PAP reprieve

Minister of Canadian Heritage Liza Frulla today announced her department will put off a $4 million reduction in the Publications Assistance Program until 2006 in order "to enable Canadian publishers to complete reconfiguring their business plans in anticipation of the previously announced reductions."The Publications Assistance Program subsidizes the mailing costs of Canadian magazines. So the

Phew, that was quick!

Here, from Antonia Zerbisias's excellent blog at the Toronto Star, is a story we wish we'd reported first: August 30, 2005 Not Miss Chatelaine That weeping and wailing you're hearing in the downtown area is the sound of Chatelaine magazine staffers mourning the sudden ''resignation'' of editor-in-chief Kim Pittaway. Pittaway, a longtime writer and columnist with the women's monthly,

Herding Cats

Word (from mastheadonline.com) that the Communications Workers plan to organize on behalf of freelancers. Good luck to them. Not that there have been many examples of successfully corralling such a ragtag bunch of independents.It should be recalled that the the Periodical Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) was intended to do just that, from dictating pay scales to providing a contract template

Web shadow looms large for newsweeklies

An interesting question is raised in a recent USA Today report on the declining circ of newsweeklies such as Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report (no mention of Maclean's, of course). In it, Samir Husni (who claims and is granted the title "Mr. Magazine" for reasons that continually evade me) is quoted arguing that the pursuit of website development carries with it the seeds of

Another one bites the dust...

Brian Bergman, a 16-year veteran of Maclean's, is gone from the magazine's Calgary bureau.

Outlook index

A hopeful student asked the other day what I thought were the prospects for someone coming into the magazine business. She wasn't asking if she'd get rich, only if she had a reasonable shot at making a career and a living. I realized that I didn't have a very good handle on the attitudes of people working in the business so perhaps we should start trying to nail down an outlook or expectations

Thumbsucker Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews writer/director Mike Mills and actors Lou Taylor Pucci, Kelli Garner and Vincent D'Onofrio

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Post-less delivery

Interesting that the Guardian Weekly, whose Canadian edition is printed in Montreal and fulfilled under contract by Time Canada, should be informing its Ontario customers that -- where possible -- it will be abandoning Canada Post for its delivery and using a private service. It does not say what that is, but it is likely the same contractors who deliver the Globe and Mail. Consideration of

Bully for us

In all the newspaper blather and commentary about the North American Free Trade Agreement and how awful those mean Americans are to us and how we ought to stand up for ourselves and punch that bully right back, magazine people with even a moderately long memory may wish to remind the nation what happens when you even think of sticking up for yourself.The so-called Canada-U.S. Agreement on

Stretching the shoestring -- The New Quarterly

As another in our irregular series about little magazines we love, we present The New Quarterly.Started more than 20 years ago with $3,000 ($1,000 donated by each of Edna Staebler, Farley Mowat and Harold Horwood), The New Quarterly has had the usual ups and downs of a small literary magazine. But it has always enjoyed the loyalty and help of its friends, particularly the original Editor, Peter

New Art Director for Maclean's

This just in: the new art director of Maclean's is Christine Dewairy, being brought over from the National Post where she was art director and fashion editor for Post Fashion. She steps into the job lately held by Donna Braggins, let go recently by Editor and Publisher Ken Whyte. Whyte told his staff: "Christine has an excellent eye and good judgment and I'm sure she will be a great fit with our

Reading the tea leaves...

A friend recently pointed out an interesting sentence in the press release by St. Joe's Chairman Tony Gagliano, announcing Donna Clark's hire. Boldface added:St. Joseph Media recently moved into state-of-the-art offices in the Queen Richmond Centre. From there, it is focusing on enhancing existing brands and launching and/or acquiring new ones; creating dynamic online brands; and funding

St. Joe's hires the A team

St. Joseph Media has hired Donna Clark to be its President. She starts September 12. Clark, it will be easily remembered,was with Rogers Media where she was responsible for the women's services division including Chatelaine, Flare, and Today's Parent and associated websites.She and Paul Jones were both shown the door at Rogers earlier this year, despite being two of the most senior and

The product placement rot sets in seriously

An article in AdAge reports that Black Book, a quirky, but seriously contending U.S. lifestyle mag, recently crossed -- nay leapt -- across the church/state line with an editorial item about a band that had featured in a Hummer commercial, with the edit featuring the Hummer in the display. (To read the whole story, click on the heading of this item.)“There was and is absolutely no quid pro quo,”

Fibs from FIPP

Noticed in a recent browse, looking for something else, that Canadian Heritage swallows the World Magazine Trends data from the Federation of the Interational Periodical Press hook, line and sinker. It publishes a table under the heading "Fascinating Facts" that shows Canadian magazine adspend share at 6.8% compared with U.S. share of 11.8%. All of which is based on FIPPs database which somehow

U.S. Biz mags to make statement on placement

An article in Folio: reports that the American Society of Business Publishing Editors (ASBPE) is drafting a new guideline on product placement in editorial. We shouldn't hold out much hope for a ringing declaration, since past ASBPE efforts at guidelines have been notably mealy-mouthed. But it is an indication about how seriously the softening of the church and state line has become that they are

Fast company

Media Post has published the results of an international study about broadband use by country. This is a subject that many magazines are -- or should -- be interested in, since broadband users tend to be the largest users of magazine websites.The story is interesting because, for once, Canada is leagues (54%!) ahead of the United States. BroadbandSubscriber Penetration Korea 24.9%

Fantastic Four Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews co-writer Mark Frost

Not Currently Available

Playing the game

I guess it's just doing what everyone else does, but doesn't it seem a bit cheesy for Magazines Canada to try and kite the vote on a spurious Globe and Mail online poll? The poll question asks if the respondents were advertisers, which medium would they use to be most effective. Not only are such online polls just plain stupid, they are made more stupid by such write-in campaigns, although I

Yeah, we heard that too

Mastheadonline today published news of the lawsuit by Saltscapes magazine against the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission, (habitues of this blog had this July 27). New to us, however, was that the suit has galvanized several magazines to band together with Saltscapes as the Nova Scotia Magazine Association.

