EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSIES
Local productions top nomination list
Alberta may have trouble competing with British Columbia and other jurisdictions when it comes to attracting higher-budget TV and film projects, but a roundup of nominees for this year’s film and television awards shows that our homegrown industry continues to soldier on, especially in Calgary.
The 2017 nominations for the Alberta Film and Television Awards, dubbed the Rosies, were announced in downtown Calgary Tuesday morning by the Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA), with local production companies Joe Media Group and SEVEN/24 Films tied for the most finalists with 17 each.
Not surprisingly, SEVEN/24’s CBC mainstay Heartland earned the most nominations among Calgary productions, racking up 11 nods in various categories.
CBC renewed the series for an 11th season last week and executive producer Jordy Randall says the success of Heartland proves that long-running series are the “lifeblood” of the industry when it comes to keeping skilled film and TV workers from leaving the province.
Many in the Alberta industry were disappointed with the recent provincial budget that saw cuts to Alberta Media Fund, which is designed to lure film and TV work here.
“As an industry, we need to attract the series because it’s the long-running stuff that trains people and creates a legacy,” Randall says. “In Heartland, we are looking at directors who were first (assistant directors) last year; people who have grown up through the ranks. Series build the industry and the opportunity for a greater industry so I think we all have to make sure that all of the rules, financial or otherwise, are designed to support returning series.”
It’s an argument Alberta film and TV insiders have been making for years, suggesting that the Alberta Media Fund’s $5-million cap per project has been a barrier in attracting new productions, and their money, to Alberta.
In the Rosies’ best dramatic series category, all three finalists are from Calgary. Heartland will face off against the sci-fi show Wynonna Earp, which is also produced by SEVEN/24 and received six nominations, and Nomadic Pictures Hell on Wheels, which wrapped production in Alberta in 2015 and aired its final episode last summer. It received five nominations.
There are 23 categories in the class awards, which include feature and short films, TV, commercials and new media projects that were produced or co-produced by Alberta companies; and 33 craft categories, which are for individuals working in the industry who have been living in Alberta for the 2016 calendar year.
Of the nominees, 188 finalists are from Calgary-based productions, compared with 121 from Edmonton and 13 from other communities in Alberta.
Calgary productions fared well in dramatic feature and madefor-TV category, with locally shot films A Miracle on Christmas Lake, by director John Kissack, and Kurtis David Harder’s InControl competing with two features by Calgary filmmakers, Robert Cuffley’s Chokeslam and David Schultz’s Considering Love and Magic. Those four features will be up against Red Deer filmmaker Matthew Kooman’s She Has A Name and Chris Craddock’s It’s Not My Fault And I Don’t Care Anyway, an Edmonton-based feature that picked up 11 Rosie nominations.
Craddock, Schultz, Kissack, Kooman and Cuffley have been nominated in the best director (for drama over 30 minutes) category, as has longtime Heartland director Dean Bennett.
In the best actor category, Heartland’s Shaun Johnston received two nods, one for Heartland and one for his guest role in Wynonna Earp. Peter Skagen was also nominated for Wynonna Earp, as was Kristian Jackson from A Miracle on Christmas Lake and Edmonton actors Joel Taras and Jesse Lipscombe, for Recruiting Hell and It’s Not My Fault and I Don’t Care Anyway, respectively.
In the actress category, Heartland’s Amber Marshall is up against Anne Hawthorne from A Miracle on Christmas Lake, Edmonton actresses Laura Seabrook in Heartsong and Valerie Planche in It’s Not My Fault And I Don’t Care Anyway; and St. Albert’s Carlee Ryski, who is nominated for both On the Rocks and Canary.
Other notable Calgarians to receive nominations include local company Spotlight Productions. It received 13 nominations, including two for its documentary Queer Hutterite.
Asha and Roda Siad’s short National Film Board documentary 19 Days, about the experiences of new immigrants to Calgary, picked up five nominations.
As an industry, we need to attract the series because it’s the long-running stuff that trains people …