Brett Wilson video interview – Risky Business update

In May 2011 Brett Wilson and I talked about a wide range of topics including his new TV show Risky Business (see video). Today, it was my pleasure to get an update about Risky Business from Brett. Have a watch.

Corla Rokochy, Snappy Socks, interview at Brett Wilson’s Garden Party 2011

It was my pleasure to finally meet Corla Rokochy (Snappy Socks) in person after watching her pitched on Dragons’ Den and talked about her business in Feb 2011. The following is my video interview with Corla at Brett Wilson’s Garden Party 2011.

The following are a few highlights of my video interview with Corla,

0:00 Corla talks about Snappy Socks and shows us some of her cool socks.

0:35 How much money did Brett invest in the business and what was the story?

0:52 How did the Brett’s money impact the business?

1:14 With that money, how many pairs of socks were bought and sold?

Elle Boetticher, Pro Elvis Jumpsuits, interview at Brett Wilson’s Garden Party 2011

It was my pleasure to finally meet Elle Boetticher owner of Pro Elvis Jumpsuits in person after watching her pitched on Dragons’ Den and wrote about her business in 2009. The following is my video interview with Elle at Brett Wilson’s Garden Party 2011.

The following are a few highlights of my video interview with Elle,

0:00 Elle talks about her Pro Elvis Jumpsuits business and shows of her products.

0:43 How much did Brett invest and when was it? For the loan, what was the interest rate?

1:42 How was the money (both investment and loan from Brett) used?

Actress & clown Siobhan McCarthy (blyssful productions) interview post Banff World Media Festival 2011

It was my pleasure to meet Vancouver based actress & clown Siobhan McCarthy (blyssful productions) for the first time in 2007. It was really nice to connect again with Siobhan at the Banff World Media Festival 2011.

Here is my Skype video interview with Siobhan.

The following are a few highlights of my Skype video interview with Siobhan.

* 0:00 Siobhan McCarthy introduces herself and talks about her production companies.

* 0:37 Siobhan talks about working with Kate Green developing projects under Brown Eyed Girls, including a film called “Last Stop for Miles“.

* 1:18 Some more details (story, filmmakers, etc) about “Last Stop for Miles“.

* 2:32 TV shows pitched at Banff. TV shows in development: dAds, Clowns.

* 3:23 The creative process of the show.

Brett Wilson’s Garden Party 2011 attendees (plus gov/AB) raised $300K+ for Dare To Care

My better half and I always look forward to attend Brett Wilson‘s Garden Party. Great food, great party, and most importantly, each year there is a worthy cause that Brett ask attendees to support. (See the worthy causes for 2010 & 2009.)

For 2011, about 1,000 people attended the Garden Party, and the cause is Dare To Care. I think what Dare To Care does is very important work (especially in our SMS, Facebook age). Have a read of Dare To Care‘s intro (emphasis added),

“The Dare To Care program is a fully comprehensive approach to dealing with bullying and challenges within school communities. This comprehensive approach involves students, teachers, parents and the community in an effort to eliminate bullying and other dangerous behaviours from their schools and, in turn, create an atmosphere of tolerance and respect.

The Dare to Care program helps school communities, from Kindergarten to Grade 12, create a common language which then allows for more consistent intervention and follow through when dealing with challenging issues.“

The attendees of Garden Party 2011 (along with up to $100K matching fund from Government of Alberta) raised over $300K for Dare To Care!

Please have a watch of my video interview Dwayne Peace, (Dare To Care), video interview with Elle Boetticher (Pro Elvis Jumpsuits), and video interview with Corla Rokochy (Snappy Socks),

By the way, here some photos from the party. More photos here in this flickr set.

