Everything about Awards, eh?

Screen Nova Scotia announce award winners

From a media release:

Screen Nova Scotia hosted its second annual awards show on Saturday, May 7,  in front of a sold-out crowd at Casio Nova Scotia. Featuring the ACTRA Awards for Outstanding Performances, the Screen Nova Scotia Awards, the Digital Animators of Nova Scotia Award, and the Film Crew Excellence Award, the event was a celebration of the talent, determination, and passion that are trademarks of the screen-based community in Nova Scotia.

After opening the evening with a live performance, Studio Black! won the award for Best Television Series. The CBC miniseries from Lunenburg-based production company Picture Plant Limited tells African-Nova Scotian folk tales in a style the mixes theatre and studio television.

Local actor/director Cory Bowles hosted the night, and also joined the Studio Black! team on stage to accept their Screen Nova Scotia award, as one of the directors of the series.

North Mountain, a First Nations LGBT thriller, won the Screen Nova Scotia Award for Best Feature Film. It’s the first feature film from writer/director Bretten Hannam.

The theme of the evening was ‘family’ – a gathering of those who built the industry over the past 20 years – with multigenerational presenters taking to the stage to present awards throughout the evening.

Three-time nominee Jackie Torrens took home the ACTRA trophy for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work on the feature film Across the Line. Mike Mcleod won his second ACTRA award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the role of the priest in the television series Forgive Me. Director Thom Fitzgerald accepted the award on McLeod’s behalf, as the actor moved to B.C. for work following the elimination of the tax credit last year.

Costumer Deanna Anthony, won the Film Crew Excellence Award, posthumously. An industry veteran, Deanna most recently worked on This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, before passing away from cancer at the age of 52.

The full list of award winners:

Best Television Series: Studio Black! (Picture Plant Ltd.)
Best Documentary Film: Fanarchy (Ruby Tree Films)
Best Short Film: Bound (Daniel Boos)
Best Feature Film: North Mountain (Mazeking Pictures & Kingsberg Studios)
Best Scene in an Animated Production: Bit By Bit / Animated by Jeff Roach (Huminah Animation)

Outstanding Female Actor in a Leading Role: Jennie Raymond, Sex & Violence
Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role: Mike Mcleod, Forgive Me
Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Jackie Torrens, Across The Line
Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Simon Paul  Mutuyimana, Across The Line

Film Crew Excellence Award: Deanna Anthony, Costumer

(image courtesy of Michael Tompkins)

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Link: Calgary-based TV shows nab top prizes at Rosie Awards

From Eric Volmers of Postmedia:

Calgary-based TV shows nab top prizes at Rosie Awards
Two of Alberta’s highest-profile, Calgary-based television series took home major hardware at the 42nd annual Alberta Film and Television Awards in Calgary Saturday night, although the night was not without a few surprises.

The show, hosted by comedian Jebb Fink, took over the Hyatt’s Imperial Ballroom, as hundreds of Alberta’s film and TV workers dressed to the nines and competed in 55 categories for the awards, nicknamed the Rosies. Continue reading. 

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The Book of Negroes, Orphan Black and Schitt’s Creek top WGC Screenwriting Awards

Clement Virgo (The Book of Negroes), Russ Cochrane (Orphan Black) and Amanda Walsh (Schitt’s Creek) were among the winners recognized at the 2016 Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards on Monday night in Toronto. Hosted by Elvira Kurt, the WGC event—delivered to a packed Koerner Hall—also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the WGC, which broke away from ACTRA in 1991 to become a guild of independently congregated writers.

“Writers, this is a big night for you,” Kurt joked during her opening monologue. “I look around and I see that the Chuck Taylor’s have been polished, the Spanx have been spanked, spiffy outfits have been borrowed and for some of us the meds we take for social anxiety are almost kicking in.”

“I want to thank all of my fellow finalists, and to all female screenwriters for telling their stories because you inspired me to tell my story,” Walsh said upon winning the TV Comedy category for her Schitt’s Creek script “The Cabin.” Orphan Black writer and co-executive producer Aubrey Nealon accepted Cochrane’s award for Season 3’s “Newer Elements of Our Defense,” while Virgo and The Book of Negroes author Lawrence Hill (pictured above) were on hand to accept the trophy for writing in a Movie of the Week or Miniseries.

Clive Endersby received the Alex Barris Mentorship Award, Penny Gummerson the Sondra Kelly Award, Peter Mohan the Writers Block Award and Frank van Keeken the Showrunner Award, who stunned the crowd by announcing he’d been ousted as showrunner on The Next Step and Lost & Found Music Studios.

Frank van Keeken (Image courtesy of Christina Gapic.)
Frank van Keeken (Image courtesy of Christina Gapic.)

