march - april 2009: reel west magazine

MARCH/APRIL 2009 $5.00

FILM, VIDEO, INTERNETAND DIGITAL PRODUCTION

IN WESTERN CANADA

FILM, VIDEO, INTERNETAND DIGITAL PRODUCTION

IN WESTERN CANADA

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

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

Western Canadatakes the lead role

in this year’sLOCATIONS ISSUE

a Q+A with

BEN STILLER

Tom Sholte getshis VFF debut

with CRIME

Western Canadatakes the lead role

in this year’sLOCATIONS ISSUE

a Q+A with

BEN STILLER

Tom Sholte getshis VFF debut

with CRIME

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:45 PM

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:45 PM

3REEL WEST MARCH/APRIL 2009

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

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4 PRODUCTION UPDATE

5 BITS AND BYTES

10 BEGINNINGS

12 BEHIND THE SCENES

14 QUESTION AND ANSWER

15 EXPERT WITNESS

29 LEGAL BRIEFS

30 FINAL EDIT

CONTENTS

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

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

26 CRIME STORYTom Scholte, who has combined acting and producing with a day job teaching film atUBC, witnessed an incident at a Granville Street restaurant and was inspired to tell astory. In his dia ry on the making of the film Crime, he looks back at that inspirationalmoment, the day he came to the conclusion that he should take a role himself and the12 days that saw him shoot 115 pages with a crew of five.

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REEL WEST MARCH/APRIL 20094

Moon Over VancouverOne of last year’s surprise hits is

already shooting a sequel. After thesuccess of Twilight, which has made$350 million worldwide, GoldenCompass director Chris Weitz wasasked to shoot a follow-up movie andchose Vancouver. The sequel, NewMoon, will be here from March 23 tolate May and stars Twilight heart-throb Robert Pattinson as a vampirein love. The film is scheduled to openon U.S. Thanksgiving, November 20,2009.

New Moon has Mark Morgan,Karen Rosenfelt and Marty Bowenas executive producers, Wyck God-frey and Greg Mooradian as pro-ducers, Bill Bannerman and KerryKoshansky as line producers. Weitz’sDOP is Javier Aguirresarobe whileDavid Brisbin is production de-signer, Barbara Kelly is productionmanager, Kathleen Whelan is pro-duction coordinator and AbrahamFraser is the location manager.

Wrapping in February was DearMr Gacy, which stars WilliamForsythe as serial killer Wayne Gacyand Jesse Moss as the lawyer whobefriended him when he was ondeath row. It was executive producedby Tom Berry and Clark Petersonwith Gordon Yang producing andSvetozar Ristovski directing. TheDOP was Larry Lynn, the produc-tion designer was James Willcock,the production manager was GillesLaPlante, the production coordina-tor was Genevieve Bridges and thelocation manager was Darryl Grif-fiths.

The Hole3D is the story of twobrothers who discover a hole in theirbasement, one that leads them to a

world of nightmares. It has GaryWalters as executive producer,David Lancaster, Michel Litvak andVicki Sotheran producers, JoeDante directing, Brent Harron asthe production designer, DonaldMunro as production manager, Tri-cia Leigh as production coo rdinatorand Jamie Lake as locations man-ager. It stars Nathan Gamble andChris Massoglia and wrapped inFebruary after two months of pro-duction.

Mordecai stars Oscar nomineeRichard Jenkins and Emmy winnerBradley Whitford in a thriller aboutthe horrors that take place at a cabinin the woods. It has Jason Clark asexecutive producer , Joss Whedonproducing, Drew Goddard direct-ing, Peter Deming as DOP, MartinWhist as production designer, MaryAnne Waterhouse as productionmanager, Kasandra Griebel as pro-duction coordinator and Geoff Teolias location manager with Joel Whistas special effects coordinator.

Smokin’ Aces: Blowback is the se-quel to the 2006 film about the LasVegas mob. It has Mike Elliott pro-ducing, Chris Foss as line pro-ducer/production manager, PJ Pescedirecting, Chris August as produc-tion designer, Louisa Main as pro-duction coordinator and KenBrooker as location manager. Thefeature is scheduled to wrap at theend of March after a six week shoot.

Defying Gravity tells the story ofeight astronauts assigned to spendsix years in space. The executive pro-ducers are Jim Parriott, MichaelEdelstein, Brian Hamilton andMichael Chechik while Ron Frenchis the producer, Stephen McNutt isthe DOP, Steve Geaghan is the pro-

duction designer, Craig Forrest isthe production manager, JenniferAicholz is the production coordina-tor, Kent Sponagle is the locationmanager and Andy Chamberlayneis in charge of special effects.

The series Stargate Universe intro-duces a new crew, one trapped on aship as it travels through the uni-verse. The executive producers areBrad Wright, Robert Cooper, CarlBinder and John Smith. The pro-ducer is John Lenic, Jack O’Neill isthe line producer, Ronn Schmidt,Jim Menard and Michael Blun-dell are the DOPs, James Rob-bins is the productiondesigner, George Horie isthe production manager,David Magee and TanjaBalic are the productioncoordinators, LorneDavidson is locationmanager and Wray Dou-glas is special effects co-ordinator.

Food for Thought has twolifestyle programs shooting inVancouver in March. Cultiva-tion focuses on historical andcontemporary garden design,home agriculture, garden reno-vation, and natural history whilethe series Food for Thought seesfarmers and cooks travelling to-gether throughout British Columbiain search of good food. Both showshave Dina Walker as executive pro-ducer and Lucy Wells as productionmanager. Henry Kipling is the pro-ducer of Cultivation and an executiveproducer on Food for Thought whileGraeme Robinson is the locationmanager of Cultivation and ChesterAndrews is the location manager forFood for Thought.

Bardel Animation workedthroughout the winter onNicelodeon’s toddler-oriented ani-mated series Wow! Wow! Wubbzywhich had Cristina Tanase as pro-duction manager.

PRODUCTION UPDATE

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

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NFB Opens Vault The National Film Board recently announced it will be providing free access to over 700

productions, films, trailers and clips via its online Screening Room. NFB spokesperson

Jennifer Mair said the collections will provide Canadians with “a unique screening

experience: high quality, free viewing of over 700 productions from the NFB’s vast

collection – a national treasure of our stories.” She said that the collection will run the

gamut from historical films dating back to 1928 to current contemporary releases,

including award-winning documentaries, animation and fiction.

“This new online Screening Room is the latest example of how the NFB plays a

major role in the free exchange of ideas through cinema,” said NFB chairperson Tom

Perlmutter. “At a time when issues are inter-connected and global communications

are mobile and instantaneous, Canada needs a voice. More than ever, the NFB

provides that voice: empowering Canadians to share their concerns, express their

points of view and tell Canada’s stories. The world is changing – our stories

continue.’’

Mair said award-winning films that are either now online or coming soon include

Chris Landreth’s 2004 Oscar-winner Ryan, Richard Condie’s The Big Snit and

Cordell Barker’s The Cat Came Back, as well as several works from animator Nor-

man McLaren. Live action films currently available online include Claude Jutra’s

Mon Oncle Antoine, Don Owen’s Nobody Waved Goodbye and Cynthia Scott’s The

Company of Strangers.

Creatures FeaturedHBO has agreed to sign LA and Vancouver-based Todd Masters’ MastersFX to a

second season of the series True Blood. MastersFX spokesperson Dan Harary said

the company will continue to create the original characters and special makeup

effects featured in the show.

“True Blood is by far my favorite television project,” said MastersFX’s Dan Rebert.

“I love the fact that the show’s mythology goes much deeper than just the relation-

ships between humans and vampires. In the world of True Blood, many races of mag-

ical creatures exist right under our noses. It is dark fantasy mixed with drama and

humor. What’s not to love? We are very fortunate to have the same core crew of

artists for the show’s second season. These guys have been with us for years and are

the finest craftsmen I’ve ever worked with. We all look forward to the challenges

ahead of us on a darker and scarier True Blood season two.”

Harary said the first season of True Blood premiered on HBO in September 2008

and is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries books by Charlaine Harris and has

been adapted for television by Alan Ball. He said the show details the fictional co-

existence of vampires and humans in a small Louisiana town after Japanese-made

synthetic blood becomes available for purchase. Anna Paquin, who won a Golden

Globe award for her performance on the series, stars as a telepathic waitress at a

diner who falls in love with one of the vampires.

Panasonic Wins HPA PrizePanasonic has won the Hollywood Post Alliance Engineering Excellence Award for

its development of the AVC-Intra 100 video codec. According to Panasonic Canada

spokesperson Trell Huether, the company’s video codec can achieve “the

compression ratio required to encode full resolution, 10-bit independent (intra) frame

HD video at 100 Mbps. The codec allows users to capture master-quality video with

exceptional colour depth and higher encoding efficiency.”

“Panasonic’s work on AVC-Intra is a direct result of requests from our customers

and technology partners for a cost effective 10-bit, full raster, intra-frame HD codec,

capable of operating in field acquisition equipment as well as in desktop hardware and

software,” said Panasonic Canada’s Terry Horbatiuk. “Panasonic really appreciates

this HPA award. HPA represents the professional imaging community which depends

on products like AVC-Intra for their creativity and quality. The recognition of our peers

is highly valued by all of us at Panasonic.”

