Slawko Klymkiw, Playback Hall of Fame 2013

A PUBLICATION OF BRUNICO COMMUNICATIONS LTD. FALL 2013

®

ALSO: FILM DIARIES | STEBBINGS VS. SOBOL | SERENDIPITY POINT FILMS AT 15

2013 HALL OF FAME REVEALED+102WATCH

UNSPOOLING the

FUTURE OF FILM

UNSPOOLING the

FUTURE OF FILM

PB.Cover.fall13.indd 1PB.Cover.fall13.indd 1 13-08-21 7:31 PM13-08-21 7:31 PM

30 f a l l 2 0 1 3 | p l a y b a c k o n l i n e . c a

Canadian entertainment plays a critical role in shaping our

collective story and in this year’s Hall of Fame, you can see just

how pervasive that infl uence can be. Al Waxman’s The King

of Kensington showed the rest of Canada what life was like in

a multicultural enclave of the big city. Producer Ted Kotcheff’s

work spanned borders and launched one of the most famous

action fi lm franchises of all time, Rambo. Rock Demers helped

our children understand compassion and empathy. Colm

Feore has been a consistent presence in our living rooms for

decades as one of Canada’s most prominent working actors.

Slawko Klymkiw’s work with the CFC is refl ected all over IMDB.

And George Anthony: well, he continues to keep us well-fed in

comedy, news and culture.

Playback recognized their achievements at this year’s annual

HoF gala held during TIFF – as well as those of David Suzuki,

prodco marblemedia and fi lmmaker Xavier Dolan. Here’s why . . .

Rock Demers

Colm Feore George Anthony

Photo credit: Dimo Safari

Slawko Klymkiw

Ted Kotcheff Al Waxman

PB.HoF.2013.indd 30PB.HoF.2013.indd 30 13-08-21 3:38 PM13-08-21 3:38 PM

31f a l l 2 0 1 3 |

That statement would have been just as accurate in

1984, when he launched Les productions La Fête with

a remarkable fi lm, La guerre des tuques (The Dog Who

Stopped the War), which turned a story about two gangs of

boys in a Quebec town staging a huge snowball fi ght into an

effective anti-war statement.

But Demers wouldn’t have been satisfi ed with that

achievement; he is, after all, a producer and wants to see an

audience respond to his fi lms. Talking about La guerre des

tuques now, he is still proud that it won the Golden Reel Award

– awarded annually to Canada’s top-grossing fi lm – taking in

well over $1 million box offi ce dollars in Canada alone.

La guerre des tuques launched the genial and erudite

French-Canadian on a career path that has led to many

awards. As his vision of children’s programming expanded,

Demers went from triumph to triumph. La grenouille et la

baleine (The Tadpole and the Whale, 1989) trumped his

fi rst fi lm at the box offi ce, winning another Golden Reel and

garnering nearly $2 million dollars in Canada alone.

The range of Demers’ prizes is impressive. His fi lms have

won awards in Egypt (Reach for the Sky, 1992), Algeria

(Bach et Bottine, 1987), Australia (Tommy Tricker and the

Stamp Traveller, 1988), Germany (Madame Brouette, 2003)

and Italy (Daniel and the Superdogs, 2004).

Demers admits to being particularly proud of

the Emmy he received for Vincent and Me in

1992, but he cites the Lifetime Achievement

Award at Banff in 2001 and being received as

a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2007

as being his signal recognitions up until now.

Demers vividly recalls what inspired him

to create his Contes pour tous (Tales for All) back in the mid-’80s. “I read an article in

[Montreal newspaper] La Presse about the

high number of kids that commit suicide. I

said to myself, ‘what can I do?’ I know life

is diffi cult, but it’s so worthwhile. After that

article, which was a shock for me, I took six months to

develop the concept of Tales for All.”

Demers determined that he would produce poignant, yet

funny, family fi lms with kids as the leads.

“I decided that the main characters would always be boys

or girls between 11 and 13 [years old]. They would always

be in contemporary stories. Nature would always have an

important part in them. There would be a lot of laughter and

tenderness. No animation, no science fi ction. And a certain

number of animals would have an important part in each one

of the fi lms.”

A proud French-Canadian and “citizen of the world,”

Demers decided that he could reach a global audience if

he shot some fi lms in French and others in English while

occasionally co-producing features abroad in their languages.

His formula proved wildly successful – and kept the dubbing

industry happy.

