Producers

J. Joly

Executive Producer

From his first part-time job working as a theatre usher on a Canadian Military base in Germany, he has spent two decades working in media. During his undergraduate at Queen's University he recorded two albums outside his classes and toured with international acts. Post-graduation, J. moved to Toronto, directed award-winning shorts and worked at every level of production on films and TV. Relocating to Vancouver he founded the award-winning digital agency dimeRocker, receiving investment from Bootup Labs to develop a platform that accelerated the creation of branded second screen strategies for clients that include CBC, Telus, and Disney/ABC to name a few. A leader in his field, he has spoken on panels including Banff World Media Festival, TIFF, PrimeTime, Petchakucha, and NXNE to name a few. In 2012, he co-founded CineCoup, a disruptive award-winning studio that received initial backing from Growlabs. Piloted in Canada, the first feature produced was WolfCop, which has already been greenlight for a sequel. Recently CineCoup partnered with the CBC and Just for Laughs on ComedyCoup, an accelerated initiative to find Canada's next great comedy series. Currently, J. sits on the board of Vancouver International Film Festival and also as a National Advisor for the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.

Brian Wideen

Executive Producer

A former programmer, Brian's executive management career enjoyed stops in telecom and video games, including a 13-year stint at Electronic Arts Canada. His time at EA focused on providing multidisciplinary teams an environment to excel, while ensuring on-time delivery of properties that met fiscal goals. This work required directing specific game teams, production groups made up of multiple game teams, a directed graphic research group during the transition to new technologies and techniques, and EA's Digital Information Resource Centre. His last role was as COO for Need For Speed (NFS), one of the industry's largest ever titles. During his time on NFS, Brian focused on launching NFS's first digitally-delivered freemium version. After experimenting with retirement, Brian became enthralled with OMI and it's CEO J Joly. Given his interest in social media and new business models, he joined J as COO for OMI.

Bill Marks

Executive Producer

Marks' film career spans over two decades, and includes numerous writer, director (14 Days in Paradise and Curse of the Iron Mask) and producer roles. His producer credits include A Dark Truth, starring Andy Garcia, Eva Longoria and Forest Whitaker; Compulsion, starring Heather Graham and Carrie-Anne Moss; Split Decision starring Brendan Fraser and Dominic Purcell; Swearnet, starring the former Trailer Park Boys; Sidney J. Furie’s A Pride of Lions; horror film The Returned; and A Fighting Man, starring Dominic Purcell, James Caan, Famke Janssen and Lou Gossett Jr.. Marks also produced Casino Jack, starring Kevin Spacey, which was a Gala Premier at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

In his previous life, Marks co-founded Modern Imageworks Design, a multiple Juno Award-winning company catering to a broad range of corporate and entertainment industry clients. Prior to that he founded Vortex Comics Inc. and built the company to be one of the top-ten publishers of English-language comic books in the world.

Sean Buckley

Executive Producer

Sean Buckley is a film and television veteran, and the driving force behind Buck Productions, a leading content creation company successful in feature films, television, branded content, documentaries, and commercials. As owner and CEO of one of the most diverse production houses in North America for more than 15 years, Buckley has cultivated a concept-first culture where ideas and end products are paramount. Buck has been recognized as recipients of multiple Gemini, Genie, Canadian Screen Award, Director’s Guild of Canada nominations and a number of other film, television and commercial awards; film premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival and has been named on Realscreen’s Global 100 list of independent production companies.

Brad Pelman

Executive Producer

With over 20 years' experience in all aspects of program distribution, Theatrical, Home Entertainment, Television and Digital content licensing, Mr. Pelman has an enviable contact list and a no nonsense approach to business. Mr. Pelman recently departed Alliance Films as Executive VP, Distribution following the sale of Maple Pictures Corp, a company he co-founded and served as co-president since 2005. He presided over a team of 46 distribution professionals releasing over 20 theatrical films per year, and over 100 direct to video/on demand titles per year. The company grew from $24M annually to over $80M in revenue. Mr. Pelman's relationships span the distribution value chain, from traditional retail and theatrical outlets to new media broadcast and digital opportunities. Mr. Pelman prides himself on those relationships built as a distribution executive and his understanding of the Canadian system provides an unmatched advantage to any collaboration he undertakes. In addition, he currently serves as co-Chair of the Board of Directors of Canada's leading film and television training facility, the National Screen Institute.

Bernie Hernando

Producer

With a background in 3D computer animation and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Media Studies and Production, he has extensive experience having worked just about every role on set in the Saskatchewan film and television industry. With enough projects under his belt, Bernie co-founded The Echolands Creative Group, a digital communications company and production house in Saskatchewan. His focus is now on producing and social marketing.

Hugh Patterson

Producer

Receiving his BFA in film production from the University of Regina, Hugh worked his way up the film industry in Saskatchewan to become vice-president of Echolands Creative Group. He has many years of on-set experience in film, TV, shorts and music videos.