Huether said AVC-Intra is available in Panasonic’s new P2 HD VariCam camcorders

(AJ-HPX2700 and AJ-HPX3700), AJ-HPX3000 P2 HD camcorder, AJ HPX2000 P2

HD camcorder and the AJ-HPM110 P2 Mobile recorder/player and that it is suitable

for portable field acquisition as well as making master archives. He said recent Cana-

dian productions using the AVC-Intra 100 include Screamers: The Hunting which was

shot by John P. Tarver.

BITS AND BYTES

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

Killer in Vancouver Dear Mr. Gacy, a film based on TheLast Victim by lawyer Jason Moss,called Vancouver home in January andFebruary. Set in 1993 it is a look backat Moss’s days as a University Studentcommunicating with serial killer JohnWayne Gacy, who was on death rowfor acknowledging 33 murders. Ac-cording to spokesperson DebbieWalker, Moss felt that he could getclose enough to Gacy that he couldfind out more information aboutwhere other potential victims may be.

The film stars William Forsythe asGacy and Jesse Moss as Jason Moss(no relation.) Walker says that afterwriting the book Moss went on to gain

a measure of celebrity from his inter-actions with Gacy. However, his storyended tragically when he committedsuicide in 2006. His book has been de-scribed by critics as a real-life Silenceof the Lambs.

Producer Clark Peterson, who alsoproduced Monster, starring CharlizeTheron, told the Hollywood Reporterthat the movie will focus on Moss’sstory. “The theme here is once you en-counter that kind of darkness, it’s hardto escape it. Jason seemed to be a suc-cess because he had this encounterwith John Wayne Gacy, wrote a bookand went on television. But ultimatelyit came to a tragic end.” The film isbeing directed by Svetozar Ristovski.

West Weighs In A show that covers 13 families in three different westernCanadian cities will wrap in May after six months ofprincipal photography. The documentary series X-Weighted will spend its fourth season talking to familiesthat have agreed to show how they are working togetherto lose weight.

“With the alarming increase in childhood obesity inCanada, the X-Weighted team decided it is important totackle weight loss as a family issue this season,” says exec-utive producer Margaret Mardirossian of Anaïd Produc-tions. “There is a lot to learn from delving into the lives ofeveryday people, so we are very grateful to these familiesfor opening their homes and lives to us and sharing theirstories with our Canadian and international audiences.”

According to Mardirossian each hour of the 13-part se-ries will focus on a family living in Vancouver, Edmontonor Calgary. The subjects include a mother who grew uppoor and over-compensates by stocking the house withfattening snacks; a family of committed church and com-munity volunteers who are so busy taking care of othersthey don’t take the time to look after themselves and ayoung woman with cerebral palsy and epilepsy whowants to lead a more healthy and independent lifestyle.

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Studio B Slap Happy

Vancouver-based Studio BProductions recently announcedthat they have signed a developmentdeal for the 2D animated seriesB.O.O.M. Boys, created by SlapHappy Cartoons.

“We are excited to be partneringwith Slap Happy on this newproject,” stated Jillianne Reinseth,Studio B’s director of development.“B.O.O.M. Boys is an original andhighly entertaining series that willappeal to audiences in Canada andaround the world.”

“We’re thrilled to be working withStudio B on B.O.O.M. Boys,” saidSlap Happy’s Vito Viscomi. “Theirexperience and proven track recordare second to none.” According toReinseth, the show is a comedyseries about three bionic brotherswho build “out-of-this worldinventions while escaping the graspof the evil military agency thatdeveloped them.” She said the serieswas created by Studio B veteransJosh Mepham, Greg Sullivan andKathy Rocchio.

Revolution ComingFilming of a documentary about thecultural revolution of the 1960s iscurrently underway in Vancouverand several other cities. Revolution:The Legacy of the Sixties spokesper-son Paul Armstrong says the docu-mentary will uncover, throughinterviews with the witnesses of theera, “the ground breaking culturaland social transformation” of the pe-riod and ask whether the changes af-fected today’s society.

Armstrong, who is co-producingand co-directing the documentarycalls the film “a serious yet entertain-ing investigation of the origins, expe-rience and long-term impact of thecultural shift of the Sixties, arguablythe transition from modern to post-modern society.” He says the film willfeature interviews with many of thekey innovators as well as music, pe-riod stock footage and currentfootage of locations of many of theSixties events covered in the film.Armstrong says the interviews willbe conducted in the US, Canada andEngland and other European centres.

He says completed interviews in-clude those with singer DonovanLeitch, The Doors’ John Densmore,Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwoodand country singer Willie Nelson.Armstrong is co-producing the filmwith Karl Ferris and MelonieHaller-Ferris and co-directing withFerris and Tony Papa. Devin Lundis the DOP.

2009 Digest is now on sale!To order call 604.451.7335 or visit www.reelwest.com

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:45 PM


Chula WIFTV’sWoman Vancouver-based actor Babz Chula is the 2009Women in Film and Television Vancouver’s Woman ofthe Year. Chula, who has won two Leo Awards, aGemini and a Genie nomination for her work inCanadian films and television shows, will receive herprize at WIFTV’s Spotlight Award Gala, to be held onMarch 7 in Vancouver.

Sanctuary executive producer and star AmandaTapping will be awarded the Woman of Vision SpecialJury Prize and The Tracey Fragments screenwriterMaureen Medved has won the Artistic AchievementAward. The Wayne Black Service Award will bepresented to Whistler Film Festival founder ShaunaHardy-Mishaw while the National Film Board’s AlParsons will take home the Special Jury Award forLifetime Achievement. Telefilm Canada executive JohnDippong will receive the Honourary Friend award.The Sharon Gibbon Lifetime Achievement Award willbe presented to accountant and volunteer Jacqui Ellisand the Kodak Image Award will go to DOP MoiraSimpson.

The Spotlight Awards are part of the Women in FilmFestival, which runs from March 4 to March 8.According to a spokesperson, the awards gala will seethe presentation of the Women in the Director’s ChairFeature Film Award and Legacy Awards, which aregiven to the top three BC-made films of the festival.The Legacy Awards will be guest juried by Eve & theFire Horse director Julia Kwan, Corner Gas actressGabrielle Miller, She’s a Boy I Knew director GwenHaworth and Creative Native host Tamara Bull. Theawards gala will be hosted by Kissed star Molly Parker.

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Boll on JanjaweedBrightlight Pictures is going to South Africa to make a

movie about Darfur. The company will be working withUwe Boll and his Event Films on Janjaweed, which willstar Kristanna Loken and Billy Zane as American jour-nalists who go to Sudan to report on the atrocities. Even-tually, they come to the conclusion that they would makea greater impact if they stayed behind to help the victimsthey have encountered.

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

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

According to spokesperson Lorraine Jamison, “jan-jaweed” is Arabic for devils on horseback and refers to thenomadic militia terrorizing the people of Darfur. The filmwill be produced by Williamson, Boll, Dan Clarke andChris Roland. Principal photography was scheduled tobegin on location in South Africa on February 23.

NSI Gets Reel MoneyA partnership between Rogers Mediaand the Women in Media Founda-tion has contributed $147,500 overfour years to the National Screen In-stitute according to the NSI’s SusanMillican. Millican said the fundingsupports training opportunities forwomen from Alberta and Manitoba,and in particular women of Aborigi-nal heritage, of colour, from ethno-cultural communities, or womenwho have disabilities. She said NSItraining programs receiving thefunding include NSI Storytellers, NSINew Voices, the NSI Drama Prizeand NSI Totally Television.

“Rogers is proud to support theNSI and the essential training it haslong been providing to content cre-ators from coast to coast, includingwomen” said Rogers Media vicepresident Alain Strati. “This newfunding will help ensure the contin-ued training and advancement ofwomen in the industry, particularlythose of diverse backgrounds whobring very valuable perspectives tofilm and TV.”

Millican said that several showshave been developed at NSI throughthe fund. She said the list includesWapos Bay, ‘da Kink in My Hair andLess Than Kind.

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Wild in Squamish Several films from the 2009 Vancouver InternationalFilm Festival will be heading north to Squamish as partof the town’s Wild Art Festival. According tospokesperson Ivan Hughes, the films and some per-sonalities will be part of a night entitled Wild at Adven-ture. The festival runs from March 6 to 7.

Hughes said that extreme skier Greg Hill and alpinist Je-remy Frimer and an exhibit by adventure photographer RichWheater will play a big part. “Squamish has such an eclec-tic mix of artists and adventurers, it seemed like a naturalfit to combine the two in one festival,” says Hughes,“Wild at Adventure showcases the wildest BC adventurers,photographers and musicians all under one roof. It shouldbe a really inspiring evening, and a lot of fun.”

Hughes said the exhibit will feature Wheater’s imagesdepicting action sports and fashion. He said Hill is amodern day explorer who has skied in Alaska, NewZealand, Europe and all over North America but lives inRevelstoke and “has been pushing the backcountryboundaries ever since he moved there in 2000.” He saidFrimer is an elite alpine climber who is responsible forestablishing significant new alpine routes and publishingarticles about them in alpine journals and magazines.

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Photograph by Phillip Chin

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:46 PM


es, I had lunch with Harrison Ford in Kamloops, which is a ratherodd place to network with the stars. Even odder was reuniting withMark Gordon, the executive producer of 2012, on a field nearSavona. “Savona?” you say. Sure, you know, down the hill and

across the dirt road from where they filmed the TV mini-series The Androm-eda Strain, which is down the road and down the hill from the ranch where AnUnfinished Life with Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Lopezfilmed. Remember when “Bennifer” was the craze?