“I took six months to develop the concept. Then, I informed

people around me – writers or directors or scriptwriters, National

Film Board, Radio Canada, Telefi lm – that I would be interested in

producing fi lms or receiving projects along those lines.”

One of the fi rst proposals Demers received was unique; it

was a short story by Michael Rubbo, then a highly respected

NFB documentarian. It would become the foundation of a

dynamic partnership.

“I heard nothing for quite a while,” Rubbo recalls, “and then

one day, I got a call from Rock. ‘Michael, I want to make your

story. Perhaps you could write and direct it.’

“What an astonishing offer! It was so courageous and

trusting, as I’d never directed fi ction before.”

Demers arranged for Rubbo to read his story at Grade Six

classes in Montreal schools; they workshopped it for months.

“One crucial day, Rock sat at the back of the class at Roslyn

School in Westmount whilst I told the story for the umpteenth

time. Not saying a word, he just sat there, studying the kid’s

reactions and then also watching keenly as they clustered

round at the end, bubbling with excitement, acting as if they’d

actually already seen a movie. When the bell rang and the

horde was gone, Rock simply said, ‘I think we’re ready to go.

Now, I’ll try to get the money!’”

Not only did Demers get the money, The Peanut Butter

Solution (1985) became an international success, the second

in a string of Tales for All that now stretches for almost three

decades and over 20 fi lms.

ROCK DEMERS: THE SPINNER OF TALES FOR ALL

Rock Demers’ life and career is a powerful reminder that fi lm producers in Canada and elsewhere can be wildly successful commercially while maintaining high ethical standards. Demers’ website proudly claims: “La Fête, a company involved in quality youth productions.”

Demers in costume for a cameo role in the 1994 film The Return Of Tommy Tricker.

BY MARC GLASSMAN


f a l l 2 0 1 3 | p l a y b a c k o n l i n e . c a32

PB.23707.Shaftesbury.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 3:14 PM PB.23545.CFC.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:57 PM

Kotcheff is part of a golden age of directors who emerged in

Toronto during the early days of CBC-TV in the mid-1950s.

Arthur Hiller (Love Story), Paul Almond (the fi rst 7-Up doc; Act

of the Heart) and Harvey Hart (Bus Riley’s Back in Town) were

three others. All had to leave Canada in the late ‘50s and

early ‘60s, along with indie Toronto director Sidney J. Furie

(The Ipcress File), for a simple reason. There was no Canadian

feature fi lm industry here at the time.

Kotcheff remembers

it well. “That time at the

CBC, when I was directing

plays for television, was a

glorious period in my life.”

After being told by a friendly

CBC executive, “Ted, you’re

a terrifi c talent and you

better get out of here – pit

yourself against the best

in America or London,” the

resolute young Torontonian

left for England.

There he directed terrifi c

writing talents – Alun Owen, who wrote the Beatles’ irreverent

hit A Hard Day’s Night, black comedy genius Harold Pinter

and the Nobel Prize winning novelist and playwright Doris

Lessing. “I worked both in the theatre and in fi lm, which is

why I came to England,” remembers Kotcheff.

All that time, Kotcheff was preparing to come back to

Canada. He wanted to take the country by storm – and he

did. While living in England, Kotcheff had become the best

friend of another expatriate Canadian, the novelist Mordecai

Richler. When they were living as roommates in London,

Richler gave him his latest novel to read in manuscript. “I

read it,” recalls Kotcheff, “and I said when I

fi nished, ‘Mordecai, not only is this one of the

greatest Canadian novels ever written, one

day I’m going to come back to Canada and

make it.’ And we both started to laugh at the

absurdity of such an idea.”

The novel was The Apprenticeship of Duddy

Kravitz. Fourteen years later, a now vastly

experienced Kotcheff was able to come to

Michael Spencer, the fi rst executive director of

the Canadian Film Development Corporation

(now Telefi lm Canada) and get the money to

make the fi lm. Working with a script by Richler

and shooting in the Montreal locations where

the upstart Jewish entrepreneur Duddy would have made his

fortune, Kotcheff directed a dream cast including the young

Richard Dreyfuss in the titular role, Micheline Lanctot as his

Quebecois girlfriend and Jack Warden as his dad. An instant

classic, it won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin fi lm

festival and the Canadian Film Award.

Emboldened by the success of Duddy, Kotcheff prepared

an adaptation of another best-selling and critically acclaimed

novel by Richler, St. Urbain’s Horsemen. But despite Duddy’s

nearly $1-million-dollar box offi ce take – huge in 1974 –

investors shied away from the directing-writing duo.

