In this post, Maija Leivo writes about the excitement happening around Parallax Film Productions lately.
What a week! We’ve just boarded a flight to Toronto with a connection to Miami and then on to the Bahamas tomorrow. This follows on market calls to Realscreen West in Los Angeles and then to Banff Media Festival, with a two-day stop in Vancouver to attend the Leo Awards last Friday and Saturday night. Ian has been really racking up the Aeroplan miles.
The intensive two weeks were very extraverted. After many months of nurturing and developing in house, it was time to share the proceeds with broadcasters who just might let us take our pet projects to the world. For the Leo Awards, it was a reflection of how our project Battle Castle was received by the BC-based film community. In truth, we were honoured by the initial feedback that awarded our team seven nominations across numerous categories including direction, cinematography, screenwriting, sound and best documentary series. We were proud to emerge with four awards, two for the team from Post Modern Sound, one to Nicole Tomlinson for Screenwriting and the coveted Best Documentary Series, which acknowledged the depth of the myriad of talents that make our work possible. We’re so proud of our nominees Sean White and Brian Mann and were very happy that Liz Murray could be on hand to collect hardware with Ian and I on Saturday night.
Battle Castle Team at the Leo Awards Friday June 7, 2013 Sean White nominated for Best Cinematography, Jakub Kuczynski (VFX), Nicole Tomlinson Leo Award winner for Screenwriting, Series Producer Maija Leivo, Ian Herring nominated for Best Direction and Best Doc Series and Brian Mann Best Editing Nominee.
Leo Awards Saturday, June 8, 2013 Series Producer Maija Leivo, Executive Producer Ian Herring and Producer Liz Murray collect the Leo Award for Best Documentary Series.
The meetings in Los Angles and Banff were also really productive. A sad statement of the times was the Broadcaster who confided in Ian that he was the first Producer to acutally pitch a documentary. The field is deep in reality these days.
Which brings me back to our documentary slate. We’re going to stay our course and continue to pitch films on the ideas we love and which motivate us. We’re embarking this weekend on a major scout for a new wildlife series called Bahama Blue. It will be shot over the next year in the Bahamas and for the next two weeks, it’s going to be all about the sharks and dolphins, reefs and mangroves, seahorses and flamingoes, not to mention countless species of iguanas. We’re excited to be working with the noted underwater cinematographer Pete Zuccarini as our local guide and to have Sean White back as our Director of Photography. We’re hoping to share some photos from the scout, so be sure to like our Facebook Page or follow us on Twitter. As for that development, we’re going to keep you posted.
We’re hoping to share some exciting developments later this summer, so keep your eyes on this space.
