The screenplay for Céline – a TV movie based on the life of one of Canada’s most famous singers, now in production by Toronto’s Barna-Alper Productions – was written by Donald Martin (My Life as a Dog) from the book Céline Dion: A New Day Dawns by Barry Gills and Jim Brown. ‘It’s a really well-known subject matter, so for audiences – which are so fragmented – to know immediately from the title what the pic is about is really important,’ says Loren Mawhinney, BAP’s VP of programming.

Céline will probably hand the Ceeb another big audience, not unlike BAP’s Shania: A Life in Eight Album, about country star Shania Twain, which grabbed 1.2 million viewers on Nov. 7, 2005.

This story first appeared in Playback Daily Jan. 23, 2007.