When the Canadian Screen Awards were announced this week, it splashed a little glory and glamour in the direction of St. Albert.
When the Canadian Screen Awards were announced this week, it splashed a little glory and glamour in the direction of St. Albert.
Mosaic Entertainment's Tiny Plastic Men, the wild and wacky comedy about three goofball nerds working in a toy factory, reaped three nominations.
The Super Channel television series was once again nominated for best comedy series. It received two additional nods for best writing in a comedy series for Chris Craddock and best actor for Mark Meer.
“It's great news for the company, the actors and the writers. It's exciting because we like to say we can guarantee more laughs per dollar than anyone else. It's nice that you can take a low budget production and make it viable across the country,” said executive producer Jesse Lipscombe.
In addition to Lipscombe, there are two other prominent Mosaic contributors from St. Albert. Camille Beaudoin is company co-founder and Matt Alden stars as one of the three nerdy star toy testers.
Although shot in Edmonton far from Toronto's centrally based world of cinema, Lipscombe hopes the rest of Canada hears “the noise we are making.”
Lipscombe worked closely with the cast during taping of the last season. Although he describes Meer as a “phenomenal talent” and Craddock as a “creative genius,” he credits all hands with the series' latest success.
“Whenever Mosaic is faced with any challenge, something better than expected happens. This can't happen if all the links in the chain don't work together. When you have trust and loyalty, the project gets done.”
The Canadian Screen Awards is our nation's tribute to homegrown talent in film, television and digital media. There are 128 categories.
The award ceremony will be broadcast via CBC on Sunday, March 1 from the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Centre in Toronto.
Leading the pack are Mommy and Orphan Black with 13 nominations each. Mommy is a story about a widowed mother and her troubled, sometimes violent son. It won the Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, but was scuppered for a Golden Globe or Oscar nomination.
In large part due to Tatiana Maslany's intriguing performances, the sci-fi clone hit Orphan Black is nominated in categories such as best TV drama series and best actress.
Another heavyweight includes David Cronenberg's dark comedy film, Maps to the Stars, holding down 11 nominations including best picture and best director.
And three television series scoring 10 nominations apiece are CBC's Mr. D, Bravo series 19-2 and HBO's Call Me Fitz.
Comedy star Andrea Martin hosts the March 1 ceremonies. She too is up for best actress in a comedy role as the matriarch in Global's now cancelled Working With the Engels.
A full list of recipients is available at www.academy.ca/Canadian-Screen-Awards/2015-Nominees-Winners.