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

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

Several mentors have made a difference to my life. Tom Kerr, then high schoolteacher and Artistic Director of the Western Canada Theatre Company tookme under his wing and tutelage. I managed to stay in school, barely, and he gaveme the opportunity to work with professional actors and technicians from allover the world. By the time I was 16 I was stage managing and working on everyplay available, both professional and amateur. By the time I was 19 I was tour-ing professionally with theatre companies and by 20 I was an Equity Stage Man-ager. At 22, I helped establish the University of Saskatchewan Summer StockTheatre Company, earned a degree in Theatre and English, and was an EquityProduction Manager. I was also restless. I wanted to move into television.

I didn’t forget his words but neither did I become less determined. In theearly 1980s I headed to Vancouver to work in the television industry. I regis-tered at Simon Fraser University in their film program and became very dis-illusioned when I was told that I couldn’t touch a camera until my fourth year.I circulated resumes in Vancouver, but was told, by a commercial director, thatVancouver only produced commercials. At about that time I got married to anAmerican and we moved to the United States. He wanted to be near his par-ents and I wanted to be near LA, a land of opportunity.

In Los Angeles I got a job at the Burbank Holiday Inn as a desk clerk work-ing the 3PM to 11PM shift, which allowed me to look for work during the day.I handed out resumes to every TV station, to all the production companieslisted in The Hollywood Reporter, to every production door along HollywoodBlvd and Sunset Blvd (which took more than two full days to complete) andhung out at bars (with my husband of course) across the street from the net-works. Hey, it got me two interviews! I snuck onto studio back lots and gaveout resumes to offices in bungalows and trailers. (Michael Landon’s secretarywas really mad and called security on me.)

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

duction for PMI, which was the music video production arm of Capitol Records. PMI oversaw all the music videos of Capitol’s artists (Tina Turner, Bob Seger,

Heart, Tom Cochrane, and EMI artists David Bowie, Corey Hart, Duran Duran,Power Station and many others) plus there were directors on staff who directed allthe Phil Collins videos, Eric Clapton in-concert videos and videos for Billy Idoland others. I was in charge of booking all off-line and on-line projects and strug-gled, along with the rest of the world, as we transitioned from analogue to digital.I soon became the in-house production coordinator and was sometimes able towork on music videos during work time (but usually on weekends.)

The first project I produced for Capitol Records was a Karaoke music videofor The Man I Love and I liked it. But I got restless and after three years I quit towork freelance. I worked on music videos, commercials and feature films, start-ing as a production assistant, then a craft services person, a caterer, a casting di-rector (on three commercials and a music video - I hated it), and a productioncoordinator. (I got to work with gangs in East LA, which was scary at times).But what I really wanted to do was to work as an assistant director. I was 2nd ADon a few features and then 1st AD and I hit exactly where I wanted to be. I wasmore than 2/3 complete in acquiring AD days for the DGA when I had an acci-dent – I got pregnant. I switched gears pretty quickly and started producing.

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

Then the earthquake hit, figuratively and literally. My husband was shootingin Texas and I was home alone with our babies. It was very early in the morn-ing when all hell broke loose. The plaster began chipping into my 10-monthold child’s crib, and the room was shaking too badly for me to reach her. Myother daughter, who was two years old and clung to my neck, screamed con-tinuously. We survived but were not emotionally intact. Within three weeksmy best friend died from cancer, leaving three children behind. Within a year,our marriage fell apart and I ended the career and left the glamour of LA.

I moved back to Kamloops, upgraded my degree and started teaching filmclasses at Thompson Rivers University. I started a legal, bona fide associationcalled the BC Interior Film & Television Association in order to meet and traincrew who wanted to live and work in Kamloops. At the same time, the Thomp-son-Nicola Regional District was looking for a new film commissioner. I ap-plied and got the job. I’m now the Executive Director of Film and what afabulous title. I location scout, go on surveys, market the area and have a blastdoing it. No day is ever the same. Plus, I get the privilege of raising my twogirls; teenagers now, who tell me I ruined their lives by coming to Kamloops.

Through production I meet old friends and acquaintances and make newfriends along the way. It is miles away from where I was and yet right backwhere I started. We’ve had great successes and attracted some of the best tal-ent in the world from Los Angeles and Vancouver to this region with creditsthat include Shooter, Iron Road, Firewall, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, TheSnow Walker, Partition, Battlestar Galactica (twice), Alien Trespass, Flower &Garnet, Ill-Fated, Lost Treasures of the Grand Canyon, Lola, Cole, Thirst, TheWicker Man, Deepwater, Smallville and others. I love it here now. And I’m notrestless yet so I imagine I will be here for a little while longer. And I hope towork with all of you. ■

BEGINNINGS

Vicci Weller“I was going to quit school in grade 10 and run away back to Toronto

and live in Yorkville, in a commune. Instead I discovered drama...”

Y

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Photograph by Phillip Chin

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BEHIND THE SCENES

BranchingOut

CFTPA BC branch growing with producers’ success

wo decades after PhillipBorsos and Sandy Wilsonwere forced to go toToronto to find a producer

for their Genie-winning BC films(The Grey Fox and My AmericanCousin respectively) the province hasenough production talent to have itsown separate organization represent-ing independent BC-based producersof film, television and interactivemedia. The BC Producers’ Branch ofthe Canadian Film and TelevisionProduction Association, which has 75member companies, is the onlyprovincial branch of the CFTPA, giv-ing local producers the unique advan-tage of dealing directly with the localgovernments, unions and guilds.

The local branch came out of anad-hoc panel that was founded in theearly 1990s in response to the filmand television industry growth thathad occurred in the province. Ac-cording to Neil Haggquist, ExecutiveVice President for the BC branch, thepanel worked hard to forge relation-ships. “As the film industry was grow-ing, there were changes occurring inlabour and management relationsthat encouraged the guilds andunions to seek and receive recogni-tion from the BC Labour RelationsBoard. In order to deal with theseunique labour laws and to heighten itsprofile in the province the CFTPAregistered as an Extra-Provincial So-ciety in British Columbia in April1993.”

Since that time the BC Branch ofthe CFTPA has been involved in thenegotiations of collective agreementswith all of BC’s guilds and unions. Ac-cording to Haggquist, the result hasbeen a series of long term agreementsthat have helped to stabilize thelabour relations climate. He says thatin tandem with provincial tax credits,the contracts created a “certainty”that led to a decade of growth in all

levels of production. Tracey Wood, the Branch’s Vice

President, Industrial and External Re-lations says that in addition to negoti-ating and administering the collectiveagreements specific to the BC film in-dustry, the BC Producers’ Branchworks on provincial and municipallevels to ensure a stable industry inBC. And she says it works with otherindustry stakeholders - through itsmembership in MPPIA (the MotionPicture Production Industry Associ-ation) - “to create a level playing fieldwith the rest of Canada” and to bringas much business as possible to theprovince.

“The BC Producers’ Branch-CFTPA, in conjunction with the Mo-tion Picture Production IndustryAssociation, encouraged the provin-cial government to modify the own-ership provisions for BritishColumbia production companieswishing to access the domestic taxcredit” says Wood. “In agreeing tothis change the province has createdan environment that will allow com-panies to grow in British Columbiaand compete on even terms withcompanies in Ontario.”

The Branch has not only helpedlocal companies to grow, its membershave made movies and television pro-grams that have been seen around theworld. The long list includes Bright-light Pictures’ White Noise, AnagramPictures Fido; Haddock Entertain-ment’s Da Vinci’s Inquest; Force FourEntertainment’s Playing for Keeps;Paperny Films’ The Week theWomen Went, Infinity Features’Capote; Omni Films’ Smart Cookiesand Studio B Productions’ Being Ian.

Dianne Scott, the Branch’s Direc-tor of Operations & Member Servicessays the organization also offers pro-fessional development sessions tomembers. She says this year’s sessionis the Global

T

cont. on page 28

13

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here have been a lot of ac-tors who have gone on todirect movies that havebeen nominated for

major Academy Awards. However,Ben Stiller is a rarity. He’s a comicwho has directed only comedies andhas helped win an acting nominationfor one of the stars of a comedy. Al-though Robert Downey Jr. was (atpress time) a long shot to win thisyear’s Best Supporting Actor Oscarfor Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, a nomi-nation really is as good as winningwhen it comes to comedies.

Stiller started directing with 1994’sReality Bites and followed it up twoyears later with The Cable Guy.Then, in 1998 he became a moviestar thanks to the hit comedy There’s

Something About Mary. He has onlydirected two feature films since then:2001’s Zoolander and last year’sTropic Thunder, the story of a groupof actors who go to modern Vietnamto make a movie about the War andfind themselves fighting a real waragainst a drug cartel. Downey Jr.played an Oscar-winning Australianactor in the latter film, one who de-cides to play the role of a soldier asan African-American. Asked duringinterviews for Tropic Thunder howhe felt about Stiller’s directing,Downey Jr. joked that he is “really re-ally hands-on.”

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

and an artist and capable in everysingle department. He is in relentlesspursuit of perfection and that is whyit turned out as well as it did. If I hadbeen shooting the movie it wouldn’thave turned out that well because Iam not going to get people mad atme by saying ‘let’s do this 300 timesand then go in for coverage.’ Everyday I would say ‘welcome to BenStiller’s comedy death camp. Isn’t itgood to be on his comedy gulag?’”

