The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) announced Monday the appointment of three new members to its board of directors, including Brendan Brady, Marie Clements and Carla de Jong.
Brady is co-founder and CEO of Accent Aigu Entertainment, the Canadian production company behind award-winning series Heated Rivalry. The internationally acclaimed series has earned a Peabody Award, a Television Academy Honors Award, and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding New Television Series. It also received 18 Canadian Screen Award (CSA) nominations, setting a record for most wins by a series with 16.
Clements is a Métis/Dene writer, director and producer whose career spans film, TV, radio and live performance. She is the founder and president of Marie Clements Media Inc., a production company specializing in the development, creation and production of media that reflect indigenous and intercultural realities. Her award-winning films have screened internationally at Cannes, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Film Festival, the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Whistler Film Festival, the American Indian Film Festival, and the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.
De Jong is head of co-production and international partnerships at children’s content producer Sinking Ship Entertainment. She is a CSA, BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning producer, and has held roles as both a producer and broadcaster in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. De Jong currently sits on the CMPA’s International Committee and Children’s and Animation Working Group.
The new appointments to the CMPA’s board come as a delegation from the association heads to Ottawa this week for planned advocacy meetings with parliamentarians and government officials.
“Our sector is navigating unpredictable challenges, and strong leadership has never been more critical,” Kyle Irving, chair of the CMPA board of directors, said in a press release. “Brendan, Marie, and Carla have deep domestic and global production expertise, and are a great addition to the Board’s all-star team of producers.”
The CMPA delegation is going to Ottawa “to address urgent priorities facing Canada’s media production sector,” the CMPA announcement said.
“Discussions will focus on the timely implementation of the Online Streaming Act, including the enforcement of meaningful Canadian content investments from foreign streamers, as well as expediting the rollout of the promised $600 million interim support to stabilize the sector,” read the press release.
The CMPA said its meetings will be backed by new public opinion research conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights, which found 85 per cent of Canadians support the Online Streaming Act. Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of Canadians want the government to stand firm on its cultural policies and digital sovereignty as it engages in trade negotiations with the United States, according to the study.
The research data is based on an online survey of a randomly selected sample of 1,506 adult Canadians, conducted between Sept. 24 and 28. A probability sample of this size carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20, according to the CMPA/Pollara.
“Canadians have been clear, they want the government to defend our culture and our digital sovereignty, and they expect American web giants to play by the same rules as Canadian broadcasters,” Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the CMPA, said in a statement. “With the public firmly behind us and an expanded board driving our advocacy forward, we are ready to carry that message directly to parliamentarians this week.”
Photos of (l-r) Brendan Brady, Marie Clements and Carla de Jong, borrowed from the CMPA’s website