Here’s the complete list of categories (winners denoted in blue):

CHILDREN
Numb Chucks, Season 2 “Witless to the Prosecution”
Written by Evan Thaler Hickey

Odd Squad, Season 1 “Puppet Show”
Written by Charles Johnston

Pirate Express, Season 1 “Fountain of Misspent Youth”
Written by David Elver

DOCUMENTARY
Deluged by Data
Written by Josh Freed

Ninth Floor
Written by Mina Shum

MOW & MINISERIES
The Book of Negroes: Episode 1
Story by Lawrence Hill, Teleplay by Clement Virgo

The Gourmet Detective
Written by Becky Southwell & Dylan Neal

Kept Woman
Written by Doug Barber & James Phillips

SHORTS & WEBSERIES
Bob! The Slob
Written by James Nadler

Goldfish
Written by Michael Konyves

TV COMEDY
Mr. D, Season 4 “President Jimmy”
Written by Anita Kapila

Mr. D, Season 4 “Short Stocked”
Written by Marvin Kaye

Schitt’s Creek, Season 1 “The Cabin”
Written by Amanda Walsh

TV DRAMA 
19-2, Season 2 “Orphans”
Written by Jesse McKeown

19-2, Season 2 “Property Line”
Written by Nikolijne Troubetzkoy

19-2, Season 2 “School”
Adapted by Bruce M. Smith

Orphan Black, Season 3 “Newer Elements of Our Defense”
Written by Russ Cochrane

X Company, Season 1 “Into the Fire”
Written by Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern

TWEENS & TEENS
Some Assembly Required, Season 2 “Rocket with a Pocket”
Written by Jennica Harper

Some Assembly Required, Season 2 “Snappo”
Written by Cole Bastedo & Jennifer Siddle

The Stanley Dynamic, Season 1 “The Stanley Grandpa”
Written by Alice Prodanou

FEATURE FILMS
A Christmas Horror Story
Written by James Kee and Sarah Larsen and Doug Taylor and Pascal Trottier

End of Days, Inc.
Written by Christina Ray

The Saver
Written by Wiebke von Carolsfeld

(Images courtesy of Christina Gapic.)

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Celebrate the Writers: WGC Screenwriting Awards, May 2

From a media release:

The WGC Screenwriting Awards recognize the talented Canadian writers whose scripts spark an entire television and film industry.

On May 2, 2016 the screenwriter is in the spotlight at the awards gala, held at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s beautiful Koerner Hall. Host Ryan Belleville brings his sharp wit to the stage in a fast-paced show co-written with This Hour Has 22 Minutes writer Jeremy Woodcock.

Writers from Orphan Black, 19-2, and X Company compete for the best TV Drama Award, to name just one category. Awards will also be handed out for the winning children’s, documentary, feature film, MOW and miniseries, shorts and webseries, TV comedy, and teens and tweens scripts. Close to 150 scripts were nominated, with 24 scripts chosen as finalists, and 32 screenwriters up for awards.

Awards presenters include The F Word screenwriter Elan Mastai, What Would Sal Do? showrunner Andrew De Angelis with star Dylan Taylor, powerhouse couple Sudz Sutherland and Jennifer Holness (Shoot the Messenger), Mohawk Girls showrunner Cynthia Knight, documentary writer Michael McNamara (The Cholesterol Question), and Jessie Gabe, writer of Cas & Dylan.

A full slate of special awards, including the WGC Showrunner Award, the Alex Barris Mentorship Award, and the Sondra Kelly Award will also be presented.

The 2016 WGC Screenwriting Awards mark the 25th anniversary of the Writers Guild of Canada. Join us Monday, May 2, 2016, at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning’s Koerner Hall.

2016 WGC Screenwriting Awards Finalists

CHILDREN
Numb Chucks, Season 2 “Witless to the Prosecution”
Written by Evan Thaler Hickey

Odd Squad, Season 1 “Puppet Show”
Written by Charles Johnston

Pirate Express, Season 1 “Fountain of Misspent Youth”
Written by David Elver

DOCUMENTARY
Deluged by Data
Written by Josh Freed

Ninth Floor
Written by Mina Shum

FEATURE FILMS
A Christmas Horror Story
Written by James Kee and Sarah Larsen and Doug Taylor and Pascal Trottier

End of Days, Inc.
Written by Christina Ray

The Saver
Written by Wiebke von Carolsfeld

MOW & MINISERIES
The Book of Negroes: Episode 1
Story by Lawrence Hill, Teleplay by Clement Virgo

The Gourmet Detective
Written by Becky Southwell & Dylan Neal

Kept Woman
Written by Doug Barber & James Phillips

SHORTS & WEBSERIES
Bob! The Slob
Written by James Nadler

Goldfish
Written by Michael Konyves

TV COMEDY
Mr. D, Season 4 “President Jimmy”
Written by Anita Kapila

Mr. D, Season 4 “Short Stocked”
Written by Marvin Kaye

Schitt’s Creek, Season 1 “The Cabin”
Written by Amanda Walsh

TV DRAMA
19-2, Season 2 “Orphans”
Written by Jesse McKeown

19-2, Season 2 “Property Line”
Written by Nikolijne Troubetzkoy

19-2, Season 2 “School”
Adapted by Bruce M. Smith

Orphan Black, Season 3 “Newer Elements of Our Defense”
Written by Russ Cochrane

X Company, Season 1 “Into the Fire”
Written by Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern

TWEENS & TEENS
Some Assembly Required, Season 2 “Rocket with a Pocket”
Written by Jennica Harper

Some Assembly Required, Season 2 “Snappo”
Written by Cole Bastedo & Jennifer Siddle

The Stanley Dynamic, Season 1 “The Stanley Grandpa”
Written by Alice Prodanou

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