Margaret Mardirossian, President

President of Anaïd Productions, Margaret Mardirossian is a graduate of Montreal’s McGill University.  Margaret began her career in theatre as director and stage manager.  She produced and directed her first documentary on internationally renowned puppeteer entitled Ronnie Burkett: A Line of Balance garnering the Canadian Conference for the Arts’ Rogers Communications national award for most innovative documentary in 1994.

Margaret went on to produce: 39 episodes of The Tourist, a comedy travel series for Outdoor Life Network, Travel Channel in the US and UK, and Life Network; 52 episodes of the award winning children’s dramatic television series Mentors for Family Channel; 49 episodes of the weight-loss documentary series Taking It Off for Life Network, which was awarded a Gemini for Best Lifestyle series in 2003; the documentary special Keeping It Off?, the follow-up companion to Taking It Off; and 16 episodes of The Family Restaurant, a behind-the-scenes documentary series of a family-run Greek restaurant, for Food Network Canada. 

Margaret is Executive Producer of X-Weighted for Slice Network.  The third season of the 60 minute documentary series follows the weight loss journeys of 17 people in Calgary, Toronto and Winnipeg.  In addition, Margaret is executive producing season two of The Rig, a half-hour documentary series for Outdoor Life Network that explores the wildcat world of Alberta oil rigs.

Margaret has directed two episodes of Mentors: the second season finale entitled “Future Tense” featuring Gordon Pinsent and the third season finale entitled “Homesick” as well as co-directing and co-writing the documentary special Keeping It Off?

In addition, Margaret volunteers her time on numerous industry-related committees and has been a guest speaker at a number of industry and business related panels. 

In 2000, Margaret was featured as Global Television’s “Woman of Vision”.

Helen Schmidt, Vice President, Business Affairs

A partner in Anaid Productions and a Certified Management Accountant with a diploma in Business Administration, Helen Schmidt supervises all aspects of Anaid’s business affairs and accounting procedures. She is responsible for financial forecasting, project and company budgets, post-production accounting and financial records.

Helen is distinguished in the field of accounting by her understanding of Canadian film financing and its related issues. She is adept at navigating the complexity of CAVCO applications and federal tax credits and documentation. Helen’s meticulous accounting practices and comprehensive financial reporting have enabled Anaid Productions to earn an impressive and notable reputation with investors and broadcasters alike.

Katharine Hall, General Manager, Vice President Legal Affairs 

Katharine is responsible for managing corporate operations, human resources, participating in management and assisting with industry relations.  Katharine is also the in-house counsel for Anaid Productions.

Called to the Alberta legal bar in 1998, Katharine has been in the entertainment industry since 2001 when she started with Alliance Atlantis Factual Division based in Alberta.  In June of 2004, Katharine and 3 partners established Kaizen West Productions. In July of 2005, Katharine joined Anaid Productions as in-house counsel.  She has extensive experience in negotiating international treaty co-production agreements, domestic and international license agreements and distribution agreements. 

David Way, Vice President, Factual Production and Development

David Way is Anaid Productions’ Vice President of Factual Production & Development. As Executive Producer, he oversees Anaid’s production slate including X-Weighted, The Rig, and The Family Restaurant. Prior to joining the Anaid team, David was the Interim Director and Senior Manager of Programming for the OLN (Outdoor Life Network) in Canada. As head of programming and commissioning, David was responsible for setting and executing OLN’s strategic creative direction. Previous to that David served as the Director of Original Production for the Life Network (now Slice network) and the Discovery Health Channel at Alliance Atlantis Communications. In addition, he was a Production Executive for the Life Network and the Discovery Health Channel overseeing 60–100 hours of original production a year. Prior to joining Alliance Atlantis Communications, David was Commissioning Editor of Science and History Documentaries at TVOntario.

Before entering broadcasting, David spent 15 years as a freelance producer-director of factual documentaries and lifestyle television series. In addition to over 30 international awards and nominations as a producer, Way has received two Gemini Awards for Best Science Documentary; three Hot Docs Awards for Best Art or Science Documentary, a Genie Nomination for Best Theatrical Short Documentary; plus the Grand Prize, the Prix Santé, and the Prix du Magazine from the International Science Television Festivals.

Christie is Anaid’s Supervising Producer, Development.  In this role, she contributes creatively from project inception to development writing and pitching, as well as management of development activities for in-house factual and dramatic development slates.  Christie is also Associate Producer on the second season of the award-winning rough-and-tough series The Rig for OLN (Outdoor Life Network). In addition, she is also currently serving as Writer on the hit weight-loss documentary series X-Weighted, now in its third season for Slice (formerly Life Network). Previously she filled the role of Associate Producer on two seasons of The Family Restaurant, a documentary series for Food Network Canada following the behind-the-scenes drama of a family-run Greek restaurant.  An Honours graduate of the NAIT Radio and Television Arts program, Christie first joined Anaid Productions as a CFTPA Intern and formerly worked as a Producer’s Assistant on the fourth season of the award-winning children’s series Mentors, a Development Assistant with Minds Eye Entertainment, and as Associate Producer on the short film, Wind Water.

Oktawian Gala, Production Accountant

Oktawian (aka “Okto”) provides corporate and production accounting services, including cost reporting for the various prodcos, administering financing on projects, payroll, accounts payable/receivable as well as corporate and production tax audit preparation.

Prior to joining Anaid Okto provided corporate and production accounting services to the Alliance Atlantis Factual Division in Alberta (formerly Great North Productions Inc.) for 7 years, becoming an  expert in tax credits and financial reporting.  From June 2004 until joining Anaid he provided all corporate and production accounting services to Kaizen West Productions .  Okto’s accounting experience as well as his unique sense of humour are a great asset to Anaid.

Branka Pejic, Accounting Assistant

Branka is the newest member of the Anaid accounting team, working as Accounting Assistant.  Graduating from the Microcomputer Office Specialist program at Alberta College in 2002, she worked at The Access Media Group in the Accounting Department for two years prior to joining Anaid. She currently provides accounts payable services for Anaid’s projects as well as assistance in other aspects of accounting including bank reconciliations, accounts receivable, GST claims and journal entries.

Lisa Munro, Executive Assistant

Lisa joins the Anaid team after 12 years in the world of theatre.  Throughout her previous career as a stage manager, Lisa worked in every major city from Victoria to Winnipeg, with companies as varied as the Vancouver Playhouse, Edmonton and Calgary Operas, Rosthern Summer Theatre and many others.  Lisa also has a wide range of experience coordinating various aspects of special events such as the Calgary International Children’s Festival, Edmonton First Night Festival and Edmonton Folk Music Festival.  Lisa brings strong organizational skills and a joy of interacting with people to her position as Executive Assistant for Anaid.

Shantel Pruneau, Receptionist

Prior to joining Anaid Productions as Office Manager/Receptionist, Shantel was employed in the oil and gas industry as a Security & Fleet Assistant, Estimating Assistant, and Office Administrator.  After three and a half years in the oil and gas sector, Shantel sought a new creative challenge and enrolled in the Makeup for Film and Television program at the Vancouver Film School, from which she graduated with Honours.  Since, she has contributed her creative talents as a freelance makeup artist on a series of Family Violence Public Service Announcements, for ACCESS Television.