Village Gamer

Toronto – Ronald D. Moore, Writer and Executive Producer of “Battlestar Galactica” is joining the Master Class speaker lineup at the Banff World Television Festival (BANFF). BANFF celebrates its 30th edition at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Canada, June 7–10, 2009.

Ronald Moore

“Banff’s Master Class series host some of the world’s most talented and successful TV creators,” commented Peter Vamos, BANFF Executive Director. “This is the place to hear firsthand the incredible knowledge and experience directly from the industry’s leading producers.”

“Battlestar Galactica” has been honored with a prestigious Peabody Award and twice as an official selection of the AFI’s (American Film Institute) top television programs. In 2006 Moore was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Dramatic Series, and in 2008 he won an Emmy for the “Battlestar Galactica” webisodes.

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Vancouver Press Release – For over 15 years, Robert McKee’s Story Seminar has been the world’s ultimate writing class for over 50,000 screenwriters, filmmakers, TV writers, novelists, journalists, industry executives, actors, advertising executives, producers, directors and playwrights.

Former STORY students have written: A Beautiful Mind; Lord of the Rings I, II, III; Ironman; Law & Order; CSI; The Daily Show; Friends; Frasier; Seinfeld; The DaVinci Code; Shrek; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest; X-Men 3; Finding Nemo and many more.

And former STORY students have won: 27 Academy Awards (98 nominations); 141 Emmy Awards (476 nominations); 20 WGA Awards (72 nominations); 17 DGA Awards (45 nominations) and a Pulitzer Prize for Writing.

Robert McKee’s famous STORY seminar returns to Vancouver in June — don’t miss this opportunity to become a former STORY student yourself.

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Vancouver – The BC Innovation Council is pleased to be a title sponsor for the 2009 New Ventures BC Competition and the Impact Microcredit Competition which are both open to all British Columbians:

* 2009 New Ventures BC Competition – BCIC will be providing a total of $180,000 towards the Proof of Concept Awards towards the competition prizes. BCIC’s Proof of Concept Development Prize provides funding to New Ventures BC winners, to demonstrate the commercial potential of a new technology product, process or service. The funding supports advancement of the technology along the commercialization continuum in order to attract investors, commercial partners, and future customers.

The competition is open to everyone in British Columbia and entries will be accepted from a person, team or business. NVBC welcomes technology business ideas from all sectors. Registration for the competition will open shortly. Deadline to enter is midnight, April 20, 2009.

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Toronto – Today MySpace Canada announced “The Hollywood Minute,” the newest addition to the social portal, available exclusively in Canada. A source of candid celebrity shots, news and gossip straight from the streets, “The Hollywood Minute” will be a staple for entertainment news addicts across the country.

MySpace Canada encourages users to snap pictures or video of celebrities from around the world and upload them to “The Hollywood Minute” for a chance to be paid for the photo or video if it is syndicated through Central Image Agency, MySpace’s exclusive partner photo agency.

To introduce “The Hollywood Minute,” MySpace Canada will be hosting a suite in the Artist Sanctuary at the Loden Hotel in Vancouver during the 2009 Juno weekend. “The Hollywood Minute on MySpace Suite” will be a unique environment for artists to communicate with fans through MySpace, enjoy refreshments, and relax from the weekend’s events.

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Sault Ste. Marie – The Future Play 2009 conference on gaming and design is pleased to announce that seminar topics for this year’s conference have just been finalized.

Says Rick Mahoney of Cinetik, the Conference Co-Chair of Future Play: “I think we have been able to capture a very interesting spectrum of topics with the seminars we have selected. I feel that there is a good balance between technical ‘how-to’ seminars and presentations that will be more philosophical in nature.”

The full list of seminar topics is as follows:

Making Deep Games: presented by Doris Rusch

Game Audio Education – Adding Audio to your Games Courses and Games to your Audio Courses: presented by Karen Collins, Bill Kapralos, Leonard Paul and David Kerr

Designing Effective Exercise Video Games: presented by Nicholas Graham, Tadeusz Stach and Regan Mandryk

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Voice actors take note! The finalists for the 2009 Voicey Awards, sponsored by Voices.com, have been revealed

Toronto – After much waiting and anticipation, finalists of the 3rd Annual Voicey Awards recognizing voice talent have been announced. Voice talents record various projects for organizations, companies, and institutions requiring voice over services including commercials for radio and television, promos, movie trailers, audio book narration, podcasts, videos, animation, videogames, telephone recordings and more. Theirs are the voices of the unseen narrator, heard but not seen.