P.S. Over the years, I have my serious difference of opinions with Minister Lindsay Blackett on various government policies and his views of the Canadian TV industry expressed at Banff. Last night, I set those differences aside and went up to warmly congratulate Minister Blackett on doing a wonderful thing for Alberta school kids by matching the donation to Dare To Care on behalf of the Alberta government and Albertans for $100,000. Alberta school kids deserve all the help and love we can give them. Thank you Minister Blackett and the Government of Alberta.

Heather Allin, President of ACTRA Toronto, interview post Banff World Media Festival 2011

ACTRA is a union for performers and according to ACTRA Toronto‘s website, it has over 15,000 professional film, video and new media performers. It was my pleasure to meet Heather Allin, President of ACTRA Toronto at Banff World Media Festival 2011. Here is my phone interview with Heather today.

The following are a few highlights of my interview with Heather.

* 0:00 Heather has been attending Banff for many years now, I asked her why she attends Banff.

* 2:30 For this Banff, did Heather get to meet and talk to senior broadcast executives on behalf of the members?

* 3:42 In our pre-interview, Heather mentioned a figure of 27 hours of bought (foreign) programs for one hour of Canadian produced drama. We talked more on this.

* 5:00 Last year (or the year before), Hon. Lindsay Blackett, Minister of Culture and Community Spirit said something like that the reason we have so little Canada content is because the Canadian creative community creates “shitty” programs that no one watches. I asked Heather to comment on this.

* 8:23 With respect to the fees paid to performers for digital/online content, I ask Heather to explain the current situation and whether the ACTRA Toronto members are being fairly treated.

* 9:50 I asked Heather to give some specific examples and detailed explanation of the fee payment structure for digital content.

* 12:00 I asked Heather about “scale“.
***

For all other Banff 2011 related interviews, please see here.

Banff 2011 Video Interviews: Tom Perlmutter, NFB Chairperson; Tony Lacavera, Chairman Globalive/WIND Mobile; Michael Hennessy, SVP TELUS; Mike Farah, President of Production, Funny or Die; Ariel Garten, CEO InteraXon; Harmony Wagner, Creative Producer BunnyBop; Heather Allin, President of ACTRA Toronto, Siobhan McCarthy, Actress & clown

The following are links to my video interviews conducted at Banff World Media Festival 2011 (more to come):

* Tom Perlmutter – NFB Chairperson & Government Film Commissioner;

* Tony Lacavera, Chairman & CEO, Globalive (WIND Mobile);

* Michael Hennessy, Senior VP, Regulatory and Government Affairs, TELUS;

* Mike Farah, President of Production, Funny or Die;

* Ariel Garten, CEO InteraXon;

* Harmony Wagner, Creative Producer, Periscope Pictures (preschool series BunnyBop)

* Heather Allin, President of ACTRA Toronto.

* Siobhan McCarthy, Actress & clown, blyssful productions.

Harmony Wagner, Creative Producer, Periscope Pictures interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

As a former CTV Fellow (2006), I always try to look out for new CTV Fellows and report on them when I can. So it was my pleasure to interview Harmony Wagner, a 2011 CTV Fellow, and Creative Producer at Periscope Pictures @ Banff World Media Festival 2011 to talk about her preschool series BunnyBop. Here is my video interview with Harmony.

The following are a few highlights of my video interview with Harmony.

* 0:00 Harmony introduces herself and project, the preschool series BunnyBop. co-created with her mom Cheryl Wagner (creator and show runner of the highly successful and loved The Big Comfy Couch.

* 0:33 I asked Harmony to talk about her show and the idea behind the series. Talking about using the IPF (Independent Production Fund) web pilot drama fund and put the show on the web (BunnyBopTV).

* 1:58 With the funding, how many episodes were created?

* 2:22 What is the revenue model for the web series BunnyBop?

* 3:35 Have you guys trying to pitch the series to different countries? People in Japan love cute stuff!

* 4:20 Harmony talks about BunnyBop as a great tool to help teach kids English.

***

By the way, check out an episode of BunnyBop to see for yourself.

***

For all other Banff 2011 related interviews, please see here.

