A Victoria film studio is busy preparing for a two-day shoot starting next week for an internet-only family law series featuring a sitting Ontario judge.

Simon Game of Island Industrial FX Studios and Nancy Kinney of AdviceScene.com are co-producers of Family Matters TV, which bills itself as “Canada’s first family law talk show.” The two worked together last year on a series of legal advice vignettes for Kinney’s website, and since April of this year they have been toiling on Family Matters TV.

Ontario family court Justice Harvey Brownstone is the front-man for the series, and he takes on various legal matters of current interest, from elder abuse, to prenuptial agreements and “the collaborative divorce.”

A set at Island Industrial FX Studios during a commercial shoot earlier this year. Photo © by Island Industrial FX Studio.

Filming takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday (July 13-14) from 2:30pm each day at the Island Industrial FX Studios at 506 John Street in Victoria. A team of as many as 25 staff and crew will film three one-hour episodes each day. Each segment has unique special guests and each features a different family law topic.

Justice Brownstone, the first openly gay judge in Canada, is himself an outspoken representative of Canada’s legal community. In a country not known for “celebrity” justice or showy members of the judiciary, Brownstone certainly stands out. He is the author of the Canadian best-selling book Tug Of War: A Judge’s Verdict on Separation, Custody Battles, and the Bitter Realities of Family Court. Kinney sums up the book as “a guide to how to avoid the court, and settle family matters through negotiation, mediation and arbitration. The overwhelming theme is that it serves children best if the parties never get into the courtroom.”

The shows will eventually be shopped around to traditional TV networks, but Kinney believes they could do just fine financially as Internet-only features. She says that “a traditional TV show airs at 9pm on Tuesday night on XYZ television channel, and then it’s gone. With the internet, the same show can be played an re-played whenever a viewer chooses for as long as it is available online.”

Kinney also adds that the key to a show’s success, and its positive return on investment for the sponsors, is making it available on as many access points on the Internet as possible.

The producers have lined up a variety of sponsors to pay for this round of taping and also invite interested members of the Victoria community to attend as part of the studio audience.  The cost of sitting in is $15 per person, per episode.

More information on Family Matters TV and online ticket purchase for studio audience members is available here.

To follow information about the film and television industry in Victoria on the VibrantVictoria.ca discussion forum, click here.

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