“My spirit was broken,” remembers Kotcheff. “I was sitting

there, saying, ‘I know this is my homeland and this is where I

should be making fi lms, but what I am I going to do?’ That’s

when my agent told me that ‘[Hollywood producers] Peter Bart

and Max Palvesky loved Duddy Kravitz and wanted me to do

a fi lm, Fun with Dick and Jane.’ I said reluctantly ‘Alright, I’ll

go down.’”

Fun with Dick and Jane (1977) became a big hit, as did

1978’s Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? and 1979’s

North Dallas Forty. Kotcheff’s hope of making Canadian fi lms

faded as he became a successful Hollywood director.

In speaking with Kotcheff, who made sure to use Canadian

crews while shooting First Blood, the original Rambo movie,

in B.C., the dream of making Canadian dramatic features has

never died.

“Had Canada been ready to embrace Ted Kotcheff earlier,

our cinematic history might have been a very different story,”

refl ects Helga Stephenson, executive director of the Academy

of Canadian Cinema and Television. “Ted’s enthusiasm, brains

and talent infuse everything he touches and lights up the

room as he fi lls it with tales of history combined with his own

rich story.”

TED KOTCHEFF: FROM ‘APPRENTICESHIP’ TO MASTER FILMMAKING

When Ted Kotcheff walks into a room, people pay attention.

At the age of 82, the fi lmmaker who made The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz nearly 40 years ago still exudes power and confi dence, his strong resonant voice and piercing eyes contributing to his formidable presence.

BY MARC GLASSMAN

Left: Kotcheff on the set of 1985’s Joshua Then and Now, with actor James Woods.

Right: Kotcheff on the set of cult classic Weekend at Bernie’s (1989), along with actors Jonathan Silverman (left), Terry Kiser (middle) and Andrew McCarthy (right).


33f a l l 2 0 1 3 |

[ S W A R O V S K I H U M A N I T A R I A N A W A R D ]

PB.23707.Shaftesbury.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 3:14 PM PB.23545.CFC.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:57 PM

Elizabeth May stills laughs about her fi rst encounter with the

host of Quirks and Quarks and Suzuki on Science.

“I kept calling every Halifax hotel and asking to speak with

David Suzuki and fi nally got through,” she recalls. “He [picked up

and] said “You just got me out of the shower. Give me a second.”

Back in the mid-‘70s Suzuki was fast becoming a hero to

millions of Canadians for his increasingly vocal defence of the

environment. This included the future Green Party leader, in

Halifax for an anti-pesticide campaign.

A gifted geneticist and academic, Dr. David Suzuki became

best known for hosting the iconic The Nature of Things with

David Suzuki. Over the years the program has transformed

from one devoted to explaining the science underlying the

natural world to helping Canadians understand how critical it

is to protect that world. Suzuki says it’s been as much of an

eye opener for him as it has for them.

“I feel in many ways The Nature of Things was my grounding. I

really learned about the deep environmental ecology of nature.”

And then Suzuki discovered something that surprised him. The

immense popularity of The Nature of Things had in effect made

him the face and voice of Canada’s environmental movement.

This completely altered his relationship with audiences.

“I was trying to empower people with knowledge and

excitement and information and instead they empowered me,”

he says. “It was a huge responsibility.”

Suzuki used that star power to persuade political decision

makers and others to take steps to protect the planet. Other

TV projects soon followed. These include his 1985 hit series,

A Planet for the Taking and the critically acclaimed 1993 PBS

series The Secret of Life. Later, he founded the David Suzuki

Foundation, which works with government, business and

individuals to conserve our environment through science-

based research and education.

Since then others have joined in praising Suzuki, including

Haida First Nation leader Miles Richardson, who credits Suzuki for

helping Canadians understand nature in the way that Canada’s

indigenous peoples have always understood it. “It’s basically

understanding and accepting that all things are connected,” says

Richardson, “and that our actions have consequences.”

The irony, Suzuki says, is that television, a tool which keeps

people indoors, is being used to persuade people to spend

more time outdoors. He thinks the trend will continue with

technologies that enable viewers to probe nature – from

the deep microscopic changes of a human cell to the vast

mysteries of the outer cosmos.

“If we use those kinds of tools I think it gives you a sense of

wonder and shows that there’s really no line between us and

that world out there.”

DAVID SUZUKI BY DAVID GODKIN



TO THE CREATIVE TRAILBLAZERS OF CANADA.

Congratulations to this year’s Hall of Fame inductees.

