"), "The Thing About" and others that are good practice.
Interesting to note that Cheryl Hasson, the COO of Halifax Film, was the one quoted in today's paper announcing the spelling show. There's been little of her in the public eye since she joined DHX. Her last job was head of development for CBC Kids where she green-lit such excellent shows as Poco, Lunar Jim and Bo on the Go. Now co-incidentily she's the COO of DHX who produce Poco, Lunar Jim and Bo on the Go.
But its'not all about DHX this week, though it should be. A German-Canadian co-production called Sea-Wolf is starting to shoot in May in Electropolois (Ed. watch out for the rats!)and another series called "G-Spot" will soon start shooting in Dartmouth. (Ed. I've been looking in the wrong place! The G-Spot's in Datmouth? Who'd a thunk it?) Both are being produced by Big Motion Picture company who also produced Trudeau. But The G-Spot's not a new show, it was a series on Showtime or Bravo and I believe it was produced by someone else. Curious.
Watched Sophie last night on CBC and it realy wasn't my cup of tea. Though I did read that it won a Peabody Award which I guess is good. I just had no idea that dog gave out awards. I wonder if his boy, Sherman was at the awards.
And the Air Farce was cancelled. Can't say I'm surprised, I think it's audience has been dying off over the last few years.
I guess that's it for now.
