Now & Next

Isolation Nation: When Going to Work Means Never Leaving Home

The guests on this episode of the podcast are Marie Claire LeBlanc Flanagan and Jim Munroe. They have been tasked with finding out what the shift to working from home has actually been like for game industry personnel. They’re putting the finishing touches on a research report about the sector’s transition from studio-based work to home-based work called “Isolation Nation”. Marie Claire and Jim provide us with a sneak peek into some of their interview-based findings so far, such as the challenges of people having to be their own boss at home, the tendency to work too much, and mechanisms for keeping morale up.

Breaking On Screen Stereotypes From the Inside Out

In this episode, we meet Jacob Pratt, an Indigenous film producer from Saskatchewan. He’s the co-owner of Los Angeles based Skoden Entertainment, an Indigenous story-focused production company whose first client happens to be Disney. Jacob explains that the best way to fight stereotypes perpetuated by the media, is to use the same medium to break them.

Making Movies Social Again: The Entrepreneurs Behind Hoovie

On this episode, we speak to Hilary Henegar and Fiona Rayher, the entrepreneurs behind the startup Hoovie. The platform is making it possible again to watch a movie with other people and have a discussion afterwards, just like old times but...virtually. This new trend is proving to be both appealing to individuals and profitable to film producers.

Staying in the Game: How Indie Video Game Studios Are Rising to New Challenges

The gaming industry has been affected pretty hard by the pandemic, as it has historically relied on networking at large annual in person events. On this episode, we check in with a handful of Canadian independent game studios to find out how they’re adapting to changes in their day-to-day operations and with Nadine Gelly, the executive manager of La Guilde, one of Canada’s largest industry associations for game developers, to learn about the initiatives happening at the industry level.For more information about this or other episodes of Now & Next or to consult the show’s credits, visit trends.cmf-fmc.ca/podcast-now-and-next/

Staying Eco-Conscious on Set During COVID-19

Clara George is the guest on this episode of the podcast. Based in Vancouver, Clara is the VP of Studios & Sustainable Production Services at Sim International, a role she transitioned into after close to three decades working as a producer in film and TV. Clara has had a longstanding interest in environmental issues and has been active in a variety of sustainability initiatives over the years but it wasn’t until COVID-19 hit earlier this year that she made greening film and TV production her full time focus. According to her, while the Covid-19 restrictions might seem like a step back in terms of sustainability efforts, they’ve actually provided an opportunity for people to become more aware of unnecessary waste on set, and come up together with new solutions. And to top it all off, Clara says such initiatives either cost nothing to implement or, even better, end up saving the production money. Among the strides Clara George has made in sustainable production practices: shifting a number of BC-based productions to clean grid power, making a fleet of close to 100 hybrid vehicles available for short term rentals for productions shooting in Vancouver, and finding workaround solutions to the high emissions diesel generators that have been a staple on film and TV sets for several decades. For more information about this or other episodes of Now & Next or to consult the show’s credits, visit https://trends.cmf-fmc.ca/