Filming Completed for Mrs. Ashboro's Cat

For the past month, a movie of the week entitled "Mrs. Ashboro's Cat," was being filmed and produced on Prince Edward Island. An exciting project with a 2.8 million dollar budget, this film is a joint production of Shaftesbury Films of Toronto and Cellar Door Productions of Charlottetown. Filming began on February 24 and was just completed on March 18.

While no release date is yet known, the film has been purchased by "The Movie Channel" in Canada and. by the American channel "Animal Planet."

Prince Edward Island has been used for several notable projects over the years, such as "Emily of New Moon," "Road to Avonlea," and Disney's "Anne of Green Gables" (even though only 5% of filming actually took place on the Island), However, since "Emily of New Moon" was cancelled several years ago, things have been relatively quiet on PEI.

That, according to Manny Danelon, Production Manager for "Mrs. Ashboro's Cat," was a large factor in choosing to do the project on here. "There is a movement to begin bringing produc- tion work back to Prince Edward Island," explained Danelon. The fact that Shaftesbury Films' partner in this project, Cellar Door, is located on PEI was an additional drawing factor, as were mone- tary considerations, such as Technology PEI's $200,000 equity investment in the project and the film's eligibility for the Labour Rebate Program, Danelon added.

How did they enjoy working on PEI?

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working on the show was the cold," remarked Manny Danelon. "It really brought us together." Danelon also noted that the Island professionals with whom they worked were "fantastic" and praised the amount of local support given to them.

Many Islanders were employed in the project, mostly behind the camera. A deliberate attempt was made to draw back Islanders working in the film industry in larger cities such as Toronto, due to the lack of opportunity on PEI. A number of actors familiar to Island audiences were hired, including Pam Stevenson, who played the principal role Kate in 2002's "Menopositive- The Musical," and Wade ; Lynch, who is a member of the Charlottetown Festival Ensemble.

Production for the film was housed in Cellar Door's home base in the Atlantic Technology Centre. The sound

stage of the ATC was used for some film- ing as well as numerous other site loca- tions around the Island. The Centre's post- production facilities were also used for parts of the project.

Cellar Door Productions, a com- pany located in Charlottetown, is responsi- ble for the popular series "Eckhart," as well as "Doodlez." and "Chef at Large." More information about this local business can be found at www.cellardoor.tv

Toronto's Shaftesbury Films has produced five feature films and nine televi- sion movies, most notably "The Evelyn Dick Story," which won the 2003 Gemini for best TV movie. They have also pro- duced children's programming, including a feature film "Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang" and 26 episodes of "Screech Owls, the Series."

While there are no concrete plans for Shaftesbury Films to return to PEI, Danelon commented that he had recently had several meetings with people interest- ed in the possibility of using the Island for their projects.

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page [9] March 26 2003