Ariel Garten, CEO InteraXon, interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

I had a very enjoyable time attending Ariel Garten’s (CEO of InteraXon) NextMedia Keynote address: Thought Controlled Computing @ Banff World Media Festival 2011. Afterwards, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ariel. Here is the interview video.

The following are a few highlights of my video interview with Ariel.

* 0:00 In your presentation, some ideas are very cutting-edge and quite “out-there”. When you meet corporate clients, how do you engage them and bring them down to earth?

* 1:03 Talking about the chewing gum example (the “chew off”) discussed in your presentation, can you tell us more and which brand it was? What does InteraXon actually measure? [Kempton's note: The chewing gum campaign went live on June 16th. At press time, I haven't heard any updates from InteraXon.]

* 2:20 So does the software system work by basing on its previous training of brainwave signals?

* 2:48 How accurate is the software? Lets take heart rate as an example because it is easy to know what is right.

* 3:16 You mentioned the system has limitations, can you elaborate on the kind of limitations please? [Kempton: Here are some reading about Alpha (relax "awake but relaxed") and Beta (focus "alert and attentive") brain waves. And via Wikipedia, Alpha and Beta.]

* 3:48 Ariel talks about the reliability in using Alpha and Beta brain waves, especially for new users.

* 4:05 What other signals can your system use?

* 4:25 Am I using the right analogy to compare the “training” your system undergoes to the “training” speech recognition system needed in the past?

* 4:52 Someone asked Ariel about the possibility of using brainwaves for security authentication purposes. How unique are brainwaves? Can it be done now? If not now, how may it work in the future?

Mike Farah, President of Production, Funny or Die, interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

I had a great time and learned a lot from attending Mike Farah, President of Production Funny or Die, and his teammates director Jake Szymanski and producer Chris Bruss’ Banff World Media Festival 2011 panel discussion. Afterwards, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike.

Here is my video interview with Mike.

The following are a few highlights of my video interview with Mike.

* 0:00 In terms of making money, I asked Mike about the “game show idea” with Billy Eichner which the panel talked about and showed a bit of footage. [Kempton's note: Here are some clips of Billy Eichner doing other things on Funny or Die.]

* 1:04 Mike talks about the television and online opportunities of the Billy Eichner game show.

* 1:31 In the beginning of Funny or Die, how small or big was the creative team?

* 2:15 How many writers did Funny or Die start with in the beginning?

* 2:54 In terms of the branded entertainment (or shows that featured products prominently), how does Funny or Die make money? Revenue sharing? Or more like a traditional advertising campaign?

* 3:52 In terms of big stars (e.g. Oscar winning Marion Cotillard) that appear on the show, do they get “paid”? How do you guys get the stars?

* 4:40 So the stars see Funny or Die as something that gives them additional internet presence?

* 5:00 What is the next big thing for Funny or Die?

***

June 19th update: Following is an official festival chat with Mike Farah,  director Jake Szymanski and producer Chris Bruss.

***

For all other Banff 2011 related interviews, please see here.

***

Aug 10th, 2011 update: Funny bit from Funny or Die with Paul Rudd and Harvey Weinstein.

Michael Hennessy, Senior VP, Regulatory and Government Affairs, TELUS interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

I first met Michael Hennessy, Senior VP, Regulatory and Government Affairs, TELUS, at 2007 Banff Next Media. It was in a session where the new media panelists were beating up/”bashing” the telcos pretty badly. And then one panelist wondered out loud why there weren’t any telco representatives present in the session!? To the surprise of that panelist and everyone else (including myself), Michael, attending as a member of the audiences, identified himself as a Telus executive and tried to present Telus’ perspectives/views. (update: I just found a photo in Flickr of Michael in that 2007 session!)

So even though I don’t usually agree with Michael‘s telco views/analysis, I respect him for speaking up that day.

So it was my pleasure to be able to interview Michael, Senior VP, Regulatory and Government Affairs, TELUS@Banff World Media Festival 2011.

The following are a few highlights of my interview video with Michael. By the way, also check out my video interview with WIND Mobile Chairman/CEO Tony Lacavera.

* 0:00 I asked Michael for his take on the Banff session where he had a few “debates” with Tony Lacavera, Chairman & CEO, Globalive/WIND Mobile.

* 1:35 Telus’ views of the recent Federal Court of Appeal ruling where WIND Mobile won (against Public Mobile and Telus)? Is Telus going to appeal the court decision along with Public Mobile to the Supreme Court of Canada?

[Kempton's note: Michael gave a long and specific answer here. At the time of my interview with Michael, I didn't have time to read/scan the "Globalive Wireless Management Corp. v. Public Mobile Inc. (2011 FCA 194) A-78-11, A-79-11" decision yet. See more comments from me in note 1.]

* 3:30 Will Telus support the appeal to the Supreme Court? Michael talks about Telus’ key focus this summer: e.g. safeguard against vertical integration, policies around spectrum auctions that are coming out.

*4:08 Michael stated, “Voice, video, and data are all going over the same pipe. You can’t regulate or treat the carriage of that differently.” And what Telus likes the government to do.

* 5:02 About the government upcoming frequency spectrum auction.

* 5:44 What about the big telcos bidding and, basically, stockpiling frequencies and NOT using them?

* 6:18 So Telus is rolling out the use of those new [AWS] frequencies now? 2012 or 2011?

* 6:45 According to Telus’ HSPA+ network builder Huawei, Telus’ HSPA+ network is the busiest in the world. (fyi 2011 news: “Huawei Opens New Headquarters in Canada“)

* 7:12 Telus’ customers are already using up the network capacity they have and thats why they are moving to LTE.

Michael stated, “We are not warehousing. Remember, unlike some of the other incumbents, we hold no spectrum at 2500 [MHz]. They hold well over 100 MHz. So thats the critical difference.“

* 7:30 My question, “So from Telus’ prospective [...] Telus won’t oppose to the idea if the government say ‘If you want to auction/bid on the new frequency spectrum, one of the requirement is you have to have used up or committed funds to use your existing warehoused frequency spectrums first’ ?”

Tony Lacavera, Chairman & CEO, Globalive (WIND Mobile) interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

Since 2009, I had the pleasure to interview Tony Lacavera, Chairman & CEO, Globalive/WIND Mobile for a few times (see here and here). So it was my pleasure to chat with Tony again @Banff World Media Festival 2011.

Here are a few highlights of my video interview with Tony, By the way, also check out my video interview with Michael Hennessy, TELUS Senior VP, Regulatory and Government Affairs.

* 0:00 I asked Tony for his take on the Banff session where he had a few “debates” with Michael Hennessy, Senior VP, Regulatory and Government Affairs, TELUS.

* 0:36 I asked Tony about the recent Federal Court of Appeal panel decision in favour of WIND Mobile. (see my tweets here with link to National Post article and here)

* 1:50 Have the other guys started the appeal process and asked the Supreme Court of Canada to review the case?

* 2:35 Did Tony bring up the topic of the court rulings with Chairman of the CRTC?

* 2:46 Is WIND feeling the pressure now that Moblicity is in Calgary?

* 3:18 What about the dead coverage zones in the C-Train tunnels near downtown Calgary? (Tony also talked about the coverage inside Toronto TTC.)

* 4:54 The revamping of the WIND customer service touchpoints.
***

For all other Banff 2011 related interviews, please see here.

Tom Perlmutter – NFB Chairperson interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

I’ve long been a fan of NFB since the late 80s. (note 1) Earlier this week, I had the pleasure to conduct a video interview with Tom Perlmutter – NFB Chairperson & Government Film Commissioner @ Banff World Media Festival 2011.

