Entertainment Business Management graduate Kelly Balon recently acted as Associate Producer on Mad Cow Sacred Cow, a documentary that follows the journey of filmmaker Anand Ramayya as he investigates the connection between the mad cow crisis, the farm crisis, and the global food crisis. You might have already seen it this week on CBC Newsworld, but in case you missed it, put on a pot of coffee or set your DVRs to watch the rebroadcast this Sunday at 3 am ET/ 12 am PT.

Check out CBC’s write-up about the film here.

A great night and a good cause – what more could a person want on a summer evening in Vancouver?

Catwalk for Cure, a charity fashion show for Rethink Breast Cancer, is coming to the Roundhouse on July 16 and you should be there. The show, produced by five Entertainment Business Management students, will be hosted by Kim Cathers (of Project Runway Canada) and will also feature Canadian Idol performer Carly Rae Jepson.

The student group, known as Head Over Heals, includes Jennifer Becker, Kalee Harris, Kendra Naka, Anita Schipper, and Erin Gilchrist, who have all worked with charity events in the past in one form or another. That made Catwalk for Cure a natural choice for their final project.

“As five young women, the choice of a cause seemed clear, and we decided to raise money for a cause that more than likely will affect one of us in our lives,” says Erin.

We’ve all seen the statistics, but don’t go thinking the evening is just another way to give you the bad news. To the organizers, it’s about raising awareness by focusing on the good – like some of the incredible talent in Vancouver. “Rethink has worked with different fashion outlets across Canada in the past, which gave us the idea of creating a unique fashion show that would showcase some of Vancouver’s thriving local designers and talent,” Erin says.

“It’s a great way for the people of Vancouver to come together for a night of fun and contribute to a worthwhile organization. It’s a celebration of Vancouver that showcases the many talents that this city has to offer.”

Don’t miss it! Tickets are an affordable $30, and judging by the group’s tweets, they’re going fast. Find out how to get your tickets by visiting catwalkforcure.ca.

Catwalk for Cure
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Center
Vancouver, BC

See the poster after the jump!

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Jasmyn Pozzo was a broadcast journalist before enrolling in the Entertainment Business Management program. But with a BA under her belt, she glimpsed the other side – and liked what she saw. So she became a publicist, working closely with the media on behalf of her entertainment industry clients.

After graduating from VFS, she took a position with Vancouver-based The Promotion People, whose roster of clients includes many of the most recognizable faces in the local scene, including VFS Acting grads like Holly Dignard and Benjamin Arthur.

But why change sides? That’s what we wanted to know – and Jasmyn was kind enough to answer.

Your background is in broadcast journalism – what sparked the career change?

I have always been very passionate about media, and knew I wanted to work in that industry in one way or another. I had an amazing time throughout my journalism program and learned a lot, but by the end of my four years I had realized that I wanted to be the PR person that the reporters were calling to try to get the interview, and not the actual reporter.

I’m very interested in all aspects of the entertainment industry, so it seemed like a natural transition to work in entertainment in a public relations position. I drew on my communications and journalism background, and built upon that with my Entertainment Business Management education at VFS, to create a solid background in both media and public relations in the entertainment field, which worked out perfectly!

[Head of Department] Ken [Ashdown] talks about how well you used your time in EBM – that you were really focused. How did you do it?

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As we hoped, Entertainment Business Management Instructor Kris Krug won an Individual Stand Out Award for Social Media through his work at Raincity Studios. Congrats, Kris!

You can see the complete list of winners from last night here.

Dave Warfield, Head of Game Design, is one of three finalists nominated for a PopVox Award in the Individual Standout Awards category of Digital Education. An industry vet of more than 15 years, Dave has worked as a Senior Producer for EA, where he developed over 24 game titles.

Entertainment Business Management Instructor and Raincity Studios President Kris Krug is also nominated in the Individual Standout Awards category of Social Media.

Congrats to both of you!

In its third year as a New Media B.C. initiative, the PopVox Awards recognize B.C.’s best and brightest minds in the digital media industry. We’ll be crossing our fingers during the awards ceremony that will take place on May 13th, the second day of the Vancouver 2009 Digital Week.

Also occurring that week is the Game Developer’s Conference, the largest conference in the game industry. And guess what? Dave Warfield will be there too, as part of a panel discussing the question: “Can Academics Partner with Industry?” (SPOILER: The answer is “Yes.”)

Yesterday afternoon, Entertainment Business Management students had the chance to learn about cutting-edge new media marketing techniques from a top expert on the subject, John Kalangis, Executive in Charge of Original Interactive Arts & Entertainment at CBC Television (now, that’s a title!). A seasoned filmmaker (Jack & Jill, Love is Work), Kalangis gave an interactive presentation on “The Business of Media,” covering his recent experience building web extensions for such CBC Television series as Being Erica, Heartland, and The Tudors.

A new media frontiersman of sorts, Kalangis stressed the importance of building online communities before traditional television series are launched. “There are more people online than there are watching conventional television,” he said. “So, how can we get people interested in the material before [the series debuts]?” Using vlog clips from CBC’s Being Erica series, which were made available on YouTube one month before the series launched in January, Kalangis explained the process of building online communities through viral videos, and how useful they are in reaching younger audiences.