In interviews for Tropic Thunderand the animated movie Madagas-car: Escape to Africa, both releasedmonths prior to the announcementof the Oscar nominations, Stiller toldReel West that he was confidentDowney Jr. would get a nomination.He also talked about the realities of

being a director and the fun he hadmaking the Vancouver-shot Night atthe Museum: Battle of the Smithson-ian, which opens in May. There has been talk about RobertDowney Jr. getting an Oscar nomi-nation for playing this ‘obsessedwith the Oscar’ actor. Do youthink he has a chance?“I see it as an opportunity for acomedic performance to be recog-nized in a way that most comedicperformances don’t get recognized.But yes, there is a whole other levelthere in terms of what he does in themovie relating to the idea that Oscar-winning actors do take themselvestoo seriously. I find that amusing inits own way. I think he is an incredi-bly talented actor who is very deserv-ing. I would love to see it just to see acomedy role get recognized becauseif there is one then he deserves it.”Your parents (comedians JerryStiller and Anne Meara) broughtyou up in the world of show busi-ness. Do you think that had an in-fluence on you that eventually ledyou to make a movie about life be-hind the scenes?“I think so because I have always en-joyed humour where people aremaking fun of things behind thescenes. If you are in the business it isfunny to you so I just wanted to fig-ure out a way to make it funny to abroad audience. I think actors like tomake fun of themselves and the busi-ness because there are so many peo-ple who take themselves so seriously,including myself. We all have thesemoments where you read a quote inan interview and you think ‘what thehell was I thinking’ because it is atrial and error process. Some peopleget caught up in it. Sometimes yousound silly and sometimes you takeyourself too seriously and it is hard tonavigate through the show businessworld without being involved in theb.s. of it all.” You worked on this film for a longtime prior to principal photogra-phy. Was it worth the wait whenyou finally got to the set? “Oh yes. I was so excited to be doingit because I had been making it for solong. We spent a lot of time on draftsof the movie over the course of eightor nine years and there were timeswhen I thought we would never getit made. There were other timeswhen I thought ‘this is a good ideabut how do we figure it all out?’ Theidea was there for a first act and asecond act right at the beginning butnot the actual articulation of it. Ithink I stuck with it because it is thekind of film I would like to see and it

QUESTION AND ANSWER

T

ThunderstruckWhy Ben Stiller is happy that

Robert Downey Jr. stole Tropic Thunder

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has been a long time since I havemade a movie for which I am thecore audience.” Downey Jr. has said that he wouldsay “welcome to Ben Stiller’s gulagevery morning. “Do you see your-self as being a control freak whenit comes to directing? “There are control issues because youhave a vision and you have to carry itout. But I like to work with directorswho know what they want. It was im-portant for me to get what I wanted.I like it when I walk on a set and a di-rector says ‘I was thinking you mightdo this and this. I am going to put thecamera here and I want you to dothis.’ You don’t want the director tosay ‘okay, what should we do?’ That’shorrible. You begin to ask ‘who isrunning the show here?’ So I thinkyou have to strike a balance. Thetoughest part of acting and directingis you want the actors to feel like theyare being directed and you don’twant them to think that you are notthere for them or that you are tooconcerned with your own perform-ance. But you have the responsibilityof getting it shot every day and youhave to get the day done. People arelooking to you for what you want soit can be difficult. But I think we hadfun and I think it comes across in thefilm.” Would you rather just be an actoror do you need the input thatcomes with being a director?“Any movie that I am acting in I willhave some input into. But that is thething about directing a movie. It’s avery subjective thing. So any movie Iam acting in is going to have the im-print of who is directing it and I amnot trying to put my stamp on otherpeople’s movies. I will be whatever Iam supposed to be in that film and Ienjoy that process too. But directingis the thing I like most and the thingI feel most connected to.” Was this the toughest movie of thefour you have directed?“Yes, but It was the most enjoyableexperience I have had making a film.I had been going to Hawaii for yearsand so I knew where I wanted toshoot it. There were years of gettingready to shoot it and to be able to goin the helicopters and scout theseplaces you could really get to and towork on these big action sequencesand build a bridge and then blow itup and work with all these great peo-ple. But I enjoyed it a lot.”There have been a lot of warmovies lately but this is the onlywar comedy out. In fact, none ofthe war movies about modern warhave connected with an audience.Do you think that war dramas are a

thing of the past? “I think it is unfortunate that peopledon’t go to see the movies about Iraqbut we are in a conflict that is closeto home and it is not surprising thatpeople would not want to go to thosefilms for entertainment. But this is acomedy about making movies. It isnot a war comedy. So it is a differentthing. I love war movies like themovies that we are satirizing likeDeer Hunter and Full Metal Jacketand Platoon. They are movies that Igrew up with and enjoyed but this isa comedy and it lives in its own placeand I think sometimes in times ofwar people want escapism.”That era also brought with itprotest. Apparently you are inter-ested in directing a film about thefamous trial of dissidents that tookplace in Chicago after protests oc-curred during the 1968 Demo-cratic Party convention.“I am interested in doing differentthings as a director but someoneleaked that story because there was ameeting. Someone wrote a storyabout it but independent of whetherI do that film I think the trial of theChicago Seven is still relevant. Theissues that it was dealing with includ-ing freedom of speech and the coun-terculture and what the governmentdid makes it relevant to the Bush era.It’s great to be considered for some-thing that is different than what youhave done. I am always thinkingabout doing different things. I hopeit won’t be that long before I directagain. I really had such a good timeworking on Tropic Thunder but Iwould like to go and do something alittle smaller next time and just havefun.” You recently completed work inVancouver on the second install-ment of what could be a successfulfranchise. You didn’t direct but youwere working alongside somefunny people. What was it likemaking Night at the Museum: Bat-tle of the Smithsonian?“We shot it and finished it in Van-couver a few months ago and itcomes out for the (US) MemorialDay weekend (May 22.) We had thisincredible cast of comics includingRicky Gervais, Chris Guest, AmyAdams, Dick Van Dyke, Owen Wil-son, Steve Coogan and Hank Azaria.We had a lot of fun and a really goodtime. On the first one Ricky reallymade me laugh. I am such a huge fanof his but he just happens to be oneof these guys who cracks up easily.He cracks himself up and this time itwas worse than the Carol BurnettShow. We were like Harvey Kormanand Tim Conway.” ■

“We were on Oprah during the first season, the six of us, and they put together this se-

ries of clips with people talking about watching the show. Oprah said ‘you’re a phenom-

enon’ and we were all in shock and she said ‘why are you all acting as if you didn’t

know?’ and it was because we didn’t know until that moment. When I look back at the

show I think of it as only a good thing. It was everything for me.” - Lisa Kudrow on the

moment she and her fellow Friends cast members realized they were famous.

“The hardest part of writing the autobiography was remembering things. It is interest-

ing how your own history can be found outside of your own mind, in talking to other

people and going through the memorabilia that I would toss into a cardboard box. I

described it in the book as being like an archaeological dig because it was in se-

quence. At the bottom was the oldest. It was a writing challenge because I didn’t

want to brag but I didn’t want to deny accomplishments. I won’t write another volume

because I think that it is an interesting story before you make it (to stardom.) But by

the 1980s I was just making movies. I wanted to write it step by step in terms of what

had gotten me to a certain place. From there on it was anecdotal. You could say ‘I met

him and then we laughed’ and you could replace any name with anyone else’s in the

movie industry.” - Steve Martin on why his first attempt at writing an autobiogra-

phy, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life, will also be his last.

“It can be a gift but there can also be a danger growing old in that you know so much

about the process on stage that maybe you will start imitating yourself somehow. If you

keep the idea ‘I don’t want to imitate myself but instead I would like to serve the scene

with the guy who is in front of me’ maybe that is the way to stay young. You have to

be in the moment because to dance you need two people.” - Actor Jean Reno who,

in his 60s has moved from acclaimed French and American dramas to playing

Steve Martin’s deputy in the Pink Panther movies.

“Distant Voices was about coming to terms with the damage and suffering my father

inflicted. Long Day Closes was about the loss of innocence and the loss of childhood.

I was from a large working class family, I was Catholic in a Protestant country and I was

gay in a country where it was illegal until 1967. So this is about those things, and par-

ticularly the effect being Catholic had on me. I really believed in the church and in God.

I was made to examine my conscience every day and all those dos and don’ts are

embedded in me. There are some things that I just couldn’t do because God would

know. I don’t believe that but at one point I did and it rules your life still.” - Director Ter-

rence Davies on the reasons behind his decision to follow up the acclaimed

drama Distant Voices, Still Lives with a documentary called Of Time and the City

that covers some of the same territory.

Excerpted from interviews done by Reel West editor Ian Caddell.

EXPERT WITNESS

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16 REEL WEST MARCH/APRIL 2009

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came to understand his approach to the movie I could see that he was veryspecific about every frame and that we needed locations that could fit that.At the same time there was an effort to do it at the Warner back lot in LA butI always had Vancouver in the back of my mind and I didn’t know if therewere facilities available. Once I heard that some stages had opened up I feltit was the best choice for all the things that we needed.”

It would appear to have worked for Snyder who says, on the set, that hedoes what he can to find the tone of the material and feels that all three of hisfilms reflect that. “I am all about finding the tone of the movie and makingthe movie based on its tone rather than the particulars of it. For instance,with Dawn of the Dead I wanted to make a cult movie at a studio with stu-dio quality, and when we made 300 I was very specific about making a moviethat felt and looked like the book (by Frank Miller.) Here it goes again to thetone which is very specific in that it has to be able to allow you to enjoy thefetishistic aspects of being a superhero. It also has to ask ‘what is the link tothis enjoyment?’ By contrast, 300 is very straightforward in its psychology.Watchmen is constantly analyzing itself. That makes them very different tome tonally. So I have tried in the shooting of this movie to be formal withmy approach. I felt the book is very formal in its presentation of imagery. Itis very symmetrical and that is how we presented the shot-making. It is like300 in one way, in that they both have operatic qualities but it is intimate aswell. And there are way more sets. We still use visual effects to enhance andexpand the sets we have but we need a lot of them to tell the story. We neededthe space and we have it here.”