NFB.ca

PB.23695.NFB.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:57 PM

12th Annual DGC Awards Saturday, October 26, 2013

For a complete list of all nomineesplease visit www.dgc.ca

CONGRATULATIONSTO ALL DGC AWARDS NOMINEES!

T H A N K Y O U T O O U R S P O N S O R S

P A T R O N S P O N S O R

G O L D S P O N S O R S

C O N T R A S P O N S O R S

B R O N Z E S P O N S O R S

S I L V E R S P O N S O R S

P L A T I N U M S P O N S O R

PB.23586.DGC.indd 1 13-08-20 7:16 PMPB.22259.FearlessThirdPg.indd 1 06/11/12 2:39 PMPB.23698.Fearless.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:58 PM

Created by Perry Rosemond, the show gave us a homegrown

hit sitcom. It incorporated topical humour in the style of All

in the Family, but rather than having a bigot at its core, it

had the benign Larry King, who was always willing to help

his neighbours in Toronto’s multicultural Kensington Market,

where he owned a struggling variety store. The racial jokes

were saved for Larry’s mother Gladys (Helene Winston), who,

like Waxman’s real-life parents, was a Jewish immigrant from

Poland. Fiona Reid played Larry’s wife Cathy, who

left him after season three.

“It was gentle humour in some ways and

slapstick in others. It had all the elements the

American shows have, but it was very Canadian,”

says Alan Erlich, the series’ go-to director and

former DGC national president. The show inspired

a spate of sitcoms, but none as successful.

Erlich believes Waxman helped elevate English-

Canadian TV actors to stars. And no less than the

Trudeau government wanted to put that star power

to use, asking Waxman and his family to attend

summer events across the country to promote

national unity. “We went to fairs, legion halls,

baseball games and festivals. We were a typical Canadian

family,” recalls Sara Waxman, Al’s wife of 32 years and mother

of their sons Adam and Tobaron.

Waxman began performing on CBC Radio as a teenager.

He attended law school, but the lure of acting was too strong.

He picked up erratic work in Canadian and Hollywood TV and

movies throughout the 1960s and early ‘70s, then tried his

hand behind the camera – writing, directing and appearing

AL WAXMAN: THE KING OF CANADIAN TELEVISION

To millions of Canadians, Al Waxman will always be “the King.”

The comedy King of Kensington, which aired on CBC from 1975 to 1980, made its lead actor a national icon. It pulled in around 1.8 million viewers per week, and in 2001 the Toronto Star’s Antonia Zerbisias called it “the single most important entertainment series ever produced in English-speaking Canada.”

BY MARK DILLON


35f a l l 2 0 1 3 |

422 Adelaide St. W., Toronto • www.fearless.ca • 416-504-9694

SERIESDRAMAS

FEATURES

DOCS

digital deliverables

better postON-LINE

COLOUR GRADING

HD masters & duplication cl

osed

capt

ioni

ng

Avid off-linesuites

audio mixing

Redemption Inc.Slaughter Nick forPresident

IN TH

E NAM

E OF

THE F

AMILY

Justi

n Tim

eTH

E WOR

LD

BEFO

RE H

ER

Faces of the Bible

Johnny Test

Wipeout CanadaJUNK

RAIDERS

You Gotta Eat HereTHE SECRET DISCO REVOLUTION

CANADA’S WORST DRIVER

HERM

AN’S

HOUS

E

PB.22259.FearlessThirdPg.indd 1 06/11/12 2:39 PMPB.23698.Fearless.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 3:58 PM

in the well-regarded 1971 feature drama The Crowd Inside,

starring Geneviève Deloir. He helmed TV episodes, as well

as the features My Pleasure Is My Business (1975), Tulips

(1981, co-directed), White Light (1991) and Death Junction

(1994, co-directed).

Canadians beamed with pride when he joined the cast of

CBS cop drama Cagney & Lacey (1982-88), playing the titular

female detectives’ supervisor Lieut. Bert Samuels. He later

hosted Global’s Missing Treasures (1991-92), which sought

to reunite missing children with their families by dramatizing

their disappearances. His fi nal role was on the CTV drama

Twice in a Lifetime as the celestial Judge Othniel, who sent

deceased individuals back in time to convince their younger

selves to choose a different path. The series sold around the

world and he worked on it up until his death, which occurred

during elective bypass surgery at age 65.

