Prairies

TAKE ONE, Dec-Feb, 1999 by Tim Christison

In November, while most prairie people basked in extended autumn, producer/director Randy Bradshaw, of the Calgary-based film and television production company Bradshaw MacLeod and Associates, needed snow for his George Fox Christmas Music Special, a coproduction with Balmur, singer Anne Murray's production company.

The east slope of the Rockies locations were confirmed but they lacked the snow and cold essential for local kids to play hockey with Toronto Maple Leaf goalie great Johnny Bower. And George Fox's rendition of "Six White Boomers" with animated kangaroos, needed ice. Particularly eager was piano prodigy Wesley Chu set to accompany Rebecca Jenkins (Bye, Bye Blues, Black Harbour) in his move from classical music to modern classics. The family special would cap an outstanding year for the three acclaimed partners: Bradshaw--who does more directing then producing--and producers Doug MacLeod and Tom Dent-Cox. MacLeod and Bradshaw started the company in 1981. Following several successful creative collaborations, including those with Bradshaw on The Ray Bradbury Theatre and both partners on North of 60, Dent-Cox became a business partner. Branching out from their strength in series television, the trio has together and independently added to their credits with Trial By Fire, the second North of 60 movie set for an airdate in the first quarter of 2000; the first one, In the Blue Ground, aired in March 1999. The Sheldon Kennedy Story, a coproduction with Sarrazin Couture Productions for Baton Broadcasting, chalked up 1.3 million viewers; Bad Faith, a feature film for A-Channel and Oasis, based on Ian Adams's novel, has been delivered and ready for a future airdate. Three long, intense shootings days for Trail By Fire, in Yellowknife, were offset by encounters with avid fans of the series' very popular characters in Lynx River, the fictional setting for both the TV series and the movies. Fans eagerly told the crew they knew, lived with, or worked with people just like those on the show. MacLeod, like many other Alberta producers, welcomed the creative approach to funding film and television production by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. With renewal of the Alberta industry came another challenge--"too many jobs chasing too few people." With two, one-hour prime-time series ideas that MacLeod pronounced as "correct for the time, the place and will play well as intelligent contemporary entertainment," the company is sussing out ways into long-term series production. At the same time, it hopes to attract seasoned creative and technical people to become Alberta-based and so sustain the revived local industry.