Report recommends overhaul of CanCon rules
OTTAWA (CP) -- Canadian content rules in film and television need a dramatic overhaul and should be centralized under one federal organization, says a report commissioned by the Heritage Department.
The convoluted points system to determine Canadian content has remained relatively unchanged for 30 years and is frequently working at cross-purposes, says the report by Francois Macerola.
"The federal government's film and television policy infrastructure is fragmented and, as a result, it lacks coherence, synergy and transparency," says the report released Tuesday.
Macerola recommends replacing the points system with one based more heavily upon creative expenditures, including weighted categories for money spent on authors, creative collaborators, performers and technicians.
Productions should be elegible for greater tax and direct government support as their Canadian content increases.
Canadian ownship rules should remain and new rules be enacted requiring that the top three creative positions of any production -- writer, director and lead performer -- be Canadian, subject to a series of options "providing the necessary flexibility for producers."
Subject matter should be left solely to the creators of a production, Macerola recommends.
He also would like an exemption on the rule limiting TV advertising to 12 minutes per hour that would permit extra ads promoting Canadian feature films.
This is the fourth report released this year on the state of the Canadian television industry and even industry players appear swamped by the deluge.
Halifax-based producer Wayne Grigsby says he's not sure how all the studies fit together, although clearly the common thread is that the current "chaotic" funding system needs to be fixed.
"Whether laying in another level of bureaucrats to make decisions is going to help, I don't know," he said from the set of his new series for W, A Guy and a Girl.
"Cleaner and simpler and more co-ordinated would be a definite blessing and make life easier for everyone involved. Surely to God we can find a simpler way to do this."
That's precisely the failure of the Macerola report, said Brian Topp, executive director of ACTRA Toronto Performers, the actors' union.
Canadian content rules need to be simpler, tighter and clearer, he said.
"This report takes us in exactly the opposite direction. The proposed new rules are more complex, more permissive and would dilute, not strengthen, Canadian content."
Topp contends that the Macerola proposal would allow productions with lead foreign actors, writers and directors to be defined as Cancon and suggests the report be shelved as a deserving addition to the government's collection of unhelpful studies.
Three reports had previously been released this spring:
* In March, a coalition representing TV actors, directors, writers and technicians unions declared a state of crisis in prime time and urged the federal government, private broadcasters and regulators to do better.
The Coalition of Canadian Audio-visual Unions called for more spending on dramatic series and for a tightening of the rules that define drama content.
* Last month, broadcaster Trina McQueen submitted her long-awaited report to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, calling on Ottawa to invest more money in homegrown television to halt the erosion of English-language drama. She proposed the expenditure of $30 million annually over five years.
* Last week, a massive, 872-page report prepared by the Commons heritage committee under the chairmanship of Liberal MP Clifford Lincoln recommended increased funding -- and parliamentary accountability -- for the CBC, a hold on further foreign ownership in Canadian media and a moratorium on media convergence, all to improve Canadian broadcasting.
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Recommendations
OTTAWA (CP) -- Recommendations from a report released Tuesday entitled Canadian Content in the 21st Century in Film and Television Productions: A Matter of Cultural Identity:
* Create a single arms-length organization called the Canadian Content Commission responsible for certifying Canadian content in television and film productions.
* Replace the current points system for determining Canadian content with a weighted system based on creative expenditures.
* Distribution of Canadian feature films should continue to be reserved for Canadian-owned and controlled companies.
* Provide government financial support to help Canadian distributors establish regional services.
* Allow broadcasters to promote Canadian feature films with ads that exceed the 12-minutes per hour advertising limit on TV.
* Continue to recognize co-productions with foreign producers as Canadian content, develop minimum requirements for such co-productions and seek preferential treatment deals with European Union partners.
* Help aboriginal producers in Canada find creative and financial partnerships with aboriginal producers abroad.
E-Mail Takes Flight on United
United Airlines is set to announce Tuesday that it will begin offering in-flight e-mail services on all its U.S. domestic flights by the end of the year, according to a U.K. representative for the company.
The announcement will represent a first by a U.S. airline, and marks a strong move by United to woo business fliers and drum up added revenue in the face of strong competition by low-cost competitors. United is currently operating under bankruptcy-court protection, making its need to lure business travelers even more essential.
The new e-mail capabilities build on the JetConnect service already provided on United flights by Verizon Communication's Airfone subsidiary. JetConnect currently offers news and weather as well as instant messaging and text messaging for $5.99 a flight.
New and Improved
The JetConnect service will boast added e-mail capabilities by the end of the year, at a cost of $15.98 a flight plus $0.10 per kilobyte of data over 2 kilobytes, the representative said. The e-mail service is being provided by Tenzing Communications.
More details of the service are expected to be released when United makes the official announcement later Tuesday.
The representative said that the carrier has no plans to extend the service outside of the U.S. until it measures demand domestically.
New Music Releases
Here are the new CD releases for Tuesday, June 17, 2003:
* AM RADIO Radio Active (Elektra)
* BOB MARLEY Live At The Roxy (Island)
* CLEM SNIDE Soft Spots (Linus Entertainment)
* COAL CHAMBER B-Sides (Roadrunner)
* DANNII MINOGUE Neon Nights (Warner)
* EASTMOUNTAINSOUTH Eastmountainsouth (Roadrunner)
* ETHER SEEDS Ether Seeds (Roadrunner)
* FORTY FOOT ECHO Forty Foot Echo (Hollywood)
* LONESTAR Greatest Hits (RCA Country)
* RUMBLEFISH Exit Highland (Roadrunner)
* TYPE O NEGATIVE Life Is Killing Me (Roadrunner)
New Nelly Furtado Album In November
MTV.com reports that the as-yet-untitled follow-up to Nelly Furtado's 2000 debut, 'Whoa, Nelly!', is scheduled for a November 25th release. That album provided Furtado with a Grammy in 2001, for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, for its single 'I'm Like a Bird.'