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had earlier offered him the

post of Consul General to Los Angeles, but he took a rain

check so that he could pen his autobiography That’s What I

Am and perform and direct at the Stratford Festival. By the

time he was ready to take on the role, it had been fi lled by

former Prime Minister Kim Campbell. “I’ve often wondered

what would’ve happened if he had taken that post,” Sara

says. “California is so health conscious. He might have been

jogging and eating vegetarian food. It might’ve been better

for his health, but he lived the way he wanted to live. He was

working at what he loves and was successful at it. That made

him a fulfi lled human being.”

The Waxmans were involved in many charities, including the

United Jewish Appeal, Big Brothers and the Canadian Cancer

Society. That spirit of giving is one of the things Waxman’s son

Adam remembers best. Another benefi ciary of his generosity

was the Canadian acting community. “He understood what it

was like for young actors starting out,” Adam says. “He taught

a class called ‘Al’s Gym,’ and he never charged a penny. He

said, ‘If you guys can fi nd a space, I’ll be there.’ That kind of

big-heartedness was a huge part of who he was.”

And it will long be remembered. After his passing, the

Merchants of Kensington Market erected a bronze statue of

Waxman in the neighborhood’s Bellevue Square – a fi tting

memorial for a man who was both local hero and Canadian

TV royalty.

THE KING’S CREDENTIALS

• IMDb lists Waxman acting in 85 fi lm and TV productions, directing 19, writing four and producing two

• He chaired the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 1989-1992

• He was nominated for a 1991 Daytime Emmy for directing the CBS Schoolbreak Special Maggie’s Secret, about a teenager with alcoholic parents

• In 1997, he won a best supporting actor Gemini Award for portraying hockey manager Jack Adams in the CBC TV movie Net Worth. The following year, he won the Academy’s Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement

• In 1997 he was inducted into the Order of Canada

Waxman as Judge Othniel on the CTV drama, Twice in a Lifetime.



PB.23687.DougSerge.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 4:01 PM

PB.23546.York.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 2:31 PMPB.22776.WhistlerHalfStrip.indd 1 13-08-20 7:17 PM

It was simple, she replied: Hollywood has three lists.

The fi rst, an A-list, has six names on it.

Everyone knows who they are, though the names keep

changing.

And the second, the B-list, has the names of actors who

once were on the A-list.

That’s a long list.

But the third list is a short one.

“It’s called actors. You’re on that list,” Feore recalls the

casting director telling him.

And that’s a list Feore favours, as it features actors always

in demand for their skill, versatility and professionalism.

“Chris Cooper, Dylan Baker, Campbell Scott, Ed Harris –

those guys are always terrifi c and always keep showing up

and are going to do exceptional work every

time. That’s the list I want to be on,” he says.

If anything, Feore has been around the

Canadian stage and screen game for so long,

it’s easy to overlook that, in a fail-or-succeed

business, he has succeeded so often.

“Well, I’ve been extremely lucky,” he says,

modestly attributing his success to the actors

and directors with whom he’s worked. Those

credits include his fi rst TV show, right out of

the National Theatre School in Montreal, a

CBC drama called For The Record, directed by

Donald Brittan.

Then, in 1993, Feore portrayed Canadian

piano genius Glenn Gould in François Girard’s

Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould.

That performance got Feore away from Stratford, where

he had been performing classical stage roles for 16

seasons, to fi nally dipping his hand in the Hollywood till with

fi lm and TV credits like John Woo’s Face/Off and Michael

Bay’s Pearl Harbor.

Timing-wise, Feore insists he got it right by going south to

Hollywood to contend as a possible star only when he was

ready as an actor.

“I thought that everything I was doing in Stratford was going

to be useful and translatable when I actually did go there, and

I went when I had something to show them,” he remembers.

What he showed them was an actor with the stamina to

play Hamlet and King Lear for three-and-a-half hours straight,

and to get it right on the fi rst take.

“There is no respite and you don’t have much fl exibility to

get it wrong – there is no take two,” Feore says of performing

at Stratford.

That meant Feore comes to work on fi lm or TV set primed

to take his marks and perform.

“I’ve had the great good fortune of working with people like

Sidney Lumet, Clint Eastwood, Michael Mann – people who

shoot rehearsals in maybe only a few takes. And I’m fi ne with

that, because I know there will be no take 17,” he explains.

Feore has carved out a thriving career in Canada as

well, borne by starring roles like playing former Canadian

PM Pierre Elliott Trudeau for the CBC and the straight-

laced investigator in Erik Canuel’s bilingual Bon Cop, Bad

Cop. Not bad for someone born in Boston and taken for

an American in Hollywood, as he has lived in Canada for

virtually all his life.

