Cinema Canada (Jun 1983)

Gorman takes on presidency of D GC insurprise quickie upset TORONTO -— In an unexpected development at the Directors’ Guild of Canada annual general meeting May 1, George Gorman was elected the new president of the association, widely de 8/Cinema Canada June 1983 feating rival candidate Larry Kent, While the final tally was not made public, Kent, who had been running without opposition since the withdrawal of Harvey Frost, suddenly found himself opposed by Gorman four days before the vote. The result, Kent told Cinema Canada, was “not close at all.” Gorman, 62, describes him self as “one of the older members of the Guild, having seen on one of the first executives.” Explaining why he agreed to become a draft-candidate Gorman said, “There was a bit of a groundswell here not to have a president elected by acclamation or by default. It was a whirlwind four-day campaign. “I thought it would be close,” Gorman added, “I thought my opponent would have the edge. The results were quite astonishing.” Describing his administration as “one for the times”, Gorman feels “there are a lot of people hoping that we can adjust a little bit and be a bit more flexible in a number of areas. When we look at contracts, we fit the contract to the job and vice-versa. I don’t mean we _ Should completely turn around and show a soft side that everybody can now take advantage of, but we should take each production or issue on its merits, rather than maintain a hard, steadfast line. “But we're :not going to be less nationalist. That’s what we're here for. Forthe moment we need to protect our members and we'll do that, but within that context we'll make sure we're not being destructive in terms of the producers’ ability to produce. After all we need each other — without them, we don’t work.” The main priorities, according to Gorman, are “more work”, together with “an extended program for re-training” director members in the area of multicamera videotape production. “I'd like to see us doing more for pay-TV,” Gorman said, “I'd like to see us doing more TV series for the networks, I'd like to see us do more features, not necessarily big budget. As the ~ recession is slowly beginning to fade, there are hopeful prospects for production.” A former senior producer/ director with Crawley Films, Gorman came to Toronto in 1960 where he worked on a number of TV series (Mounted Police, Forest Rangers and High Hopes). In 1972 he went to Africa to make training films for a copper-mining company in Zambia, a time he remembers as “a great experience” unfortunately cut short by nationalization and illness. “It's rather overwhelming,” Gorman says of the current broadcasting environment. “I just boggle at what we're into and how we're going to sustain iton the plus side. It’s a tremendous challenge to everyone, perhaps most of all to the government and the CRTC. Great mistakes have been made in the past.” ACTRA undergoes name change TORONTO The Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is no more — at least in name only. A meeting of the ACTRA membership May 6 voted by a margin of nearly 8-1 in favour of constitutional revisions in the organization, which include alterations in the organization's internal structure and a name change. While the ACTRA acronym will remain, the union will now be known as the AIlliance of Canadian Cinema, Felevision, and Radio Artists. Besides acknowledging the significant work of the ACTRA membership in the Canadian film industry, the new name indicates the change among the craft sections of the organization from association to alliance. The alliance structure will allow each guild — the ACTRA Performers Guild, the ACTRA Writers Guild, and the Guild of Broadcast Journalists and Researchers — to be more distinct and self-governing in response to the specific needs of its members. The changes were announced May 10 from the ACTRA offices in Toronto. Cineplex cuts ticket to right price TORONTO Cineplex theatres in Toronto (excluding the International and Carlton Cinemas) began a new admission price policy on May 16, with prices for adult evening admissions dropping one dollar. Cineplex cut its adult matinee prices to $3.00 (from $3.50) for Mon.-Tue. -Thur. -Fri. screenings, with evening prices for those days also slashed to $4.00 (from $5.00). Youth prices on these days are $3.00 for matinees and $3.50 for evening screenings. Adult admission for all week end screenings was reduced to $4.00 (from $5.00). Youth prices are cut to $3.50 for matinees and $4.00 for evening shows. In addition, Cineplex will continue its “Two Dollar Tuesdays” program, with all admissions for all shows priced at $2.00. MONTREAL — Montreal production company Filmline Productions Inc. is co-producing the $3.5 million CBS made-for-TV feature The Race To The North Pole together with Robert Halmi Productions Inc. of New York City: papi ~ieaeaill