Here is my video chat with Tom covering a wide range of topics.

In the interview Tom talked about whats new at NFB, for example the cutting-edge new interactive programming coming out from NFB.

* I was amazed by the beautiful and creative “Bla Bla” [Kempton's note: Just give it a try as it is quite fun.]

* And the first ever interactive documentary “Welcome to Pine Point“ winning 2 Webby Awards [Kempton: I must come back to check this out!].

* 1:05 The world’s first high-definition 3D shot using infrared cameras. [Kempton: I look forward to be transported and to be engaged in new ways.]

* 2:14 Funding situation improved with the current government?

* 3:13 The massive collection of films online and on iPad, etc available for all to watch. Does NFB have enough funds to make new films available? How is NFB trying to make money? NFB has launched apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android. And is partnering with RIM and will be packaged with Playbook. NFB is also looking at connected TV and making sure they can be migrated to that platform.

* 5:29 All that stuff NFB is doing is free by streaming. Tom talks about have a system for people to buy the content they want to own and keep.

* 7:40 No geographic restrictions of content. As per legislated mandate of NFB, “To reflect Canada to Canadians and the world.“

* 8:18 Over 22 millions viewing of NFB films in the last two years! And the viewership is still growing.

Mike Farah, President of Production, Funny or Die, interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

I had a great time and learned a lot from attending Mike Farah, President of Production Funny or Die, and his teammates Jake and Chris’ Banff World Media Festival 2011 panel discussion. Afterwards, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike.

It will take me some time to write the article and process & upload the video after Banff. Stay tune.

June 18th update: Done! Check out my article and video interview with Mike here.

Michael Hennessy, Senior VP, Regulatory and Government Affairs, TELUS interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

I first met Michael Hennessy, Senior VP, Regulatory and Government Affairs, TELUS, some years ago at Banff Next Media. If my memory serves me, it was in a session where the panelists were beating up/”bashing” the telcos pretty hard. And then one panelist wondered out loud if there were (or why there weren’t) any telco representatives present?! To the surprise of that panelist and everyone else (including myself), Michael, attending as a member of the audiences, stood up and identified himself working for Telus and tried to present Telus’ perspectives/views. So even though I often don’t agree with Michael‘s views or analysis, I respect him for standing up that day.

So it was my pleasure to be able to interview Michael @Banff World Media Festival 2011.

It will take me some time to write the article plus process & upload the video after Banff. Stay tune.

June 18 update: Done! Check out my article and video interview with Michael.

Tony Lacavera, Chairman & CEO, Globalive (WIND Mobile) interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

Since 2009, I had the pleasure to chat with Tony Lacavera, Chairman & CEO, Globalive/WIND Mobile for a few times (see here and here). So it is my pleasure to chat with Tony again @Banff World Media Festival 2011.

It will take me some time to write the article plus process & upload the video after Banff. Stay tune.

***

Jun 18 update: Done! Check out my article and video interview with Tony.

Ariel Garten – CEO of InteraXon interview @ Banff World Media Festival 2011

I had a very enjoyable time attending Ariel Garten’s (CEO of InteraXon) NextMedia Keynote address: Thought Controlled Computing @ Banff World Media Festival 2011. Afterwards, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ariel.

It will take me some time to write the article and process & upload the video after Banff. Stay tune.

June 19 update: Done! Check out my article and video interview with Ariel.

Brett Wilson interview – Leaving Dragons’ Den, TV offers, Uno, Risky Business, Canoe Financial, Twitter, Facebook, and Maya Wilson

Few days ago I had the great pleasure of chatting with Brett Wilson, Calgary entrepreneur, investor, former Dragon, and philanthropist. We chatted about a wide range of topics and I have posted the five video clips on YouTube with transcripts.

