CBC Toronto reporter Chris Glover has filed a police complaint after he was licked during a live television hit Tuesday evening. Glover was at a downtown Toronto comedy club gathering reaction to Just For Laughs takeover of SiriusXM’s Canada Laughs channel when a man approached Glover, made faces at the camera and then licked and kissed the reporter’s ear and neck. The man in question, actor Boyd Banks who has appeared on Little Mosque on the Prairie and Designated Survivor, among other shows, has since apologized for the incident, suggesting he needs mental health help.
TVA Group has announced its acquiring Montreal-based producer and television distributor Incendo for $19.5 million. With offices in Montreal, Toronto and Los Angeles, Incendo produces film, television series and documentaries for international markets. In addition to handling theatrical distribution in Quebec for Paramount Pictures, the company is also involved in a joint distribution venture with Twentieth Century Fox International Television (Fox/Incendo). France Lauzière, President and CEO of TVA Group and Chief Content Officer of Quebecor Content, said in a press release that the acquisition is part of the company’s strategic push into the Anglophone market.
Thunderbird Entertainment Group has announced that Métis author Cherie Dimaline will work with Vancouver-based TV writer and producer Jennica Harper (Cardinal, Motive) to adapt Dimaline’s award-winning novel The Marrow Thieves for television. The series will be produced by the company’s scripted division with Dimaline and Harper set to executive produce alongside Alexandra Raffé and Ivan Fecan, executive chair of Thunderbird’s board. The Marrow Thieves is set in a dystopian future where Earth has been ravaged by climate change. Wanted for their bone marrow, which contains the lost ability to dream, North American Indigenous people are being hunted by government recruiters and used as unwilling donors. The Marrow Thieves won the Governor General’s Award for English-language children’s literature and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers in 2017 and has been a Canadian bestseller for over a year.
The Canadian Academy of Arts and Sciences (CARAS) and CBC have revealed more of the artists set to perform at the 2019 JUNO Awards Broadcast, hosted by Sarah McLachlan. Francophone singer-songwriter Coeur de pirate, Québec rapper Loud, country music duo The Reklaws and Canadian Indigenous tenor Jeremy Dutcher will all take the stage. They join previously-announced performers Loud Luxury, bülow and Corey Hart. The 2019 JUNO Awards will be broadcast live from Budweiser Gardens in London, ON on Sunday, Mar. 17 at 8 p.m. ET on CBC, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Gem, and cbcmusic.ca/junos.
The Marijuana Chronicles has started principal photography in Toronto. Based on a true story that took place in 1972 over 98 days, the film is a look at the physical, scientific and social effects of marijuana use on an all-female study group. Written and directed by Craig Pryce (The Good Witch, Goosebumps, HBO’s The Dark), the story was optioned from Toronto Star investigative reporter Diana Zionislic, who acts as story consultant. The Marijuana Chronicles features an all-Canadian female cast including Julia Stone (Weirdos, The Killing), Morgan Kohan (Star Trek Discovery, Kim’s Convenience), Tymika Tafari (Murdoch Mysteries), Brittany Bristow (Royal Matchmaker, Shadowtown), and Kyla Young (Alias Grace). Luke Bilyk (Degrassi) and Greg Calderone (Saving Hope) also appear.
The Quebecor Fund board of directors has named the production companies and distributors whose projects will receive funding in the 17th round of the Film Production Assistance Program. The selected producers and distributors will share a total of $920,000. The four successful projects include Xavier Dolan-directed feature film Matthias et Maxine (Productions Sons of Manual inc.). Since its 2010 launch, the program has granted 68 film projects and 14 event projects financial assistance, totalling more than $12.8 million.
Shaw Rocket Fund is celebrating 20 years of investing in Canadian-made media content for children and youth. Since 1999, the fund has invested more than $220 million to fuel 865 audio-visual programs and digital media content. It supports creative programming in both of Canada’s official languages, as well as Indigenous and other languages, on all platforms that air Canadian children’s and youth programming. Among the critically acclaimed projects the fund has supported are The Breadwinner (Aircraft Pictures), which received both Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, and Snowtime/La guerre des tuques 3D (CarpeDiem Film & TV), which received the 2015 Cineplex Golden Screen Award for the highest-grossing Canadian film at the domestic box office that year.
The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) has opened submissions for the 18th annual DGC Awards. There are some new submission timelines with the deadline for Television Series, Movies for Television and Mini-Series now Apr. 14. The deadline for Feature Film, Documentary and Short Film is Aug. 11. You can review the submission guide here.
The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) has announced the finalists for the 2019 WGC Screenwriting Awards. In their 23rd year, the awards celebrate the best in Canadian screenwriting on Canadian-made TV, films, documentaries and web series. Gavin Crawford, writer, comedian and host of CBC Radio’s Because News, will host this year’s awards gala on April 29 at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning’s Koerner Hall in Toronto. Find the full list of nominees here.
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