Okay, sorry it's been so long; things have been really hectic here. First my sister moved back in with her Brazilian husband and their child, then they moved out except they forgot to take the kid! She said it was just post-partum depression (ed. - Doesn't your mom still have that?) but I think she and hubby went for a mini-vacation while the child was here with me.
All alone. For two days! I have nothing against children, I just don't like them.
Anyhoo, on to the subject at hand - Nova Scotia TV and Film!
As usual, my editor is my friend Lunchmeat Harold (ed. Howdy)
So I missed the Atlantic Film Festival this year. Again. On purpose. It just seems so cliquey since, well , forever. I always went to all the events when it was in it's infancey but... I watched it on Channel Ten and it was just like I was there. All talky and out of focus. Harold scored free tickets (ed. actually very few people actually pay. In the "in" crowd) and he saw some films. Apparently The Corridor was good and well, that's all he saw. (ed. I was sleepy).
Seaside Studios in Shelburne is rising up out of the haze. The American owners who "bought" the soundstage defaulted on, well just about everything; taxes, mortgage payments, suppliers, etc. My sources for all this is from allnovascotia.com (ed Harry Steele reads it) and Frank magazine whom I adore. And the Chronicle Herald for the press release official public version of events. The place went bankrupt and the owners hightailed it back to the states (ed. missed a court date for DUI, BTW, IYDM). But now they're back! With mysterious investors and they all want to make a lot of movies and bring a lot of money here. (ed. They wouldn't be looking for a little "seed" money from our gov't to let the investors know that we're serious here?) Surely the gov't wouldn't fall for that. Again. (ed. "gosh, they're Americans. And Americans make movies! I like movies. Garfield was hilarious! Not the sequel though."
Fitz 2 with Jason Priestly is shooting in the Annapolis Valley. So there's that. I should try and watch; I'll have to bit-torrent it as I can't afford the cable anymore.
In other news, those PicnicFace kids made a movie. For the last few years they've been making their own shorts their own way. Why? I don't know. But people have found them, fallen in love and watch them endlessly on YouTube. They also continue to perform live in downtown Halifax. For like five bucks. They are so naive, they're cute. Bill Niven produced their low budget film. And apparently they're going to have their own TV series on Comedy Network. (ed. that might make the name of the network less ironic). Anyway you kids blessed with only talent, you go girl(s) ...and boys. Hope Canadian film and TV reality doesn't crush your creative hearts too soon.
In national news, "Men With Brooms". Paul Gross, can you do no wrong? (ed. Apparently, if given enough Telefilm money.) I don't know what's wrong with Canadians that they're not tuning into a show about a bunch of guys they never heard of, curling. At least one person at the CBC thought this was a good idea.
Speaking of concepts, I'm also disappointed in you people about "Score". It's a musical about hockey, people! Shouldn't that draw in people who like musicals AND people who like hockey? (ed. I think the Venn diagram wis self-evident in this one).
(ed. - She: Honey, it's a movie about hockey!
He: Sounds great! Like Slapshot. Wait a minute. Do they sing? Because that would be stupid!
She: Olivia Newton John is in it.
He: Really? WTF? Maybe if it was Grease ONJ but...Jesus...
Speaking of Men With Brooms, it didn't win a Gemini but Spellchecker did! The spelling bee show won another statuette for the DHX trophy case (ed. it's right at the top of the stairs in their office.) won a Gemini. (ed. Didn't everybody? Except Men With Brooms which isn't eligible until next year.) Seriously I think this is the best million dollars the government has spent.
Speaking of DHX (ed. Full disclosure - the writer owns 1000 shares and is unnaturally passionate about the company), the bad times are over! I know I never said their were bad times but i didn't want to be negative. But the last few years have been kind of rough at DHX. But they cut expenses (ed. Employees were cut back. Managers gave up their six figure bonuses last year), and bought stuff that makes money and it looks like your tax dollars have not been spent in vain.
Acording to Michael Donovan DHX Media has seven series on the air. One of them Animal Mechanicals is doing well in the states on the HUB network. (ed. my DVR doesn't go up to the six figures). Michael doesn't want to say what the ratings are (ed. I thought ratings didn't matter only in Canada?), no one wants to quantify quality. Anyhow, this is the first quarter in a while that has a positive net income. And I'm no financial expert but I'm pretty sure that's a good thing.
One of the bright stars in the DHX family (ed. the best family are foreigners that you buy) is Wildbrain. Although revenues at DHX are low, there's plenty of cash! (ed. you're welcome Nova Scotia taxpayers) so they bought this American company that produces this show I've never heard of. According to Wikipedia, Wildbrain has a show on Nick Jr. in the states called Yo Gabba Gabba (ed. - my uncle made that same sound when he was choking on a sausage).
Speaking of which, here's part of the show. Maybe not to my taste but I can see why it's popular with pre-schoolers and college kids.
(ed. BTW, for an extra trippy afternoon, these guys are on tour with a live show. Mr. magic Mushroom is yummy in my tummy!)
And finally, I have to make note of a sadness. Powerpost has gone bankrupt. The passing of this "post house" is sad because it means a lot of post-production audio, animation and editing work will move to Ontario. But I feel bad for the guys who ran this place, I met them a long time ago, and I know that over the years they helped a lot, I mean a LOT, of newbies in the business with heavily discounted or even free work. It seemed they had the industry good in mind and maybe that's the problem. (ed. BTW DHX is up to $1.16/share.) Anyway, good to know you and good luck!
Tuesday 12 October 2010
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