Maryam Siddiqi of the National Post profiles Shaun Majumder of This Hour Has 22 Minutes (among other things):
In the news: Shaun Majumder
Everything about This Hour Has 22 Minutes, eh?
Canadian screenwriting award winners
From the Writers Guild of Canada:
Canada’s best screenwriters honoured at the 2007 Canadian Screenwriting Awards
Brad Wright was named the first recipient of the WGC Showrunner Award for his outstanding creative vision as writer/producer of Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1 at the 2007 Canadian Screenwriting Awards, presented by the Writers Guild of Canada.
Screenwriters Sarah Polley (Away From Her), Brent Butt and Kevin White (Corner Gas) and Susan Coyne, Bob Martin and Mark McKinney (Slings & Arrows) were among the people recognized at this special awards ceremony, which is judged solely on the merits of the script – not the produced television/radio program or film.
In addition, the Alex Barris Mentorship Award was given to producer Ilana Frank, who has helped many writers achieve their potential, the Jim Burt Screenwriting Prize for best unproduced miniseries/movie script was given to Ryan Redford, and the Writers Block Award for service to the Guild was given to Sondra Kelly and Sugith Varughese. A complete list of winners is in the attached press release.
The awards ceremony was held on April 23 at the Brant House in Toronto and hosted by Gavin Crawford from This Hour Has 22 Minutes, who co-wrote the show with Kyle Tingley. Several guest presenters were on hand to give out awards, such as actors Sheila McCarthy and Sitara Hewitt from Little Mosque on the Prairie, showrunner Susin Nielsen and actor Linda Kash from Robson Arms, and writer/director/actor Don McKellar.
Stars from Little Mosque on the Prairie and Robson Arms to help celebrate Canadian Screenwriting Awards
From the Writers Guild of Canada:
Actors Sheila McCarthy and Sitara Hewitt from Little Mosque on the Prairie, and showrunner Susin Nielsen and actor Linda Kash from Robson Arms are among the celebrities joining host Gavin Crawford from This Hour Has 22 Minutes to celebrate the 2007 Canadian Screenwriting Awards on April 23 in Toronto.
Kyle Tingley is co-writing the awards show with Gavin Crawford for this special night, which is presented by the Writers Guild of Canada and honours excellence in screenwriting.
Awards will be given out in the categories of feature films, TV movies and miniseries, episodic dramas, comedies, documentaries and radio programs, and nominated scripts are from such hit shows as Corner Gas, Intelligence, and Slings & Arrows, and the feature films Away From Her and Fido. A complete list of finalists can be found in the attached press release.
2007 is a special year for the awards with the launch of the new WGC Showrunner Award. This award recognizes the writer/producers who hold the vision for a television series and make all the creative decisions from development to post production, like Brad Wright (Stargate Atlantis), Paul Mather (Corner Gas) and James Hurst (Degrassi: The Next Generation).
All winners will be announced at the 11th annual awards gala at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, April 23, 2006, at the Brant House, 522 King St. West, Toronto. If you would like to be on the media guest list, please contact Barb Farwell, Director of Communications, WGC, at 416-979-7907, ext. 5234, or b.farwell@wgc.ca
Some past recipients of the awards include Brent Butt & Paul Mather for Corner Gas, Susin Nielsen for Robson Arms, Suzette Couture for the TV movie The Man Who Lost Himself: The Terry Evanshen Story, and Chris Haddock for Da Vinci’s Inquest.
Upcoming episode: This Hour Has 22 Minutes, CBC, April 10
From Halifax Film:
This week on 22 Minutes …
This Hour Has 22 Minutes with audience favorites Cathy Jones, Shaun Majumder, Gavin Crawford and Mark Critch airs on Tuesday, April 10 at 8:30 pm on CBC Television.
This week 22 Minutes brings to viewers the best of Season XIV including a Nova Scotia Advertisement, Canada in the A.M. and the best of Raj Binder.
This Hour Has 22 Minutes is produced by Halifax Film in association with CBC Television. www.cbc.ca/22minutes
CBC announces 2007/08 programming
From CBC:
Building on the success of this season, CBC Television today offered a sneak peek at some of the exciting new programs Canadians can look forward to in 2007/08.
“Today is just the first look at what promises to be an extraordinary season for CBC Television,†says Kirstine Layfield, executive director, network programming. “We’ve got an exciting slate of programming that is distinctly Canadian, that is entertaining, informative and we’re confident will appeal to a broad range of Canadians throughout the country.â€
CBC Television will continue to build on the remarkable successes this season of Little Mosque on the Prairie, Test the Nation, Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister, The Greatest Canadian Invention, Dragons’ Den and others.
“Our audiences have responded well to innovative, intelligent and entertaining programming and we’re going to give them more of that this coming year,†Layfield adds.
The Tudors is an Irish-Canadian co-production in which an all-star cast revives the sensational life of Henry VIII in an epic prime-time soap filled with sex, romance, murder, war and rolling heads. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Henry as a strapping, mercurial young king, while Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Jeremy Northam (An Ideal Husband) and Canadian Henry Czerny (Mission Impossible, Boys of St. Vincent) play his courtiers;
Drawn from today’s headlines, The Border is a fast-paced, hard-driving series set in Toronto in a paranoid post-Sept. 11 world concerned with security crises, terrorist infiltrations, cross-border police actions and trafficking in everything from enriched uranium to abducted children;
Heartland is a multi-generational family series set in the foothills of Alberta. The series follows the excitement, humour and drama of the Fleming family as members struggle to run a horse ranch–one that teeters on the edge of failure–that has been in the family for years;
Sophie follows the adventures and misadventures of a young, vibrant single mother who inherits a talent agency from her father and then loses her best client–followed soon after by her boyfriend;
No Opportunity Wasted will offer Canadians the chance to seize a life-changing opportunity. Based on the NOW philosophy of Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan, NOW will encourage all of us to live each day as if we’ll never have another chance like it.
“Production of these programs will be taking place throughout the country, a reflection of our commitment and mandate to create programming that best captures the range of Canadian stories we can all share,†Layfield says.
Among the returning programs will be perennial favourites The National, Marketplace and Hockey Night in Canada, along with comedy hits This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Rick Mercer Report and Royal Canadian Air Farce, rounding out a comprehensive programming schedule including CBC’s award-winning documentary programming, its world-class sports lineup and its industry-leading news and current affairs.
Later in the year, CBC will unveil an all-new production of The Nutcracker and will continue development of Triple Sensation, which will provide a national showcase for some of the country’s best young talent in the performing arts.
“We will remain the place for Canadians to turn when they’re looking for the finest in arts and entertainment programming and for stories and information by, for and about Canadians everywhere. We’re very excited to be at the beginning of this process and look forward to sharing more information about the new season later this spring,†Layfield says.