Is old news better than no news?

A reliance on syndicated material from the U.S. and Britain is commonplace in newspapers, but occasionally it leads them to publish breathless features that a) are old news and b) give no local angle at all. Case in point is today's Globe and Mail business section feature from the New York Times syndicate about the "value added" gimmicks that magazines are using to lure advertisers. The huge

Customers at any price?

Has anyone out there received a direct mail offer for Maclean's that effectively means it is being sold to some subscribers for 57 cents a copy? If so, it is the lowest rate ever having been charged for the magazine. Its usual and published rate is 56 issues (52 + 4 free) for $55.08 or 98 cents an issue. In the past it has offered the magazine for as low as 78 cents an issue as an incentive for

His money is where his mouth is: a class act

Paul Jones is a class act, and his thank you note in the current issue of Masthead is proof. He took out an ad to thank his friends and supporters in the industry for the honour of receiving the Outstanding Achievement award at the recent National Magazine Awards in Toronto. It is worth noting whom he thanked (including wife Rona Maynard, his son, and longtime Maclean Hunter and Rogers colleague

The Island Q&A

Senior Editor Jeff Goldsmith interviews Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci

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Our First Podcast is up!

Folks -

Without further delay - look above - and you'll find our first ever Podcast which features The Island Q&A we did with co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. In our interview they talk about breaking into TV with Sam Raimi, writing for JJ Abrams on Alias and Mission Impossible 3, working with Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks on The Island and next summer's tentative film The Transformers.

Not sure what a podcast is?

Think - Ham Radio mixed with drunken CB radio, but as a downloadable file on your computer.

Don't have an Ipod? No worries.

You can still listen to these shows for free on your regular computer desktop, through your computer speakers. Of course, if you do have an Ipod, you can transfer the file to your Ipod and then take it with ya wherever you go.

While there's a ton of ways to listen to a podcast - here's the easiest Eight Step process:

1. Download the LATEST version of the program, Itunes (version 4.9) for FREE (on Mac or PC) at:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

---you must use version 4.9 since the Podcasting features described below can only be found in that version.

2. Follow the easy directions to install Itunes 4.9

3. Open Itunes 4.9

4. Click on the purple button toward the top of your left menu which reads: Podcasts

5. In the bottom of the new page that opens - click on the circle with the arrow for: Podcast Directory

6. The Itunes window will take you to the Podcast section of the Apple Music store and in the blank search window toward the bottom left - type in Creative Screenwriting Magazine - and you'll be taken to a new page.

7. This is the homepage section for our podcast and here you should click the grey Subscribe button toward the upper center of the window to subscribe for free to this Podcast.

By subscribing you will automatically begin downloading our most recent Podcast and then have the option to download others as they appear, so don't forget to check back from time to time by re-opening that first podcast window you did in step 4- since once you subscribe - our new casts will appear ready for download in that window.

This is about a 20 megabyte file and could take up to three or so minutes to download on a DSL or Cable Modem connection.

8. Press play to begin listening to it on your computer!

Or if you have an Ipod that can accept a podcast - transfer the file over to your Ipod and listen to it on the go. You can do this manually (by dragging the file into your library then onto your Ipod) or by synching your Ipod.

Our first Podcast is of the Q&A that followed our screening of The Island and is with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. During our conversation they discuss; working with Spielberg, JJ Abrams (on Alias and MI-3), Michael Bay, and of course their process for re-writing The Island. The sound begins slightly muffled and then fixes itself - so enjoy!

COMING SOON - possibly later this week - so don't forget to check - we will upload podcasts of co-writer Mark Frost discussing Fantastic Four and a podcast of our Four Brothers Q&A with co-writers David Elliot and Paul Lovett - with many more to come!

Drop us a line and let us know what you think?

Write to us at: rsvp@creativescreenwriting.com

Thanks for listening!

Jeff Goldsmith
Senior Editor
Creative Screenwriting Magazine

Some of us are outa here...maybe

The Western Standard, a handsome, idiosyncratic and feisty publication tried to make news this week by publishing its own poll that says that 36% of westerners consider separatism an option. Of course that means that 64% think it's not. But it still makes for entertaining and stimulating reading, particularly the magazine's weblog called, somewhat ominously, The Shotgun. The Standard's publisher

First project: proofreading

The just-released guidelines for the Ontario Media Development Corporation's Magazine Fund (previously Volume Two, son of Volume One) contain an error. The deadline at the top of the information form says September 30. The deadline for applications at the end of the information form says September 9. The application form itself says September 30.

Pressure for placement

High end advertisers are starting to push for product placement on magazine spreads and covers south of the border. According to an article in AdAge, Lexus is openly asking for exposure for its pricey automobiles. It's not clear yet whether this is a straight payment option or whether the advertiser is making it a condition of signing a contract; perhaps a little of each.Deborah Wahl Meyer, Lexus