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

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


WatchingZackThe toys that the studio is paying for at Burnaby’s Canadian Motion PicturePark include a temple (known on set as Karnak) flanked by 30 foot high idols.A few blocks away is an entire back lot that Warner allowed Snyder and hiscrew to build. His hit movie has given him capital and he is using it, with theproduction costs alone estimated to be over $120 million.

Snyder was just out of high school when the first efforts at making a moviefrom the 1985 Alan Moore and David Gibbons’ graphic novel were under-taken by 20th Century Fox. The idea went through the offices of several film-makers but no one could get it made. Eventually, it came to Warner Bros andwhen Snyder delivered a hit with 300 they asked him to take on the project.(Fox sued Warner alleging that they should receive some of the revenues.They settled out of court and the film, which was in danger of being shelved,will open March 6.)

The story is set in the year the graphic novel was written. Richard Nixonnever resigned and is still the president and is dealing with a Cold War thathas created greater tension than ever. Superheroes exist but they are beingmurdered. A vigilante decides to investigate the murder of one hero and dis-covers that there is a plot to discredit and murder several others. The filmstars Patrick Wilson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jackie Earl Haley, Malin Aker-man, Carla Gugino and Billy Crudup.

Snyder is no stranger to working in Canada. In fact, all three of his fea-tures have been shot here. Dawn of the Dead was mostly shot aroundToronto, 300 was filmed at abandoned shipyards in Montreal and now hehas completed the locations circle by shooting Watchmen in the Lower Main-land. Vancouver wasn’t the first choice, according to the film’s executive pro-ducer, Herb Gains, but it was the one that made the most sense botheconomically and visually.

“We were talking about making it in Australia but having worked there Ididn’t think it was right for every film. Then we looked at Eastern Europeand Spain, but the tricky thing about this picture was not just the tax incen-tive. We needed a facility that would work and we needed a strong crew base.Those elements were important. At one point we were going to use NewYork because they have a great tax incentive but Zack didn’t feel he couldfind in New York what he wanted visually. I told him I felt he could but as I

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

By Ian Caddell

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:47 PM


graphic novel there is another layerof collaboration. It doesn’t feel like arestraint to me because I think thatis the design task. The question, onthe most basic level, is ‘how do youtranslate a graphic novel as complexand with all the history it containsinto a different medium?’ That is thedesign challenge but to know thatthe material you are basing it on isrich is great and it’s wonderful tohave a director who supports theidea of honouring the material andreally digging deep into it and enjoy-

ing that process. I think we (Mc-Dowell and his design crew) haveenjoyed it as much as Zack has en-joyed it.”

McDowell says he was particu-larly excited about having so manysets to work with. He admits thatsome, like the Karnak temple set arelarge, but says that they are the ex-ception in a film with a real range ofsets. And he adds that even thoughhe was aware it was going to be set-driven the sheer number of sets wasstill a bit intimidating.

“They all have a narrative role soit doesn’t feel like any of these setsare transitions from one set to an-other. They all have functional andmetaphoric places in the story. Thechallenge is how many of them thereare. I knew from the beginning thatwe were going to do a largely in-camera film. I was briefed about it tothe extent that we looked at filmingeverything rather than doing CGI atall. So I knew that it wasn’t going tobe a 300 style green screen. But I amstill surprised at how many sets weare building. We are building two orthree a day and just the newscastcomponent of the story involves somuch. However, I think they needme more than ever because I am justas involved in the CGI stuff as thebuilds. In fact, I think there is a mis-conception that the production de-signer job is all about the on-camera

stuff. For me it is all about the arc ofa film and when we go into any filmwe are not sure how it is going to bebroken down. Even when we startedwith the script, it was not clear whatsets would be real and what setswould be CGI.”

The trick is to have the option todo either. Warner Bros. gave thefilmmakers several options whenthey allowed them to build a back-lot that contains the city sets that areat the centre of the film. McDowellsays that while it has helped to make

the film look better, it was one of themore difficult builds of his career.However, he admits that it was alsoa highlight of his work as a produc-tion designer.

“Our construction team has hadthe equivalent of a big movie’sscenery to build but there is so muchdetail and the back-lot and buildinga city became the most technicalchallenge. You don’t usually build aback-lot from the ground up andbuild the components of a city thatabsolutely fits the story. It’s great be-cause you are not compromised bythe location. For instance, if we usedthe Warner back-lot we would haveto convert half a dozen sets from TVshows into something that mightwork.”

Although the Canadian MotionPicture Park and the back-lot can ac-commodate a lot of sets the film’sproducer, Deb Snyder, says that thecrew can’t leave sets up for long.When a scene has been shot, theyhave to consider tearing the setdown in order to have the roomneeded for the next set.

“We don’t strike until after we seedailies and our editor is cutting atthe same time. Zack loves shootingthings in order but unfortunately be-cause of the superhero costumes andthe amount of time it took to getthem ready and actors’ availabilityit’s not always doable. We do it as

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much as we can and as we go theyare editing at the same time and Ithink that helps. We are saving flatsin storage but because the film is somassive you have to make some ofthese hard choices so that it doesn’tget overblown in terms of costs. Wehave been flip-flopping. We toredown an apartment and then put abrownstone in its place and then wetore it down too so we are just con-stantly recycling.”

So was the 23 year wait for amovie based on the graphic novel

worth it? Snyder says that had he notbeen a fan of the novel, he probablywouldn’t have been as determined toget it made. He says that he sees it asa great story with great artwork, onethat made sense to turn into a filmdespite the obstacles.

“First of all Watchmen is the workthat made it okay for an adult to reada comic book. You could say ‘I amliterate but I read Watchmen.’ Sec-ondly, it is about the ultimate realityof the superhero. You are judge, juryand executioner and when you see acrime you solve that crime. If youtake that all the way to the end isn’tthat what (the movie’s villain)Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode)does? He says ‘kill millions to savebillions.’ This is the world’s punish-ment for flirting with World War III.If you look at it at face value, it ap-pears to be a moral exercise like thebombing of Hiroshima duringWorld War II, which I think is an ac-cepted thing now. People say ‘theysaved millions of lives so it was theright thing to do.’ But it is the samemoral question. A lot of things inthis book come out of that momentin history, that sense of sacrificingsome to save more. That is what it isabout. It is also a mystery and be-yond that it is a character movie.

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

because that is what makes it inter-esting and contrasts to the stand-point of superhero mythology andwhat we are used to now in terms ofsuperheroes in the cinema. Watch-men takes that apart and says ‘no.Superman doesn’t care about hu-manity. The bad guy wants worldpeace.’ That is the fun of it in that ittakes that perspective and neverflinches. It is my hope that you canlook at what Hollywood has pre-sented to you from a mythologicalstandpoint and then perhaps feelthat what happens here is the nor-mal thing. You can always see that inthe film because it never flinchesfrom what these guys (Moore andGibson) have done with these arche-types.”

That said he did have doubtsabout making the film. He admitsthat not having Alan Moore’s sup-port for the film was difficult. “Theonly reason not to do it was that Ididn’t have the master’s blessing. Iwould be a liar if I said I didn’t wanthim to like it even though I wouldmake no assumptions about how hefeels. I would hope that he wouldn’tthink it sucked super bad. I don’tknow why Warner said yes. I thinkeveryone thought ‘Watchmen issomething you should make into amovie.’ The studio thought ‘yes, it’s abig graphic novel and people likegraphic novels. They can be success-ful so let’s make that into a movie,’particularly with the success of 300.They wanted a sequel to that but Ididn’t know what that was. If Frank(Miller) had written another 300book then I would have talked aboutdoing that but I was not going to doit just to make money. When we(Snyder and Deb Snyder) decided tosettle on this as the next thing wewanted to do they got it into theirheads that it would work and the suc-cess of 300 made it viable. Whetherthere was some magical thing thatmade it happen I don’t know. I thinkit was perseverance over time thatwore down all the obstacles. It iscloser to the graphic novel than it hasever been. We got it and started tomake it into a period piece.”

The other concern he has hadfrom the beginning, he says, wasthat the film should be made withthe fans of the original material inmind. He says that he has alwaystaken that approach and hopes thatit works as well this time as it has inthe past.

“I open material and look at itand consider how the people whoare fans of it will react to it ratherthan whether it will be accessible toeveryone. It is an

“I am all aboutfinding the tone ofthe movie andmaking the moviebased on its tonerather than theparticulars of it...”

– Zack Snyder

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MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:48 PM


How the WestWas Sold

More than 20 years after it played

host to The Accused the Vancouver

Art Gallery is considered to be one

of the most viewed courthouse

exteriors on the planet.

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:48 PM


In words and pictures, a look at some of themost important locations in western Canada;Places that have helped to tell both our ownstories and those of others over the course

of several decades.

by Ian Caddell

It looks rural but film crews can

reach the Lower Seymour

Conservation Area in just minutes

from downtown Vancouver.

