Now & Next Canada Media Fund

The guests on this episode of the podcast are Marie Claire LeBlanc Flanagan and Jim Munroe. They have been tasked with finding out what the shift to working from home has actually been like for game industry personnel. They’re putting the finishing touches on a research report about the sector’s transition from studio-based work to home-based work called “Isolation Nation”.

Marie Claire and Jim provide us with a sneak peek into some of their interview-based findings so far, such as the challenges of people having to be their own boss at home, the tendency to work too much, and mechanisms for keeping morale up.

In this episode, we meet Jacob Pratt, an Indigenous film producer from Saskatchewan. He’s the co-owner of Los Angeles based Skoden Entertainment, an Indigenous story-focused production company whose first client happens to be Disney. Jacob explains that the best way to fight stereotypes perpetuated by the media, is to use the same medium to break them.

On this episode, we speak to Hilary Henegar and Fiona Rayher, the entrepreneurs behind the startup Hoovie. The platform is making it possible again to watch a movie with other people and have a discussion afterwards, just like old times but...virtually. This new trend is proving to be both appealing to individuals and profitable to film producers.

The gaming industry has been affected pretty hard by the pandemic, as it has historically relied on networking at large annual in person events. On this episode, we check in with a handful of Canadian independent game studios to find out how they’re adapting to changes in their day-to-day operations and with Nadine Gelly, the executive manager of La Guilde, one of Canada’s largest industry associations for game developers, to learn about the initiatives happening at the industry level.

For more information about this or other episodes of Now & Next or to consult the show’s credits, visit trends.cmf-fmc.ca/podcast-now-and-next/

Clara George, VP of Studios & Sustainable Production Services at Sim, is the guest on this episode. According to Clara, while the COVID-19 restrictions might seem like a step back in terms of sustainability efforts, they’ve actually provided an opportunity for people to become more aware of unnecessary waste on set, and come up together with new solutions.

For more information about this or other episodes of Now & Next or to consult the show’s credits, visit https://trends.cmf-fmc.ca/podcast-now-and-next/

Using a combination of more affordable technologies and open source real time 3D game engines as a foundation, special effects are starting to move closer to mainstream film production. In this episode, Leora Kornfeld sits down with Alberta-based producer Andrew Scholotiuk and director Dylan Pearce to discuss virtual production techniques. The pair share their advice and experience as interconnectedness and collaboration are increasingly hot commodities in the film industry.

For more information about this or other episodes of Now & Next or to consult the show’s credits, visit https://trends.cmf-fmc.ca/podcast-now-and-next/