* Brett Wilson interview – 01/05 – Leaving CBC Dragons’ Den, TV offers, Uno bike, and Ben Gulak (with transcript)

* 02/05 – New TV show “Risky Business” (Info and chat about Brett’s new show “Risky Business”, coming this fall) (with transcript)

* 03/05 – Canoe Financial (Brett has a substantial investment in Canoe. We talked about his involvement) (with transcript)

* 04/05 – Social Media (Twitter, Facebook) (How Brett does his Twitter and Facebook magic?) (with transcript)

* 05/05 – Maya Wilson (Brett talks about the recent passing of Maya Wilson, his beloved chocolate brown flat-coated retriever) (with transcript)

***

June 28th update: Here is a lovely video of Maja Wilson.

Brett Wilson interview – 04/05 – Social Media (Twitter, Facebook)

Few days ago I had the great pleasure of chatting with Brett Wilson, Calgary entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. Here is the video Brett Wilson interview – 04/05 – Social Media (Twitter, Facebook) (see below for interview transcript). [Click her for links to watch all five parts of the interview series.]

Kempton: You are involved in social media a lot: e.g. Twitter and Facebook. With Twitter, do you actually write your own tweets?

Brett: I do probably 90% of my tweets but I have staff who feed me. Cause other outside organizations are now saying, “Look, you’ve got a large following in Twitter, would you make mention of our charity?” As long as it is causes that I am already active with, or events that are of use to my following and people I am working with, I will look into doing that. Some of the tweets are pre-formatted and provided to me. But I rarely just cut and paste. There is usually a little bit of Brett that has to go into them.

So typically Twitter is 90% Brett. Facebook is maybe 10% Brett because what will happen is my team will take the best of the Twitter announcements, whether it is an article that I have done or a story that I would like to recommend, they will pop it into Facebook. Cause if I can write it in 140 characters, they can then expand it into Facebook. It is harder to take the large story in Facebook and compress it to Twitter.

Now I know that you can feed stuff right through from one media to another. [Kempton: automatically] I don’t like doing that. I think that it is disrespectful of the [readers]. As much as I don’t write all the stuff that goes into Facebook, its based on my materials. It is not ghostwritten for me by others without knowledge of what interests me. I am very much on top of all of those things.

Brett Wilson interview – 03/05 – Canoe Financial

Few days ago I had the great pleasure of chatting with Brett Wilson, Calgary entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. Here is the video Brett Wilson interview – 03/05 – Canoe Financial (see below for interview transcript). [Click her for links to watch all five parts of the interview series.]

Kempton: I understand you are the chairman of Canoe Financial. Are you involved in the day-to-day operation?

Brett: Canoe is currently one of the top 20 mutual fund companies/asset managers in Canada. We’ve already got over two billion dollars in the system. One of the most impressive startups that I have ever seen. The company has really been running for 10 years. I stepped in as chairman and allocated about a day a week of my time to marketing, PR and development.

Its a team of ex-Fidelity, ex-EnerVest players. We’ve got a dozen people with more than 20 years of experiences, we are not a one man band, its not the Wilson fund. Its the Canoe fund. Its something I am very proud to be associated with. We are managing wealth in Canada, for the benefit of Canadians.

Our investment thesis is based on Bob Haber, one of our key portfolio managers, he has a book call Go Canada. The investment thesis is global growth will spur demand for commodities and resources that are common to North America. Resources including services that are common to North America. But within the North American complex, Canada will be the prime benefactor.

Kempton: You have a substantial investment in Canoe itself. Are you involved in selecting some of the investments within the mutual funds? 

Brett: No. We hire external portfolio managers. We have the ability to hire and engage the best of the best. We have an exclusive with Bob Harber, who is one of the top rated, ranked, and renown investment managers/portfolio managers in North America. He was managing, at one time, over $50 billions of Canadian equities. So to put another few hundred million to work every month is going to be pretty easy for him.

Kempton: What kind of style of investing was he using? Was it value investing or growth?

Brett: Bob has got a very interesting metrics.