 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media Entertainment |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Founders | Pen Densham John Watson |
| Headquarters | 135 Liberty Street, , Canada |
Key people | John Brunton (CEO) |
| Parent | Boat Rocker Media (majority) |
| Website | www |
Insight Productions is a Canadian television production company based in Toronto, Ontario. It was established in 1970. [1] Insight is led by CEO John Brunton. [2]
Insight Productions was established in 1970 by Penray "Pen" Densham and John Kingsley Watson. [3]
In December 1978, John Brunton, assistant editor and director with Insight, bought the rights to the company from Densham and Watson, becoming president and CEO. [4]
Insight has created programs in several genres (documentary, drama, sports, variety, comedy, music, reality), and has adapted to shifting tastes, technology and formats. Canadian Idol , an Insight-produced iteration of the successful international format, aired between 2004 and 2008 to record-breaking audiences. [5]
Insight is also credited with revamping Canada's national music awards, Juno Awards. By moving the show from a theatre to an arena setting, Insight was ultimately able to take the show on the road to cities across the country. [6]
John Brunton and Barbara Bowlby were awarded the Order of Canada in 2018. [7] [8]
The company released the documentary film Life Times Nine in 1973 for which it was nominated for two Academy Awards. [1]
The company faces a class-action lawsuit over unpaid wages. [9]
Recent productions include Big Brother Canada , The Amazing Race Canada , Canada's New Year's Eve: Countdown to 2021, Every Child Matters: Reconciliation Through Education, Juno Awards , Wall of Chefs , Battle of the Blades , Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind , The Launch , Canada's Walk of Fame , Top Chef Canada , I Do, Redo , The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration , and Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble . On April 13, 2021, Amazon Prime Video announced Jay Baruchel will host a Canadian version of LOL: Last One Laughing to be produced by Insight. [10]
The Juno Awards, or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's music industry. They were originally called the Gold Leaf Awards, and the trophy resembled a metronome. Alongside the Canadian Screen Awards, they are considered one of the main annual Canadian entertainment award shows. The first Juno Awards ceremony was held on February 23, 1970 to honor the musical accomplishments of performers for the year 1969. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame are also inducted as part of the awards ceremonies.
Emm Gryner is a Canadian-Filipino singer, songwriter, recording artist, and author. She has released 20 albums as a solo performer, and has collaborated with artists including David Bowie and Chris Hadfield.
Gerald Eaton is a Jamaican-Canadian R&B singer-songwriter and music producer, also known by his stage name Jarvis Church.
Sam Roberts is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has released seven albums. His debut EP The Inhuman Condition, reached the Canadian charts in 2002. He and his bandmates have released three albums as Sam Roberts and four albums as Sam Roberts Band. He is also a member of Canadian group Anyway Gang, who released their debut self-titled album in 2019. Roberts has been nominated, together with his band, for fifteen Juno Awards, winning six, including Artist of the Year twice and Album of the Year once (2004).
Tanya Tagaq, also credited as Tagaq, is a Canadian Inuk throat singer, songwriter, novelist, actor, and visual artist from Cambridge Bay (Iqaluktuuttiaq), Nunavut, Canada, on the south coast of Victoria Island.
Keshia Chanté Harper is a Canadian singer, television host, actress, songwriter, businesswoman and philanthropist. As a teenager, Chanté gained recognition with the release of her singles "Unpredictable," "Bad Boy," "Does He Love Me," "Been Gone," "2U," and "Fallen," featuring Drake and has since released four albums. In 2013, she rose to international prominence as co-host of BET's 106 & Park with Bow Wow, launching her career as a TV Host and Television Personality. Chanté is also known as Drake's first girlfriend and musical muse who he refers to as "KIKI" in his song In My Feelings.
Jonathan Adam Saunders Baruchel is a Canadian actor. He is known for his voice role as Hiccup Haddock in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, and for his roles in comedy movies such as Knocked Up (2007), Tropic Thunder (2008), Fanboys (2009), She's Out of My League (2010), Goon (2011), This Is the End (2013), and the action-fantasy film The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010). He had lead roles as Steven Karp in Judd Apatow's comedy series Undeclared (2001–2002) and Josh Greenberg in the FXX comedy series Man Seeking Woman (2015–2017).
Hedley is the debut studio album recorded by Canadian rock band Hedley, released in Canada on September 6, 2005, through Universal Music Canada. The album reached the top 3 on the Canadian Albums Chart and has been certified double platinum by Music Canada. It garnered a nomination for Rock Album of the Year at the 2006 Juno Awards.
The University of Toronto Mississauga is a satellite campus of the University of Toronto located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
Debra DiGiovanni is a Canadian stand-up comedian originally from Tillsonburg, Ontario.
Mark Steven Cohon, is a Canadian businessman who is the chairman of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). He was also the 12th commissioner of the Canadian Football League. The son of McDonald's Canada founder George Cohon, he was appointed as commissioner in 2007 succeeding Tom Wright.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 12th Gemini Awards were held on March 1, 1998, to honour achievements in Canadian television. There were two awards ceremonies in 1998; the 13th was held on October 4, 1998. The 12th awards ceremony was hosted by Cathy Jones and Steve Smith. It took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television.
Lindi Marie Ortega is a Canadian country singer-songwriter from Toronto, Ontario, who had lived in Nashville, Tennessee then moved to Western Canada in 2017. She spent nearly a decade as an independent artist in the Toronto music scene, releasing two albums and an EP in that time. She has been described as "Toronto's best kept secret" and nicknamed "Indie Lindi". Ortega left Last Gang management and records in November 2017. She has since released Til The Goin' Gets Gone EP and her full-length Liberty on her own label Shadowbox Music. Her voice has been described as a blend of Dolly Parton's, Johnny Cash's, and Emmylou Harris'.
Pen Densham is a British-Canadian film and television producer, writer, and director, known for writing and producing films such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and television revivals of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone, as well as writing, producing and directing MGM's Moll Flanders.
The Sheepdogs are a Canadian rock band formed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 2004. The Sheepdogs were the first unsigned band to make the cover of Rolling Stone and have gone on to a career featuring multi-platinum album sales and four Juno Awards.
Heather Elaine Rankin is a Canadian singer, songwriter and actor. She is most well known as a member of the multi-platinum selling musical group The Rankin Family.
Judy Loman is a harpist and harp teacher, born and educated in the United States and active in Canada. She was the principal harp of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1959 until her retirement in 1991, and won a Juno award for Best Classical Album in 1980. She taught at the University of Toronto and established a summer school for harpists. Loman was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 2015.
Eve Tuck is an Unangax̂ scholar in the field of Indigenous studies and educational research. Tuck is the Professor of Critical Race and Indigenous Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Dr. Tuck will be joining the faculty of NYU in 2024 as the founding director of their Center for Indigenous Studies.
Tasha the Amazon, born Tasha Schumann, is a Canadian rapper, singer-songwriter, hip hop producer, author, and host to the Animalogic YouTube channel. She is best known for her debut EP Die Every Day, which was nominated at the 2017 Juno Awards for Rap Recording of the Year.
John Brunton is a Canadian film and television producer, most noted as the longtime chief executive officer of Insight Productions. He first joined the company in 1976 as a carpenter and production assistant, until buying out founders Pen Densham and John Watson a few years later; under Brunton, the company was transformed into one of Canada's leading producers of reality and special events programming, including Canadian Idol, The Amazing Race Canada, Big Brother Canada, Battle of the Blades and the annual Juno Awards ceremony.
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