The only awards show of its kind to exclusively honor voice-over professionals, the Voicey Awards features 9 categories of significance and prestige, including Best Male Voice, Best Female Voice, Best New Voice, Best Child Voice, Best Teen Voice, Best Voice Team, Best Foreign Voice, Best Personal Branding, and Lifetime Achievement. Similar to awards such as the Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, honoring actors and filmmakers, the Voicey Awards recognize voice actors and voice talents for their contributions and efforts over the year in the voice over industry.

“The finalists for this year’s Voiceys, organized by category, and in no particular order are…”

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Vancouver International Partnering Forum and New Media BC’s Digital Media PopVox Awards return with bigger outreach and expanded programs

Vancouver – New Media BC announced its second annual Vancouver Digital Week will be held May 11-14, 2009 at the brand new Vancouver Exhibition and Convention Centre. Partner events include the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Canada, marking the first time the famed gamers meet up has come to Canada; Cossette West’s Convergence Conference, a digital marketing and social media gathering; and nextMEDIA’s first Vancouver event. New Media BC will present its own Vancouver International Partnering Forum and its People’s Choice PopVox Awards during Vancouver Digital Week. For a full list of events, visit: www.vancouverdigitalweek.com

“British Columbia is a global leader in digital media”, says Kenton Low, President of New Media BC. “Vancouver Digital Week is a partnership of top notch events focusing on digital media that brings attention to the world class talent and companies we have here in BC.”

The Vancouver International Partnering Forum (VIPF), to be held from May 12-13, 2009 was first launched in 2004 by New Media BC and continues as a significant annual event for leading Canadian digital companies to meet international decision makers, to explore partnership opportunities and negotiate deals. The forum attracts high calibre delegates from all over the world including the UK, USA, France, Germany, Korea, Australia, China, Singapore, Thailand and Japan. 2009 ushers in a new two day format allowing participants more networking components and the opportunity to double the number of business meetings during the hand-picked B2B sessions. Companies that have confirmed interest to attend this year’s forum include Google, Disney, Nokia, Rainmaker, Mediasense and Next Level Games. On-line registration is open at: www.vipf.ca

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LOOK OUT WHISTLER – THERE ARE NEW PRODUCERS IN TOWN

Toronto – The Whistler Film Festival presents, in association with Telefilm Canada, the Canadian Film Centre’s GO WEST Project Lab, an intense five-day business and marketplace immersion experience held in Whistler June 21-25, 2009. The CFC GO WEST Project Lab is open only to western-Canada-based producers (from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Yukon) and is intended to advance a producer’s dramatic feature project, facilitate relationships and collaboration on and investment in film projects that have US & international appeal. The deadline application for the Project Lab is April 6th, 2009.

“We are once again excited to showcase the many skills and projects of western-based producers,” said CFC Director of Film & TV Programs, Kathryn Emslie.”The CFC GO WEST Project Lab strives to build strong collaboration between Canadian talent and industry professionals that will create widespread appeal in Canadian and international markets.”

“The CFC GO WEST Project Lab is unique in Canada, providing western-based producers with invaluable project feedback as well as insights into the international marketplace from some of the best in the industry,” says WFF Director Shauna Hardy Mishaw. “We are thrilled to collaborate on this initiative with the Canadian Film Centre.”
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Sault STE. Marie – The annual Future Play Conference on the future of game development has become an event that gets circled on the calendars of the gaming world’s top scholars, students and industry leaders. With 2009 keynote speakers that include games pioneer and guru Don Daglow and Ben Sawyer of Digitalmill, this year promises to be no exception.

With the 2009 Future Play Conference now partnered with the Game Developers Conference® (GDC Canada), there will now be even more opportunities for participants to benefit from influential speakers, thought-provoking panel discussions and valuable networking opportunities.

“I have a high regard for the role of Future Play in the game research and development vista in Canada,” says University of Calgary Professor Jim Parker, a long-time Future Play participant. “I was an early participant in Future Play, since 2004 in fact, when it was still named the Game Technology Conference, and I have been enthusiastic ever since. It has been the home of many innovations, such as the game contest in 2007 and in acting as host for the Canadian Game Studies Association in its early stages.”
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Application Deadline Extended To March 16 2009

Banff – The Global Writers Apprentice Programme offers emerging Canadian writers with the unprecedented opportunity to gain significant experience by completing a four-week internship in the story department of a prime-time series. The winners will be selected by a three person jury. Successful applicants will be invited to attend the Banff World Television Festival on a full access pass. The program is open to individual writers as well as to established writing teams who have a track record together.

Before attending BANFF, they will work on their series pitches and pitching techniques in one-on-one sessions with the Program Director.

Qualifications

Successful applicants must be able to demonstrate an expertise in dramatic screenwriting. Preference will be given to those individuals who have at least a half hour of produced drama.

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