“Canadians assume I’m Canadian, and I don’t disabuse

them,” he admits. “And in America, they don’t put a label on

me. They just say actor.”

COLM FEORE: ALWAYS ON THE LIST

Colm Feore is an actor’s actor. A chance conversation Feore had with a

Hollywood casting director while the veteran actor was waiting to audition explains that accolade.

“I wasn’t sure at all why I was there. It seemed to me a ridiculous long shot,” Feore remembers. So he asked the casting director why he was up for the part.

BY ETAN VLESSING

Colm Feore in his supporting role as Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere in the historical drama The Borgias.


37f a l l 2 0 1 3 |

[ O U T S TA N D I N G A C H I E V E M E N T AWA R D ]

Congratulations, Slawko Klymkiw, on being inducted into Playback’s 2013 Hall of Fame, from your friends at doug & serge.

We couldn’t have

any better ourselves.

scripted it

PB.23687.DougSerge.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 4:01 PM

Marblemedia co-founders Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg

may have just been self-confessed “young punks” in 2001

when they told a Banff Media Festival audience to keep

their heads up, because multi-platform viewership would be

the next big thing. But that confi dence has paid off, as the

company they launched 12 years ago is now enjoying an

international reputation for innovation and high quality work.

In the last year alone, the company has pacted with Zodiak

Kids and Surprise Bag! in the U.S. to develop new unscripted

and animated projects, acquired full control of Distribution360

(it previously shared ownership with Calgary-based Seven24

MARBLEMEDIA

Films) and expanded to LA with an eye to scripted fare.

The distribution business has bolstered marblemedia’s

relationships with international and third-party content

partners, Bishop tells Playback, which has led to ever-

expanding opportunities to develop, sell and leverage their

new and existing slate. Achievements in this area include

international success with anchor series like This Is…,

coproduced with Sinking Ship Entertainment and sold into

over 200 countries, kids game show Splatalot, sold into 120

countries, and the upcoming Japanizi Going Going Gong!,

which has been pre-sold into 120 countries.

Expansion into the U.S. and primetime TV is company’s

next big step. “We really see content as very much a global

production, as we work with our Canadian partners to

manufacture for the Canadian market, but always with an

eye to sell to the U.S. and globally,” says Hornburg. “It’s a

trend more and more as everything has a little less money but

everyone expects to have that much higher production values –

we need to fi nd ways to partner together to achieve this.”

That strategy involves meeting with Canadian writers in L.A.

and in some cases, investing in scripts at the early stages,

or inking blind development deals with writers they think can

help secure broadcast partners. Moving into primetime, the

partners know, will be a challenge.

“Part of the challenge when you start to expand or steer the

ship in a different direction is ensuring people start seeing you in

that [new] way. You really only need that fi rst success in the genre

to help more people see you in that regard,” says Hornburg.

The execs remain steadfast in marblemedia’s audience-fi rst

approach to IP development for multiple platforms.

“As a content company, it’s our job to build IP that has a

massive audience,” says Hornburg, pointing the Splatalot web

game, which has earned 150 million gameplays worldwide.

“We really feel the content will fi nd the audience, and

technology will probably fi nd the business model,” he adds.

BY DANIELLE NG-SEE-QUAN



PB.23708.Shaftesbury.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 2:33 PM

“My job was to create a climate for them where they were

safe to take risks and give us their very best work,” Anthony

says. “I was thrilled by all those shows.”

So were Canadian audiences. Under his leadership, those

programs have won more than 100 Gemini awards, along

with the Prix Italia and numerous international Emmy Awards.

Anthony didn’t shy away from the camera himself.

Following stints as a highly popular entertainment columnist

and critic for the Toronto Sun, he spent fi ve years hosting

his own interview show on Global.

Anthony credits his parents for his venture into the

entertainment industry. Owners of movie theatres in

Montreal, they made it possible for the adolescent George

to see fi lms that were restricted to people 16 years of age

and over.

“So as you can imagine I was quite popular with my friends

because I was able to get them into the movies,” he recalls.

Those experiences would serve Anthony well later

on, spearheading extraordinary films such as Thirty-

Two Short Films About Glenn Gould and

Douglas Coupland’s Souvenir of Canada.

The common denominator in the success

of those films and his other work, he says,

“is having affection and a respect for the

audience.” According to Gerald Lunz,

producer of the Rick Mercer Report, those

qualities underpin Anthony’s own approach

to the arts.