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:48 PM


he history of film and television production in western Canada,usually considered to be relatively new, dates back to the Roar-ing Twenties and includes every decade since then. What maybe surprising, given the fear of location burnout, is that some of

the locations used by Hollywood productions in past eras are still at the topof the list when location managers go looking for backdrops to fit scripts.

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

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

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

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

While the Art Gallery has fit into films portraying a number of eras, Al-berta’s Kananaskis Country, near Canmore, first hosted a production in1929 when it was chosen as a location for Eternal Love, starring John Bar-rymore. It’s still a hot property. In recent years the list of productionsshooting in the area has included the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain,The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and BrokenTrail, which won 16 Emmy nominations.

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

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

T

Winnipeg’s exchange district gives

the Manitoba industry an exterior

that can play both a small town and

turn-of-the-century city with equal

ease.

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:48 PM

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

The Watershed and Kananaskis Country give their respective film com-missions the advantage of offering producers an outdoor set within a halfhour drive of the downtown core of a major city, which gives the provincesa competitive edge over most American states. The same combinationdoes abound, however, on the prairies. Both Manitoba and Saskatchewancan deliver cities and countryside within minutes.

“We’re finding producers are attracted to the wide variety of rural andurban locations found in Saskatchewan,” says SaskFilm CEO and FilmCommissioner Susanne Bell. “Our cities easily represent a wide varietyof creative settings while our surrounding rural locations help completethe creative needs of the production. We’ve been very successful in land-ing productions that require urban settings, picturesque towns, scenic val-leys, rugged badlands, rolling prairie, country roads and a variety of farms.Our ‘rural bonus’ offered in our tax credit program provides financial in-centives to films that film, in part, outside of our major centers to ensureproducers can access a range of rural locations while also sharing the eco-nomic benefits of the industry across the province.”

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


“When you have alocation that is unique,it will draw people toyour region and oncethey are there, they willfind ways of shootingeverything else in thescript as close to thatplace as possible.”

– Susan Croome

Saskatchewan’s Killdeer Badlands

fit perfectly with the needs of The

Englishman’s Boy, a movie about

filmmakers shooting westerns on

location in Hollywood’s formative

years.

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:48 PM


“It’s not enough for film commissioners

and location managersto have an interest in

shooting on-site, the place has to

be available.”– Michael Cowles

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

The same approach occurs in Manitoba. Location managers in Win-nipeg can find a number of different looks and periods in the city’s ex-change district and then quickly and efficiently move the “circus” to thewide prairie. “It (the district) is one of North America’s best preserved,turn-of-the-century architectural districts and includes beautifully re-stored vaudeville theatres and historic operating train stations,” saysMichael Cowles, Manitoba Film and Sound’s manager of film programs.The area has been home to a number of period-set movies including therecent New in Town and Shall We Dance. Cowles says several films, mostnotably Oscar winner Capote, have moved seamlessly from the isolatedlook of the prairies to a more urban setting.

Accessibility has been a key to the success of some locations. It’s notenough for film commissioners and location managers to have an interestin shooting on-site, the place has to be available. Some places seem natu-ral locations but owners and managers may not be interested in workingwith a production. According to Albert Film’s communications directorKimberly Evans, the province’s Fort Edmonton has a lot to offer and hasbeen home to feature films, episodic television and music videos. She saysUS director Andrew Dominic, who used the fort for scenes in The Assas-sination of Jesse James said “there is magic w ith the light here.” The city can

Clockwise: Alberta’s Kananaskis

Country has been piling up credits

since the 1920s. More recently it

played Montana in the Oscar

winning Brokeback Mountain; The

versatile Fort Edmonton has hosted

train robbers in The Assassination of

Jesse James (shown) and

werewolves in Ginger Snaps;

Riverview Hospital’s bleak exteriors

and spacious hallways have made it

a hit with both Canadian and

international filmmakers.

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:48 PM


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

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

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

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

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

Crime Story

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:49 PM


July, 1998 I’m enjoying some mid-summer sunshine and a late lunch on thepatio of a Granville Street sports bar and grill when a sketchy, skinny dude whohas been cruising suspiciously around the place tries to pocket $40.00 that’s beenleft on a table by some recently departed patrons. Having been spotted in the act,sketchy dude bolts down Granville chased by a thick-necked bar employee whosoon drags him back up the street in a painful arm-lock. Howls of approval frompatrons and staff greet the returning hero with his conquered prey. These howlsreach a fever pitch after the captured thief is forced to apologize to the patiowaitress in front of a packed house of enthralled spectators. I look at the de-feated petty criminal and then at the juiced up crowd of alpha males frenziedlycelebrating his capture. It’s not hard to figure out who I’m more afraid of.September, 2004 Sitting in my office on UBC’s Point Grey campus and set-tling into my new job as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre,Film, and Creative Writing, I’m still haunted by the events of that sunny after-noon on the Granville Mall. In the intervening six years, feelings and intu-itions born on that day have coalesced into a narrative outline for a featurefilm, entitled Crime, tracking the lives of four disparate characters in contem-porary Vancouver all of whom become implicated, as either victims or perpe-trators, in a series of “criminal” acts. After a couple of false starts on this projectover the last few years, I feel I am finally ready to move from my usual placein front of the camera into the director’s chair. I enlist Robert French as myproducing partner and submit a proposal to UBC’s Hampton Research Fundfor $7000.00 to begin an improv- driven screenplay development process in-volving myself, my cinematographer, and eight actors.January, 2005 Still a few months before I’ll hear about my proposal but I’m alreadythinking about casting. The character of Rick is a former top-tier junior hockeyplayer taking one last desperate crack at making the pros by playing Varsity hockeyat UBC. There’s a student named Evan Frayne in the Intermediate year of our act-ing program whose actually played some junior hockey and definitely has some ofthe unnamable haunted quality that I’m looking for but I’m just not totally con-vinced he’s ready for a role of this magnitude. Better keep looking around. March Well, they don’t tend to use the term “green light” in academic circles butthe end result is the same. I’ve cleared the first hurdle and secured just under$7000.00 in funding for the workshop. Now, casting can begin in earnest. As thefilm consists of two separate storylines that don’t converge until late in the thirdact, I’ve only concerned myself with casting the two leads from storyline A inorder to get started. Since Carole Tarlington helped cast the hockey pic Mira-cle a few years back, I figure she’ll have the inside track on the talent pool I needto tap into. Time to get on the phone. May Two of the four leads are now cast! Fortunately, Carole and I go back afew years so she didn’t need much convincing to generously donate her timeand expertise to the project. Canadian independent cinema only survives on thekindness of people like Carole and I am truly grateful for her input. Link Baker,a strong and sensitive actor with a solid hockey background, will create the roleof Rick. He’s the perfect fit and I’m thrilled that he’s ready to jump into the proj-ect with real enthusiasm. The role of Crystal (an emotionally fragile first-yearstudent who latches on to Rick) was a much tougher nut to crack. After severaldays of seeing a number of very strong young actresses, the Crystal I had car-ried in my mind for so long had still failed to materialize. I had almost begunto believe that this person was entirely a figment of my imagination; that I hadconjured her up to serve a particular dramatic conceit and that, in reality, nosuch person could actually exist. Then, at our final session, out of my psycheand into the casting studio walked Crystal in the person of one Andrea Whit-burn, a very green but very talented 17 year old fresh from the Langley Schoolof Fine Arts. Anyone can learn technique and I work with young actors all thetime. This young woman is the genuine article and her instincts are right on themoney. And, for that, there is no substitute. I am stunned, grateful, and very ex-cited to get to work!August Finally, the workshop begins! I have provided both actors with detailedcharacter backgrounds and, over the past few months, these have been aug-mented through collaborative discussion and the actors’ own pychological/be-havioural research. Tomorrow I’ll give them a detailed plot synopsis and achronological scene breakdown and over the course of five eight hour workdays, versions of each scene in the breakdown, as well as scenes of back-storyand character history, will be improvised and explored with multiple variationsand adjustments. All improvisations will be videotaped by Bojan Bodruzic, mydirector of photography and, at the end of the workshop, I will cull dialogue, aswell as useful and appropriate behavioural sequences, from the videotaped im-provisations and, with them, produce a written first draft of the screenplay.Well, half of it, anyway.

