TORONTO — Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Media company, today announced several appointments as part of the production company’s continued expansion in North America.
Betty Orr (above, left) has been appointed to senior vice-president of production, Pam McNair (centre) is now a production executive, and Elizabeth St. Philip (right) is now a senior producer at Saloon Media.
“These personnel moves will see Orr take on an expanded executive role, and bring McNair and St. Philip, who have worked with the company on award-winning projects, including Canada’s Drag Race and 9/11 Kids respectively, to the production team in a full-time capacity,” reads a press release announcing their new appointments.
Previously serving as head of production, Orr will continue to work closely with Saloon Media’s managing director Michael Kot to lead all aspects of Saloon’s production business. Orr joined Saloon Media when it launched in 2013 “and has more than 25 years of television and film production experience, ranging from producing award-winning television series such as Kids In The Hall to her critically acclaimed feature film, Cube,” the release says.
Orr recently served as executive producer on Canada’s Drag Race, produced with Blue Ant Studios for Crave, Amazon Prime Video’s Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer, and T+E’s series Hotel Paranormal, narrated by Canadian actor Dan Aykroyd.
Prior to joining Saloon Media, Orr worked with eOne, Cineflix, White Pine Pictures, Decode Entertainment (DHX Media), Jim Henson Productions and CBC.
“I am so proud of what we are creating at Saloon and am eager to continue working with our talented team to produce new content that is not only entertaining, but also impactful and informative,” Orr said, in the press release. “I look forward to continuing to expand our footprint in North America and beyond, and to developing more exciting projects as we continue to grow our dynamic slate.”
“Betty’s vision and expertise has played an invaluable role in building Saloon’s business since the day our doors opened. We’re thrilled for her to take on this expanded role as we continue to grow our production presence,” said Kot.
“Pam and Elizabeth are best-in-class creatives with whom we have had the opportunity to work on several projects over the past few years, and we are extremely fortunate to now have them bring their talents to our team full-time.”
In her new role as production executive, McNair reports to Orr and she will produce factual series for buyers in North America and around the globe. McNair has previously worked with Saloon as a producer on projects including Canada’s Drag Race and Ted Bundy: Falling for a Killer. Her production experience spans docuseries, factual, competition programming, game shows, dramatic features and live television events including several Olympic Games.
Some of McNair’s previous credits include Hockeyville (CBC and Kraft Canada), Chopped Canada (Corus), Shaun’s Great Adventure (CBC), The Magical Gathering (Disney and CBC), and 2000 Today, a global TV special that commemorated the beginning of the Year 2000.
St. Philip joins Saloon as senior producer, reporting to Kot. In this role, she will develop and produce documentaries and docuseries for national and international markets. Her credits include directing and producing the feature documentary 9/11 Kids for Saloon, which was nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, won the Donald Brittain Award for best social/political documentary, and won a Rogers Audience Award at the Hot Docs documentary film festival in 2020.
Previously, St. Philip was a senior producer at CTV, where she covered national news for 20 years. She has also directed documentaries for the National Film Board of Canada. Her work has won or been nominated for more than 20 awards across the industry, according to the press release.
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Photos supplied by Saloon Media/Blue Ant Media.