“Respecting your audience… giving them

what they want; it’s old school show biz and

George has been a godsend to Rick and I

for that.”

It was George Anthony who persuaded

Lunz and Mercer to bring their brand of

political satire to CBC TV. Anthony sees one

of his roles as buffer between talent and management,

a much needed skill when you’re handling shows as

innovative and as willing to challenge convention as

Canadian comedy. And that’s precisely why Lunz has

worked with Anthony from the get-go.

“He was my [most] honest relation with anyone in any network

sphere,” Lunz says. “He was straight, there was no BS.”

With critically acclaimed biographies of fi lm critic Brian

Linehan and actor Gordon Pinsent under his belt, Anthony is

now writing two books, one a collection of short fi ction, the

other a book of stories about Hollywood. His legacy? Well,

most agree Anthony has a lot more to achieve before that

chapter in his life can be fully written. For his part, Anthony

prefers to think about what TV and fi lm have given him, not

what he’s given them.

“Making television is a tremendous privilege. It’s so

wonderful to have people invite you into their homes. As

for my legacy, I have three grandchildren – I figure that’s

my legacy.”

GEORGE ANTHONY

TV, fi lm, newspapers and books: there’s hardly an arena in Canadian entertainment that Montreal-born writer and producer George Anthony hasn’t stepped into – or dominated.

His work at CBC television features prominently, notably as a producer on such hits as Royal Canadian Air Farce, Made in Canada and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Throughout, Anthony was driven by one simple philosophy: to put in front of Canadian audiences “the very best talent you can.”

BY DAVID GODKIN

Photo credit: Dimo Safari

At the CBC, George Anthony helped launch both This Hour Has 22 Minutes (left, circa 2009) and Royal Canadian Air Farce (right, circa 2008) in 1993.


39f a l l 2 0 1 3 |

PB.23708.Shaftesbury.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-21 2:33 PM

[PLAYBACK BREAKOUT AWARD]

Although just 24 years old, Xavier Dolan dominates the game

of fi lm in Quebec.

But as he considers a tribute as Playback’s breakout player

of the year, the young director debates whether football,

where you take the ball across the goal line to score, is a

better metaphor for his fi lmmaking style than baseball’s

strategy of putting a ball in play.

“It’s not about throwing it as far as you can and then waiting

to see what will happen to you while you’re running for your

life,” Dolan tells Playback. “It’s about catching [the ball] to

begin with, and then taking it exactly where you want, while

you’re running for your life.”

Dolan’s latest long game has him bringing his latest fi lm,

Tom à la ferme, for a world premiere in Venice much like a

quarterback aiming sniper-like down the fi eld.

XAVIER DOLAN BY EVAN VLESSING

“You’re making a movie and you seize it entirely, put both

your hands on it, and then visualize a place, a goal – the

further, the better – and then you take it there,” the director

explains, continuing the football metaphor.

“And it’s all about you in the end, although you have many

allies to defend you on your way. Will you run fast enough, will

you make the right choices, will you jump over the obstacles,

tackle the opponents – if there is such a thing – and take the

ball where you said you would?” he adds.

Dolan rejects the notion that he chose Venice over Cannes

after the French festival denied his last fi lm, Laurence

Anyways, an offi cial competition berth.

He said Tom à la ferme wasn’t ready for Cannes after

he put its post-production on hold to act in Podz’s latest

film, Miraculum.

“I’ve been mentioning my ardent desire to act for other

directors for years, and since for once one had actually taken

that unfalteringly reiterated statement seriously, I wasn’t going

to miss out on the opportunity because I had to go and strut

my stuff in the south of France,” Dolan insists.

Tom à la ferme, which stars Lise Roy and Pierre-Yves

Cardinal and is based on play by Michel Marc Bouchard, is

a France-Canada coproduction from Mifi lifi lms and MK2. In

the fi lm, a young ad executive travels to the country for the

funeral of his gay lover, who died accidently.

Along the way, he fi nds out that his lover’s mother knew

nothing about her son’s sexual orientation, forcing him to get

involved in lies and deception.

Despite his latest fi lm returning to familiar themes of gay

dynamics and repression, Dolan doesn’t see Tom à la ferme

as a variation on a theme.

“Tom à la ferme… rather centres on the ever-growing gap

between men from the country and men from the city than

the actual division between heterosexual and homosexual

men, and... [more] on Stockholm syndrome than on a typical

bromance,” he insists.

Tom à la ferme is also the fi rst psychological thriller Dolan

has completed.