June, 2006 In the midst of a full teaching load, a couple of theatre gigs, and thearrival of my son Jacob back in March, I have finally carved a polished draft ofhalf a screenplay out of the hours of videotaped improvisations between Linkand Andrea. Time now to pick up the pace and start work-shopping the otherhalf. My lovely and talented wife, Frida Betrani, will create the role of Tula, a re-covering alcoholic working in her father’s Lebanese restaurant, and I’ve ap-proached Tygh Runyan to play Tula’s pot-smoking, unemployed musicianboyfriend, Brent. While I feel deeply about all four lead characters, I feel par-ticularly attached to Brent. He is the assemblage of a number of people I wasclose to growing up in Scarborough, Ontario and is, for me, an archetypal rep-resentative of the countless wonderfully talented but socially impaired youngmen growing older by the second as they languish in their parents’ basementsall across this country. My connection to the character is so strong and my ideaof him so specific that I spend many agonizing hours wrestling with the idea of

playing him myself before deciding that my plate is full enough producing, writ-ing, and directing. Tygh is an extremely talented young man with an impressivetrack record in local independent film and I’m sure that, together, we can crafta character that will serve the story well.September With the Frida/Tygh improvs in the can, I am now deep in thethroes of wrestling the other half of my screenplay into shape. I’m also about togo back to the Hampton committee for a larger grant to take us into produc-tion in August ’07. The maximum amount available to me is $70 000 and, ofcourse, I’m asking for the whole shot. This is, of course, a paltry amount ofmoney with which to make a film but, given my embrace of the rigid restraintsof the infamous DOGMA ’95 manifesto (available lighting, no music, real lo-cations, location sound only etc), and my access to the UBC Film Program’sDVX-100 camera as well as campus locations, I’m confident it can be done.The raw and gritty DOGMA aesthetic is exactly what this story needs and Ibelieve in the manifesto whole-heartedly. In the words of my hero, Mike Wattof the legendary punk-band The Minutemen, let’s cut out all the “bloat” and“jam econo!”March, 2007 In between all of my other responsibilities, progress on the scripthas been halting at best. The good news this month is that the Hampton com-mittee does indeed want me to make this film. The bad news is that they wantme to do it with $22,900. If I really don’t think I can complete the project at thisbudget level I am encouraged to pass on the money. I assure them that I will getit done. Meanwhile, I’ve watched Evan Frayne have breakthrough after break-through in class and on stage at the Freddy Wood Theatre. He’s really emergedas a formidable actor and if I was starting this all over today he’d be giving mea lot to think about. But I’m certainly in capable hands with Link and I’m con-fident there are lots of great opportunities waiting for Evan just around the cor-ner. April Alar Thunder is dead and that has changed everything. A gifted drummerwith a streak of self-sabotage a mile wide, he was one of the essential inspira-tions for Brent. Just days ago, after a steady decline into alcoholism and despair,he took his own life. This personal project has just gotten even more personaland, as awkward and uncomfortable as this situation is, I know what I have todo. A movie lasts forever and I’ve only got one chance to get this exactly right;to breathe life into a character that I so desperately want people to witness andunderstand. I screw up my courage and call Tygh to let him know that I’m start-ing over and taking over the role. He understands what I’m going through andis more gracious to me than I possibly deserve. I feel stupid, embarrassed, andawful. He’s a wonderful actor and there’s nothing he’s done wrong. This is justwhat I have to do. It’s what I should have done from the beginning.June After a frenzied round of new improvs between me and Frida, I’ve finallygotten the writing into high gear and am closing in on a final draft; not a mo-ment too soon as we go to camera in mid-August. Bojan and I have decided totake the DOGMA restrictions a step further by shooting every scene in a con-tinuous moving master with no coverage. This is obviously a dangerous strat-

“I know this tiny film faces an uncertainfuture in a world where digital

technology has unleashed a massivewave of innovative and talented young

filmmakers into an already over-crowded marketplace.”

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:49 PM

ment as the Chair; Mary Anne Waterhouse, Anagram Pictures, as Vice Chair:Jayme Pfahl, Crescent Entertainment, as Secretary; and Karyn Edwards, Bright-light Pictures as Treasurer. “Over the years members of the eight-person BranchCouncil have included a who’s who of a producing community that has comea long way in 20 years,” says Scott.

Bromley says that there are several advantages to having a local branch. “Thevalue to local producers of having an organization right here in BC that canmeet face to face with all the players involved in the industry, about the issuesand opportunities in this fast changing environment, can’t be underestimated.These valuable relationships very much ensure our ability to create and mar-ket our best product to the world. And now with the Heritage Minister (JamesMoore) here in BC, the opportunity for open dialogue is even greater.” ■

Business Strategies, an intensive 3-day workshopfor film, television and digital media professionals seeking business andmanagement training. Scott says the Branch also supports over a dozen in-dustry initiatives including the crazy8s Film Festival, the CFC Go West Proj-ect Lab, the VIFF Film & Television Forum and the Vancouver Film CriticsCircle Awards.

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

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


egy with no escape hatches through which to rescue scenes that just don’t workand I was initially quite mortified when Bojan floated the idea. But after watch-ing the Dardenne brothers’ L’Enfant and Lodge Kerrigan’s Kean at his sugges-tion, I agree that there is just no substitute for the particular brand of tensionand dread that this style can create and that it suits the tone of this film perfectly.We agree to build in a solid week of camera rehearsals to shape the delicatedance that he will need to do with the actors on the day. July Ah, the joys of securing locations on a shoestring budget. A former stu-dent of mine and his girlfriend have been gracious enough to let me cast theireccentrically decorated apartment as Brent and Tula’s place and I’ve been ableto finagle access to Place Vanier residence at UBC for the bulk of the Rick andCrystal scenes. The big challenges have been the Lebanese restaurant whereTula works and the bar where the two storylines collide. Friends of Frida’s fam-ily have been coerced into opening up their shawarma place for us on their day

off but not before pressuring me for more money than I had originally offeredthem. Turns out they have a son in LA who knows how much these sorts of gigsusually pay. Great. For the bar, I followed the only lead I really had and inquiredat a place that had once been co-owned by a former student of mine at the Van-couver Film School. I can’t possibly afford to close down the main room for aday nor could I deal with all of the clearance issues for the booze logos all overthe place, but they will let me use their back room during business hours if Ipromise to feed my cast and crew from their menu. Perfect! It’s certainly not thelocation I’ve been dreaming of but I figure I’m not going to get anything else thatI can afford so I better damn well make it work.August It’s two weeks before principal photography and one of my lead actorshas dropped out. Link has relocated to LA and simply can’t afford to come backup here for the paltry $50.00 a day UBCP Ultra Low-Budget rate that is all I cangive him. He feels terrible but he’s really up against it and feels that he has nochoice. Given that this whole project has been based around actors buildingtheir own characters from the ground up so that, by the time the camera rolls,their works seems effortless, this turn of events is a serious spanner in the works.I phone Rob French and break the news. He can’t believe that I don’t sound theleast bit panicked. There’s a good reason for this. I’ve already called Evan.September Phew! 115 pages in 12 days with a fearless crew of five. The actorswere magnificent and I can only hope that I’ve managed to hold my own. Evanslid into this role with an astonishing level of ease and, in a way, is the true sav-iour of this project. Andrea was absolutely stunning and everyone who workedon the film is asking me where I found her. They are all expecting big thingsfrom her in the future. And words cannot describe how proud I am of the deepand nuanced work of my amazing wife. Bojan was an absolute rock behind thecamera and, on a project where location sound is everything, you can’t do anybetter than having Jeff Carter swinging the boom and spinning the dials. Thingswill have to sit for a while as I get re-engulfed in a full time teaching schedule,but we’ll be heading into some seriously indie post-production as soon as pos-sible with Jeff cutting sound on his home computer and Bojan taking care ofpicture on his. May the digital gods be with us.May, 2008 You might be able to make a film without lights, without a first AD,

without a lot of things, but I’ll be damned if I ever try and make another filmwithout a post-production supervisor! Jeff and Bojan have both done yeoman’sservice on their respective ends of things but the movement between two sys-tems in two different apartments across town has been riddled with frustration.Luckily, we’ve had some generous help from post-production sound guru MarcBenoit who helped us tidy up some bizarre digital anomalies at a drastically re-duced rate. Then came the final output to HD-Cam at Deluxe. The tape trans-fer was fine but, after several passes, the DVD copies I requested were stillriddled with stuttering frames that no one seemed able to explain. Completelyout of ideas, Ken Johns at Deluxe decided to try the process one last desperatetime on a machine that, for at least a year, had been unable to run for more thanforty minutes without crashing. And it worked. Isn’t technology wonderful? June I’ve just gotten home from the ritual round of drinks with the Toronto In-ternational Film Festival programmers who are in town to screen the local offer-ings. Put a room full of film-makers together trying to stay casual, light, and wittywhile we try and find just the right moment to corner Steve Gravestock for our15 minutes of face-time and you’ve got something that resembles the first episodeof a season of The Bachelorette. I’ve executed the delicate art of schmoozing to thebest of my ability and now it’s all up to the film itself which they will screen at theVancity Theatre tomorrow morning. I just pray they’re not too hung-over.Early July Rob French got the call this afternoon. He knew the news was badwhen he realized that the caller was Jesse Wente, TIFF’s assistant programmer.They always give the bad news calls to the assistant programmers. I’m crushed.I can tell myself over and over that TIFF isn’t the be all and end all but I’m kid-ding myself if I don’t admit that a Canadian film has a much tougher road to hoeinternationally without that endorsement. What’s to be done? Suck it up andkeep putting it out there.Late July Okay, now I’m really worried. The Montreal World Film Festival haspassed on us as well and I’m racked with self-doubt. I feel like we’ve told an im-portant story in a compelling and truthful way. Can I be that off the mark? Ishow the film to Canadian film pioneer Larry Kent who I know will give it tome straight. “Congratulations,” he says to me when he emerges from my livingroom. “You’ve made a tough, courageous, and absolutely uncompromising film.”“Great,” I think to myself, “that’s exactly what I wanted to make.” “And,” he goeson to say, “nobody’s gonna touch it with a ten foot pole.”August 12 I awoke today to the glorious news that Larry Kent was wrong.Canadian Images programmer Terry McEvoy has invited Crime to screen atthe Vancouver International Film Festival in late September. This has all beena deeply humbling experience and I am flooded with joy and relief. I know thistiny film faces an uncertain future in a world where digital technology has un-leashed a massive wave of innovative and talented young filmmakers into an al-ready over-crowded marketplace. But I know that, for at least two nights in mybeloved home city, these characters that have meant so much to me for so long,and the dedicated and courageous work of the artists who have brought themto life, will have their moment. And for that, I am truly grateful.Epilogue I’m working out the details of a trip to Adelaide, Australia to show thefilm either on campus at Flinders University or at the Mercury Theatre whichis an art-house rep cinema downtown. Some folks who teach in the film pro-gram at Flinders saw the film at VIFF and are really interested in the filmmak-ing research angle of the project. This trip, which would include me makingsome formal presentations to their film production students, would be the firststep towards developing an international collaboration between Flinders andUBC, hopefully culminating in the production of a feature film made by facultyand students from our two institutions. Rob and I are considering the possibil-ity of trying to set up a tour of university film departments across Canada. Weare also in the very early stages of having a sales agent Rob works with tryingto negotiate a TV sale for us. We’re waiting to hear from a few more festivalsbefore we kick that process into high gear. ■

“...for at least two nights in my belovedhome city, these characters that have

meant so much to me for so long, and thededicated and courageous work of the

artists who have brought them to life, willhave their moment.”