Drink up and drink it in: Milk does this body good
Angelina Jolie is the latest celeb "mooing" for milk. Jolie, in character as action heroine Lara Croft, dons a milk mustache and a black bikini that shows off her famously sculpted body for an upcoming "Got Milk?" ad.
The sexy photo — shot by Paramount Pictures — premieres next month in the August issues of youth-oriented magazines such as Spin, Blender, GamePro and Entertainment Weekly. Jolie's movie, Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, premieres July 25.
"The ad will appeal to male teens because of how gorgeous Angelina Jolie is. But it's also a message for teen girls, which is of a healthy, good-looking, active woman, and they can also be that way if they drink milk," says Kurt Graetzer, CEO of the Milk Processor Education Program, which oversees the "Got Milk?" campaign.
About 175 celebrities have posed with milk mustaches since the "Got Milk?" ads began 10 years ago. All are paid an undisclosed fee and must be milk drinkers, Graetzer says.
While Lara Croft doesn't drink milk in the movie, the ad campaign will boost awareness of the sequel, says Arthur Cohen, Paramount's marketing chief. "Milk is a good thing. The movie is a good thing. It's good for everybody."
DUMB AND DUMBER
There's Something About Mary filmmakers Peter and Bobby Farrelly developing a TV series for Fox about a guy with limited physical appeal and a pathetic love life who ends up making it in Hollywood.
New Video And DVD Releases
Every Tuesday new movies are released on DVD and Video. Some weeks there are way too many good titles to rent or buy. Here's what's coming out today:
Just Married (PG-13) - A young married couple have honeymoon from hell. (Brittany Murphy, Ashton Kutcher, Christian Kane)
Deliver Us From Eva (R) - A local 'player' is paid to date an obnoxious woman. (Gabrielle Union [Eva], LL Cool J [Ray], Duane Martin [Mike])
Narc (R) - Investigation of a narcotics cop's murder. (Ray Liotta, Jason Patric, Chi McBride)
Enjoy!
Toto Backpedals From Sex Change Joke
NEW YORK - Toto has had to backpedal after making a joke about drummer David Paich's absence this summer. The band posted a message on its Web site saying Paich would miss the summer tour because he would be having a sex change operation.
Guitarist Steve Lukather had said Paich had dreamed of being a woman and they would be introducing "Davida" this fall.
It's all just a joke. The band says the part about Paich being off the tour is true, but not because of an operation. Paich will be staying home because of the serious illness of a family member.
Band members say they didn't expect so many people to believe the operation story, especially media outlets. Lukather says he's sorry the joke got out of control and "one look at Dave and you would see it's an impossible story."
British Actress Beckinsale to Wed Film Director
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British actress Kate Beckinsale, who starred in the recent Hollywood epic "Pearl Harbor," has become engaged to marry the director of her latest film, a spokeswoman for the actress said on Monday.
The spokeswoman did not offer any details about the engagement of the London-born beauty to Len Wiseman, the director of "Underworld" in which Beckinsale portrays a vampire.
Celebrity television show "Access Hollywood," said Wiseman popped the question on Saturday at a restaurant at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, California. "Access Hollywood" quoted at the hotel as saying that Wiseman booked the Viceroy's presidential suite and filled it with the actress's favorite flowers, lilies, to celebrate.
Beckinsale has a 4-year-old daughter named Lily with her former boyfriend, actor Michael Sheen.
The actress, 29, is the daughter of the late British comic Richard Beckinsale and actress Judy Loe.
She made her screen debut in 1993 in Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" and has since appeared in such films as "The Last Days of Disco" and "Laurel Canyon." In "Pearl Harbor," she played a U.S. Navy nurse whose love for two U.S. Army pilots breaks up their long friendship.
And now for something completely different
Universal Studios Home Video has announced a September 2nd arrival for a new two-disc special edition reissue of Monty Python's Meaning of Life.
This comedy classic gets a new 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround tracks, an introduction by Eric Idle , an audio commentary, "The Meaning of Making the Meaning Of Life" featurette, deleted scenes, "The Songs" and "Snipped Bits" reels, plus "Un Film de John Cleese Songs," "Unsung," and "Education Tips," filmographies and trailers.
Actor Hume Cronyn Dies at Age 91
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Hume Cronyn, who with his late wife, Jessica Tandy (news), delighted stage and screen audiences, has died at age 91, according to his agent's office.
Cronyn died on Sunday evening, according to staff at the International Creative Management office of Sam Cohn. Local news reports said the actor died after battling prostate cancer at his home in Fairfield, Connecticut.
The Canadian-born Cronyn, whose career on Broadway and in Hollywood spanned more than six decades, may be best known among moviegoers for his role in the 1980s films "Cocoon" and "Cocoon 2: The Return."
Cronyn studied pre-law at McGill University in Montreal before switching to acting.
He made his film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" in 1943 and went on to appear in such films as Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" in 1944, "The Postman Always Rings Twice" in 1946, "12 Angry Men" in 1957 and "Cleopatra" in 1963. He also was a screenwriter, with Hitchcock's "Rope" and "Under Capricorn" to his credit.
He married Tandy in 1942, and they remained together until her death in 1994. They appeared on stage in "The Gin Game," "The Fourposter" and "Foxfire," on screen in "The Seventh Cross," "Cocoon" and "Batteries Not Included."
Cronyn won a Tony Award in 1964 for his portrayal of Polonius in "Hamlet." Together Cronyn and Tandy won a Tony Award for special lifetime theatrical achievement in 1994.
Cronyn wrote a memoir, "A Terrible Liar," published in 1991. He married Susan Cooper, an author, in 1996.