He has another goal in mind as his latest movie contends in

Venice: shedding his fresh-faced young fi lmmaker label and

being treated as more the enfant terrible that Quebec knows

him as.

Sure, the “age tag” has helped Dolan woo the Quebec

media, at least until now.

“But yeah, I wish the media, just like for Justin Bieber,

treated me as a young adult – enfant terrible or not,” he said.

“Actually, I’d be content with them treating me like I was

Justin Bieber, period, which means I’d be really cute and

take pouting selfi es on Instagram while travelling in private

jets,” Dolan added, sounding more and more like he’s

enjoying the game.

Photo credit: Shayne Laverdiere



PB.23725.Telefilm.indd 1 13-08-20 7:18 PMPB.23732.Buchli.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 4:02 PM

In the past eight years, Klymkiw has had plenty of practice

with both.

“One of the metaphors I like to use is that we wanted to

change from a mom and pop [shop] to a small business,”

Klymkiw says of the CFC’s strategic plan. The Windfi elds

expansion was an especially daunting challenge: “There were

times where I didn’t think we’d raise all the money,” he admits.

Lead by the organization’s fundraising efforts and an infusion

of government dollars, Klymkiw has so far kept the project on

track. The $12 million build, which includes

earlier upgrades and repairs to increase the

sustainability of the CFC’s multiple buildings,

entered its fi nal stretch in May this year with

shovels in the ground for the Northern Dancer

Pavilion. The new structure will create additional

space to house the organization’s fi lm, TV and

digital media programs.

The expansion is the most visible evidence

of Klymkiw’s work but under his oversight, the

CFC has, by all accounts, fl ourished, growing

from a $7-million to $13-million organization.

A multi-year restructuring plan has achieved

reduced operating costs, increased exposure,

a diversifi ed board and an increased slate of

programs for talent development.

Communication, networking and outreach – skills Klymkiw

holds in spades – have been a key part of the process.

“We began really making sure that our stakeholders, public

and private, understood the huge economic return that came

from the centre,” he explains.

Klymkiw’s dedication has not gone unnoticed.

“I think one of the great things for me working with him, what

I appreciate – he really loves to convince people of the merit of

SLAWKO KLYMKIW

Perhaps the Canadian Film Centre’s multi-year expansion and construction project, the Windfi elds Campus improvement and expansion project, is a metaphor for the formidable task Slawko Klymkiw has undertaken as the organization’s CEO since 2005.

Funding and executing a multi-million dollar building project and running a successful non-profi t takes business savvy, brand vision and plenty of sweet talking.

BY DANIELLE NG-SEE-QUAN


41f a l l 2 0 1 3 |

PB.23725.Telefilm.indd 1 13-08-20 7:18 PMPB.23732.Buchli.Ad.indd 1 2013-08-20 4:02 PM

what we’re doing,” says Sheena MacDonald, CFC COO, who

also worked with Klymkiw when she was at Rhombus Media

and he at the CBC, where he began his career.

He started at the CBC in 1980 as a researcher for its

supper hour program 24Hours, then as executive producer of

CBC News Manitoba. He moved to CBC News in Ontario, and

in the late ‘80s became EP of CBC at 6. He launched CBC

Newsworld in 1992 before becoming program director of CBC

Television in 1996.

Ever the builder, grower and instigator of change,

Klymkiw’s tenure at the CFC refl ects the relentless drive for

improvement he developed in his career at the CBC.

Since 2005, the CFC has launched a slew of new

programs, including the Actor’s Conservatory; the Bell Media

Showrunner Bootcamp; the Slaight Family Music Lab; the

CFC Media Lab’s digital business accelerator ideaBOOST;

the CFC/NBCUniversal TV Series Exchange; and an ongoing

partnership with the Tribeca Film Institute.

Despite this growth, Klymkiw knows the biggest challenge

for the industry may still be ahead.

“I would say that the big challenge for all us is to fi nd the

way of monetizing the digital world. Financing all of this might

not be romantic, but that’s what makes shows. There has to

be more work in research and development, there has to be

a concrete, rigorous attempt at fi nding these models going

forward,” he insists.

Left: Klymkiw with Norman Jewison, who founded the CFC in 1988.Right: Klymkiw (right) with Kathryn Emslie, chief programs officer, CFC Film, TV, Actors & Music, and filmmaker Paul Haggis (left).


Slawko Klymkiw, Playback Hall of Fame 2013

Documents

demers wouldnt

range of demers prizes

remarkable lm

grossing lm

rest of canada

order of canada

years hall of fame

golden reel award