Mark Leiren-Young / The Vancouver Sun
The future continues to look bright for the time-travel TV series Continuum as the show followed up news of their third season renewal with a quartet of wins at the Leo Awards Gala Saturday night — including best dramatic series — bringing their total Leo haul to seven.
The producers who took home the hardware at the B.C. film and TV industry awards this weekend were Simon Barry, Tom Rowe, Patrick Williams, Matthew O’Connor and Lisa Richardson.
Barry, the creator of Continuum, closed out the gala night with an acceptance speech that recalled how 25 years ago he and his fellow producer Williams were working as assistant cameramen one of L.A.’s made-in-B.C. shows and thinking they could do better. And with Continuum they finally tested their theory.
“We got the chance to prove that right here in Vancouver you can do a show with Vancouver creators, Vancouver directors and Vancouver cast and it can sell all over the world.”
In addition to a best directing nod for William Waring, the series picked up acting awards for Richard Harmon (best supporting performance by a male in a dramatic series) and best guest performance for Ian Tracey — who also picked up a trophy for best supporting performance by a male actor in a TV movie for his work in Ring of Fire.
Ring of Fire was named best television movie with the award going to producers Matthew O’Connor, Lisa Richardson, Tom Rowe, Shan Tam and Michael O’Connor. The film also scored a half-dozen wins on Night 1 of the awards.
The gala was hosted by Brent Butt and Nancy Robertson, but the comedic star turn of the night belonged to Beverley Elliott (Granny in Once Upon a Time) who kicked off the evening belting out a raunchy parody of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep called “Filming in B.C.” The high-powered parody tune poked fun at everything from anorexic L.A. actresses, to working on straight-to-DVD dreck with Tony Danza to the results of the recent provincial election and ended with Elliott receiving one of only two standing ovations on Gala night.
The only other standing O of the evening went to TV directing wiz David Nutter who picked up the first ever Stephen J Cannell Award for being a friend to the B.C. industry. Despite the fact that his trophy case already includes a Peabody Award for his work on The Pacific and a Prime time Emmy for directing Band of Brothers, Nutter seemed genuinely moved by the tribute from the B.C. filmmaking community for his work on locally lensed shows like The X-Files, Smallville, Arrow, Dark Angel, Millennium and Supernatural. And while he’s currently busy on Game of Thrones, Nutter joked in his speech that the Sutton Place better keep a room ready for him because he’s planning on sticking around.
The team behind the movie Camera Shy also spent time in the spotlight, winning best motion picture for producers Leah Mallen and Galen Fletcher, best direction for Mark Sawers and best supporting performance by a male for Gerrard Plunkett. They also took home three trophies on the first night of the Leos.
Other winners:
The youngest winner of the night was 11-year-old Taya Clyne who received the Leo for best performance by a female in a short drama for her role in Beauty Mark.
Best lead performance by a male actor in a feature length drama went to Michael Eklund for his work in Errors of the Human Body.
Best lead performance by a female actor in a motion picture was awarded to Jennifer Copping for Becoming Redwood.
Best supporting performance by a female actor in a motion picture went to Agam Darshi for her role in Crimes of Mike Recket.
A pair of actors picked up early Christmas presents for their work in two different holiday themed TV movies. Best supporting performance went to Jessica Harmon for Anything But Christmas; her brother won earlier in the evening for his work on Continuum. Best lead performance by a female actor in a television movie was awarded to Emmanuelle Vaugier for It’s Christmas, Carol!
A pair of Bomb Girls picked up acting nods — with Meg Tilly named for best lead performance in a dramatic series and Ali Liebert taking home best supporting performance.
Juan Riedlinger picked up a pair of awards, scoring nods for best performance in a youth or children’s program or series for a role in R. L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour and best performance in a web series for his work in Pavement.
Best lead performance by a male actor in a dramatic series went to Michael Shanks for Saving Hope and Michelle Thrush won for best guest performance by a female actor in a dramatic series for her stint on Arctic Air.
Benjamin Arthur scored best performance in a music, comedy, or variety program or series for his work in Less Than Kind.
Battle Castle was named best documentary series.
Blood Relative picked up the nod for best feature length documentary.
Rocket Monkeys won for best animation program or series.
Best youth or children’s program or series went to R. L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour.