TV & Film News – Unions and guilds call on Telefilm to stop funding productions not meeting minimum standards

Telefilm Canada is being urged to stop funding productions that refuse to sign collective agreements or abide by minimum standards by a coalition of eight unions and guilds representing 87,000 film and television workers. The organizations – Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), Association des Réalisateurs et Réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ), Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (Canada) (IATSE), NABET 700-M UNIFOR Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinéma (SARTEC), Union des artistes (UDA), and Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) – want the Crown agency to adopt the same policy in place at the Canada Media Fund (CMF), requiring productions funded by Telefilm to remain in good standing with industry unions and guilds. In a letter sent to the agency on Tuesday, the groups said Telefilm’s “problematic practices undermine the entire production ecosystem in Canada, leaving creative industry professionals unrepresented and unprotected.” Telefilm says it is still in discussion with unions and guilds on the issue and exploring “how we can contribute to finding sustainable solutions in this space.” Read more here.

Telefilm Canada hosts its virtual Annual Public Assembly on Nov. 28 at 1 p.m. ET. Sylvain Lafrance, Chair of the Board, and Julie Roy, Executive Director and CEO, will look back on the past year and share priorities for the future. Set to broadcast on the agency’s Youtube channel, the meeting will be available in English and French, with subtitles, as well as American Sign Language (ASL) and Quebec Sign Language (LSQ) interpretation.

Rogers Xfinity has launched – a suite of in-home services leveraging Comcast’s product and technology platform. As part of the launch, Rogers has introduced Rogers Xfinity Streaming, giving customers access to top streaming apps and more content, all in one place. This is the first Rogers product powered by Comcast’s next-generation Entertainment OS as part of a 10-year agreement that also includes broadband and smart home tech, and an expanded suite of home security products developed by Comcast and Xfinity.

CBC was the number-one Canadian destination for live news coverage and results for the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, Nov. 5, according to data provided by the network. Beginning at 8 p.m. ET, 3.8 million viewers tuned in for CBC News Live Special: America Votes, led by chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault on CBC and CBC News Network, which garnered a combined average audience of 639,000 viewers. TV audiences peaked at 10:12 p.m. ET with an average minute audience of 957,000, when correspondent Richard Madan was reporting from Philadelphia on the importance of Pennsylvania to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. CBC also attracted more than 3 million combined unique visitors to cbcnews.ca and the CBC News App, with the Results Tracker alone drawing more than four million page views as of 9 a.m. ET on Nov. 6. CBC Radio coverage reached 840,000 listeners and garnered an average minute audience of 112,000. 

CBC and Sphere Media have announced that production is underway on new original comedy Small Achievable Goals (8×30), co-created by and starring Meredith MacNeill and Jennifer Whalen. The series, currently filming in Toronto and Hamilton, will premiere in winter 2025 on CBC and CBC Gem. It follows odd couple Julie (Whalen) and Kris (MacNeill), as they are thrust together to produce a podcast while grappling with “the change” – aka menopause, setting off on a journey to help each other through workplace challenges, office politics, dating and relationship drama, and serious health concerns. 

Blue Fox Entertainment Canada has inked a deal to acquire the assets of entertainment distributor Unobstructed View Inc. and its U.S. sister company Unobstructed View LLC in a move that expands Blue Fox’s distribution footprint across North America. Announced during the American Film Market by Blue Fox Canada President David Hudakoc and EVP Ian Goggins, the move will see founder Jonathan Gross exit the company after a transition period. The former rock critic founded Unobstructed View in 1993, launching a direct-to-consumer site in 2017. UV is the exclusive distributor of Criterion Collection in Canada and has had success distributing Corner Gas and Kenny vs. Spenny, among other content.

OUTtv has launched on Prime Video in New Zealand as an add-on subscription, as well as co-commissioning Winner Winner Chicken Dinner with TVNZ, produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production New Zealand. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner is a new game show, hosted by New Zealand drag queens Kita Mean and Anita Wigl’it. In each episode, they invite three unsuspecting members of the general public into their living room to go up against each other in a series of outrageous chicken-themed games, changing the rules on a whim, doubling points for extreme behaviour and generally causing as much chaos as possible. 

Marjorie Beaucage is among those set to receive a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts during a ceremony Thursday at Rideau Hall. A creative documentary filmmaker who calls Duck Lake, SK home, Beaucage is a Two-Spirit Métis Auntie, filmmaker, ‘art-ivist’ and educator. She has dedicated her life’s work to creating social change, with her more than 40 films giving voice to those often unheard in mainstream stories. Her last project, Reducing the Harms of Colonialism, addressed harm reduction, with her work tackling difficult topics with groups that have been historically and systemically overlooked, such as Two-Spirit youth, sex workers, survivors of sexual abuse, Indigenous women living with HIV, people experiencing homelessness, and people facing addictions.