CFTPA cont. from page 13

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:49 PM


As any producer will tell you, provin-cial and federal tax credits play a keyrole in financing most Canadian pro-ductions. Many financiers will lendmoney against a production’s antici-pated tax credits. These tax credits,which are calculated based on theproduction’s labour costs, can be upto 25% of the labour spend for fed-eral credits and 35% for provincialcredits. With the introduction of theDAVE credit, producers in BritishColumbia got the chance to signifi-cantly increase their tax credits.

The “DAVE” (or Digital Animationor Visual Effects) tax credit providesrefundable tax credits of up to an ad-ditional 15% on any accredited qual-ified BC labour expenditures directlyattributable to digital animation orvisual effects. In order to qualify forthe DAVE credit, a production mustfirst qualify for either the basic Filmand Television tax credit or the Pro-duction Services tax credit. Once theproduction has qualified for such taxcredits, then it can also potentiallyqualify for the DAVE tax credit. Ac-tivities that can qualify for the DAVEtax credit include designing, model-ing, rendering, lighting in animation,painting animations, animating,compositing and visual effects pho-tography. Visual effects photographyincludes green screen photography,element photography, plate photog-raphy, and digital scanning, just toname a few. Audio effects, in-cameraeffects, credit rolls, animation createdsolely for promotional materials, andsubtitles do not qualify for the DAVEtax credit.

In addition to the prerequisite thata production must first qualify for ei-ther the Film and Television taxcredit or the Production Services taxcredit, in order to be eligible for theDAVE tax credit, a production mustmeet two further requirements.First, a production has to pass the“Primarily Digital” test. In order topass this test, each effect must becreated primarily (i.e. more than50%) with digital technology.

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

ated with digital technology, a pro-ducer can either use the “costmethod”, whereby you divide thelabour expenditure for digital workby the total labour expenditure (me-chanical and digital) of creating theeffect, the “hour method”, wherebyyou divide the hours spent on digitalwork by the total work hours (me-chanical and digital) spent on the ef-fect, or the “other method”, which isdetermined by looking at the total ef-fort expended to create the effect,but which must be reasonable andsubstantiated. The labour does nothave to have been expended inBritish Columbia to qualify for thetax credit.

Secondly, a production has to passthe “Directly Attributable” hurdle.This requires that all of the labourexpenditures included in a produc-tion’s DAVE calculation must be di-rectly attributable to DAVEactivities. This means that the wagesof each individual who contributes toDAVE activities can only be claimedin direct proportion to the amountof time they spent doing DAVE ac-tivities. More specifically, to includethe full salary of an individual in cal-culating for DAVE credits, that indi-vidual must have spent 100% of theirtime on DAVE activities.

For example, a computer anima-tor would qualify as 100% labour di-rectly attributable to DAVE.However, if an individual spendsonly part of their time on DAVE ac-tivities, the producer must deter-mine the percentage of time thatindividual spends on DAVE activitiesand allocate that percentage of theirsalary to the DAVE calculation.

Lori Massini joined Roberts & Stahlin 2007. Her practice focuses on theentertainment industry, assistingclients with all aspects of entertain-ment law from drafting agreementsand negotiating the hiring of actors,writers, and directors to advising mu-sicians and recording artists. Lori isactively involved in the arts, and is anaccomplished dancer and musician.

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R-rated movie. It is a weird movie,actually. That’s just the way it is andI hope people come to it and dis-cover it because it is a strange film

in all the best ways. Everyone whomakes a movie says ‘I am doing it forthis reason.’ But I am very clearabout it. I am trying to get it right forthe fans.” ■

Watching Zack cont. from page 19

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:49 PM


Brightlight WinsVFCC AwardBrightlight Pictures’ Fifty Dead MenWalking won the Best British Colum-bia Film at the recent Vancouver FilmCritics Circle Awards. The film starsJim Sturgess as a young Belfast manhired by the British Police to spy onthe IRA. The film was directed byKari Scogland and produced byPeter La Terriere, Skogland andBrightlight’s Shawn Williamson andStephen Hegyes.

The other nominees in the cate-gory were Infinity Features’ Stone ofDestiny, directed by Charles MartinSmith and produced by AndrewBoswell and Rob Merilees and Edi-son and Leo, which was directed byNeil Burns and produced by DeanEnglish, Karen Powell and David

Valleau. Infinity Features’ WilliamVince, who produced several BritishColumbia films, was an executive pro-ducer of both Stone and Edison, andwon an Oscar nomination for Capote,won the Achievement Award forContribution to the British ColumbiaFilm Industry posthumously. Vincedied of cancer in June of 2008. Theaward was accepted by Rob Merilees.

The Quebec film C’est pas moi, je lejure! won three awards at the cere-mony. The movie, which tells the storyof a boy who causes problems for hisneighbours and family members whenhis mother moves to Greece, wonawards for Best Canadian Film, BestDirector of a Canadian Film (PhilippeFalardeau), and Best Supporting Ac-tress in a Canadian Film (SuzanneClément). Natar Ungalaaq won the

Best Actor in a Canadian Film awardfor The Necessities of Life; MarianneFortier won the Best Actress in aCanadian Film award for Maman estchez le coiffeur, and Randy Quaid wonthe Best Supporting Actor in a Cana-dian Film award for Real Time.

Sean Penn won the Best Actoraward for Milk, which also won theBest Film prize, while Kate Winsletwon the VFCC award for Best Ac-tress for her performances in thefilms Revolutionary Road and TheReader. Rosemarie DeWitt wasnamed Best Supporting Actress forRachel at the Wedding, while thelate Heath Ledger won the BestSupporting Actor award for TheDark Knight and David Fincherwon the Best Director award forThe Curious Case of Benjamin But-

ton. The Germany/Turkey/Italy co-production The Edge of Heaven wonthe Best Foreign Language Filmaward.

West Strong at GeniesWestern Canadian films made theirstrongest showing in years whennominations for the 2008 GenieAwards were announced in February.Movies from the west accounted for15 nominations including two forbest picture. .

Alberta’s Passchendaele led theway with six nominations whileBritish Columbia’s Normal and Man-itoba’s The Stone Angel won fournominations each. My Winnipeg wona best documentary nod.

Both Passchendaele and Normalwon nominations for best picture.Passchendaele also won nominationsfor art direction (Carol Spier andJanice Blackie-Goodine), costumes(Wendy Partridge), overall sound(Lou Solakofski, Garrell Clark andSteve Foster) sound editing (JaneTattersall, Kevin Banks, BarryGilmore, Andy Malcolm and DaveRose) and actor in a lead role (PaulGross.)

Normal’s other nominations werefor directing (Bessai), best support-ing actor (Callum Keith Rennie)and screenplay (Travis McDonald.The Stone Angel won nominationsfor art direction (Rob Gray), cine-matography (Bobby Bukowski),score (John McCarthy), and leadingactress (Ellen Burstyn.)

The Quebec film Necessities of Lifeled all films with eight nominationsincluding best picture. In addition toPasschendaele and Normal, othernominees for best picture includedAmal and Everything is Fine. The2009 Genies will be held in Ottawaon April 4.

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

FINAL EDIT

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

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:49 PM

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:49 PM

The KodakTotem AwardDesigned to emulate the

artistic combination of the artand science of cinematography,

the Kodak Totem Awardis presented annually to each of

the Genie nominees in the'Achievement in Cinematography'

category.

This award symbolizes the ongoingdedication and commitment

to excellence that the nomineesbring to their craft.

Kodak is a proud sponsorof the Genie Awards.

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

Gregory Middleton csc

Fugitive Pieces

Nicolas Bolduc

Le Banquet

Bobby Bukowski

The Stone Angel

Pierre Gill csc

The American TrapLe piège américain

Sara Mishara

Everything is FineTout est Parfait

Gregory Middleton csc

Fugitive Pieces

Nicolas Bolduc

Le Banquet

Bobby Bukowski

The Stone Angel

Pierre Gill csc

The American TrapLe piège américain

Sara Mishara

Everything is FineTout est Parfait

The KodakTotem AwardDesigned to emulate the

artistic combination of the artand science of cinematography,

the Kodak Totem Awardis presented annually to each of

the Genie nominees in the'Achievement in Cinematography'

category.

This award symbolizes the ongoingdedication and commitment

to excellence that the nomineesbring to their craft.

Kodak is a proud sponsorof the Genie Awards.

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

MarApr2009:Layout 1 3/17/2009 10:49 PM

march - april 2009: reel west magazine

Documents

reel west marchapril

reel west digest

watchmenreel west magazine

zack snyders watchmen

yearslocations issue

zackafter zack snyders

western c anadas film

lead rolein