ONTARIO Net Worth / Director Jerry Ciccoritti /// Sunshine
TV MOVIES
Sketches of a Little Town / Director Don McBrearty ///
50 DGC PRODUCTIONS
RUDE (1995)
TRADERS (1996-2000)
DIRECTOR/WRITER: CLEMENT VIRGO
DIRECTORS: REID A. DUNLOP, T.W. PEACOCKE, KARI SKOGLAND,
KEY DGC PERSONNEL: EDITOR SUSAN MAGGI, SOUND JANE TATTER-
JOHN L’ECUYER, GORDON LANGEVIN, ALAN GOLUBOFF,
SALL, PRODUCTION DESIGNER BILL FLEMING, 1ST AD TOM WILLEY
ALAN TAYLOR, HENRY SARWER-FONER, MICHAEL DECARLO, STEVE DIMARCO, SCOTT SMITH
Torso / Director Alex Chapple /// Canada’s Sweetheart /
Director Donald Brittain /// John A. / Director Jerry Cic-
coritti /// Conspiracy of Silence / Director Francis Mankie-
“Pirate radio prophet Rude’s…butterscotch voice caresses and provokes the collective soul of Toronto’s Regent Park... [as director Clement] Virgo weaves three tales into a parable of hope, resurrection and transformation” (Canadian Film Encyclopedia). “The genesis of Rude,” says director/writer Clement Virgo, “was in the CFC’s [Canadian Film Centre] Filmmakers of Colour initiative in 1991, when they brought in directors like myself, Mina Shum and Stephen Williams. You had to apply with a script and I had written a draft of Rude, which they liked, so that’s how I got in. I was working as a window-display dresser at the time and taking night courses at Ryerson. I remember we all looked up to Srinivas Krishna, whose film Masala was hot, and Deepa Mehta, who had made Sam and Me. “The CFC asked me to come back and be in their regular programme. I spent a year there and made a short, Save My Lost Nigga Soul, which won the best short film award at the Festival of Festivals [now TIFF] and travelled around the world. I knew I had a window of about a year, during which time they were patting me on the head, to make a feature.
wicz /// Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows /
Director Robert Allan Ackerman /// Chasing Cain /
Director Jerry Ciccoritti /// One Dead Indian / Director
“Between September 1993 and April 1994, I hustled to fix any issues people had with the script. The CFC at that time had started a low-budget Feature Film Project, which gave you about $250,000 plus post-production services at Deluxe and other places. Colin Brunton was running it for Wayne Clarkson. So we made Rude that summer of 1994. When it was finished, Colin and Wayne said we should apply to Cannes, which seemed crazy, but we did and it got in. “The Directors Guild helped out Rude with crew. I had Susan Maggi as my editor and my sound, production design and 1st AD were all from the DGC. I joined the DGC after Rude and suddenly I was getting television work.”
Intrigue and power plays rule at an investment bank, where characters include Sally Ross (Sonja Smits), who’s in and out as head of the firm, the seasoned Adam Cunningham (Bruce Gray), who’s often at odds with Sally, and risk-taking head trader Marty Stephens (Patrick McKenna).
Prior to the CRTC’s 1999 Television Policy, which removed private broadcasters’ Cancon expenditure requirements, network television was home to a healthy number of homegrown scripted shows, and Global’s Toronto-shot Traders was one of the biggest successes. It followed CBC’s Street Legal (19871994), which balanced the personal and professional lives of law-firm partners and also starred Smits, along with Eric Peterson and C. David Johnson. Airing contemporaneously was CTV’s newsroom drama E.N.G. (1989-1994), starring Sara Botsford, Mark Humphrey and Art Hindle. These shows boosted Ontario talent. Traders counted among its staff creator Hart Hanson (who developed Fox’s Bones), showrunner David Shore (creator of Fox’s House) and director Kari Skogland (Fifty Dead Men Walking, 2008). Alan Goluboff also got a break. “It was a show I had AD’d, then a year later I got to direct four episodes,” he recalls. “I certainly appreciated the opportunity.” Goluboff was Chairman of the Executive Board of DGC Ontario prior to his Traders stint and currently occupies that role. He was President of the DGC National (2000-2008) and is pleased with the progress. “Members of the Guild are better served because the organisation has matured,” he says, “but we have lots of room for growth in strength and representation and remaining a positive, meaningful force to them.”
Tim Southam /// White Lies / Director Kari Skogland 38
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