“This is what entertainment is now,” he said, as he guided students through The Tudors’ interactive website. “It’s not ever going to be more clear than it is right now.”

With the success of online properties like The Motion Show, he convinced his superiors to acknowledge the changing demands of younger viewers: “If you’re not going to capture this audience on radio or TV, you can do it here… Because they’re not watching CBC right now.”

Kalangis brought it all back to the growing need for the industry to have skilled professionals who understand traditional film and television production issues (such as negotiating with unions, distributors and broadcasters), and how they apply to the ever-changing world of online media.

It’s what you get when your faculty are connected to industry. And our one-year Entertainment Business Management program is no exception: its instructors have something to say about film producing or accounting or music publishing because they’ve been there and are still there.

Case in point: Ken Ashdown, the music exec turned EBM Head of Department, has contributed a section in Marketing: An Introduction, 3rd Canadian Edition, which came out earlier this month.

Ken’s section is called “How do you compete with free?” and touches on pricing in the music industry – drawing heavily, of course, on his own expertise and experience. Check it out!

Wondering about what it’s like to take a full-time one-year VFS program, but want to try it out before making a big decision about your educational future?

Introducing the 2009 VFS Summer Intensive Programs – 9 five-day programs beginning July 2009 that will allow you to experience our acclaimed one-year programs in a week of learning, doing, and having fun.

The curriculum will be delivered by VFS’s faculty of respected entertainment industry pros, and participants in each program will come away from their week with hands-on experience and real insight into what a one-year program at VFS can offer.

VFS Summer Intensive Programs include:

Experience VFS (a week sampling all of VFS’s programs) – July 20-24
Acting for Film & Television – July 6-10
Animation & Visual Effects – July 13-17
Digital Design – July 6-10
Film Production – July 13-17
Game Design – July 13-17
Makeup Design for Film & Television – July 13-17
Sound Design for Visual Media – July 6-10
Writing for Film & Television – July 6-10

Also, after completing a VFS Summer Intensive Program, students enrolling in a full-time VFS program will have the cost of their Intensive Program applied toward their tuition.

Summer Intensive Programs are open to anyone 17 years of age or older. Spaces are extremely limited and are expected to fill quickly. For full details and to register, visit vfs.com/summer2009. Hope to see you in July!

DJ Havoc, aka Ian McDonell, a grad of our Entertainment Business Management program, is coming back to Vancouver to take part in another soon-to-be EBM grad’s final project – a night of “booty-shaking mash-ups and remixes” at Celebrities on February 17.

In short, you should go.

We caught up with Robert Sutherland, whose final EBM project this is, to find out some more about it – and his Entertainment Business Management experience in general, now that it’s coming to a close. We’ll let Robert explain:

Okay, we’ve got a DJ Havoc show at Celebrities. Tell us about this event.

This is the first time we – Rico and I – have been able to get DJ Havoc back up to Vancouver. He played several events while he was going to VFS and has a decent fan base up here, and we are looking to build upon that. After the success of the Where Were You in ’92 event that Rico and Ian did we are looking to create the same event this time around.

Why should people come out in droves?

It is a night of booty-shaking mash-ups and remixes of today’s top hits. DJ Havoc will be joined by the resident DJs from Celebrities and they will each be playing their own style of party rocking music all night.

DJ Havoc is Ian McDonell, an EBM grad, and I know [fellow EBMer] Rico [Amezquita] is involved too. How did they both become a part of this final project?

Ian and I have wanted to work together on a project for a months now. We were trying to get him a gig up here with The Cataracs on the One Night Stand tour. That fell through due to financial issues. We kept in touch, though, and were able to find a project we were able to piece together.

Rico is really the savior on this one. He was able to secure a venue for the project and has been a great mentor for me during this whole project. He has been successful since grad on many projects and his feedback and guidance has been vital to my project.

What attracts you to the business and organizational side of the arts? What about it thrills you, excites you? Are live events something you wanted to get into when you first entered EBM, or did you discover an affinity for it somewhere along the way?

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Some students who come to VFS see it as a year-long job interview. It’s entirely plausible, given the well-connected industry professionals they have for instructors.

Film grads Chris Levesque, Anthony Epp, Dave Charles, and Tyler McPherson have all secured jobs with the help of EBM (and sometimes Film Production) instructor Shel Piercy.

Chris was brought on as the assistant for Shel’s company Infinity Films, where he’s producing the 2009 Canadian Business Hall of Fame Awards, shooting the mini-docs for Global TV’s Courage to Come Back Awards, and helping develop the documentary Room 1742 and the feature film Unquiet Dead – both of which will go to camera this fall.

Anthony was hired by Shel to produce a feature length documentary about violence in hockey and the “code” players fight by, called Unspoken Rules, which will go to camera this April.

“I hire VFS kids because I know that their education is well-rounded,” says Shel. “They can use a camera, load footage into an edit suite, and they are familiar with releases and set practices.  And because I have been privileged to be their instructor, I am familiar with their strong work ethic and reliability.”

And Shel’s not just keeping his knowledge to himself.

Shel recommended Dave for a research position at Paperny Films, which grew into an AD position on the company’s new series Chop Shop, and also gave Tyler a recommendation for a job as a grip on a new comedy pilot that was shot by producer Cynthia Chapman (The Guard) for CBC.

And that’s the way the VFS network works. We help one another out, and everyone wins!