At our Water Street head office, Omni Film has a dedicated staff of 25 people responsible for development, financing, overseeing productions and managing business affairs.
Michael Chechik – President and Executive Producer
Brian Hamilton – Vice President and Executive Producer
Gabriela Schonbach – Vice President and Executive Producer
David Gullason - Executive Producer, Factual
During production, Omni opens a separate production office nearby, which handles the project’s pre-production, production and post-production. At any one time, Omni has anywhere between one and seven production offices open, staffed by contractors who may number into the hundreds during peak periods.
Michael Chechik – President and Executive Producer
Michael Chechik, president of Omni Film Productions Ltd., Water Street Pictures Ltd., and Water Street Releasing Ltd., has been an independent producer and director of television since 1975. Currently, Michael is executive producing Arctic Air, a flagship drama series for CBC as well as Primeval: New World, the North American spin-off of the UK hit drama series Primeval for SPACE.
Previously, Michael was one of the executive producers on Defying Gravity, a 13-part drama produced with Fox Television Studios for ABC, CTV, Space, BBC and ProSieben. Michael's 4 hour miniseries Dragon Boys, a drama for CBC about Asian criminal gangs was the recipient of two Geminis: for Best Dramatic Mini Series and Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series.
His popular 65 episode syndicated teen drama, Edgemont, ran for five seasons on CBC and aired on ABC Family Channel and Starz Encore in the U.S., Channel 5 in the U.K., and many networks world-wide. He executive produced the children's television series The Odyssey, broadcast in over 60 countries and recipient of numerous awards including an International Emmy Award nomination and a Gemini Award for Best Youth Program in Canada.Brian Hamilton – Vice President and Executive Producer
Brian Hamilton joined Omni Film Productions in 1994. Since then he has produced or executive produced more than 40 television projects in both scripted and non-scripted genres, representing over $100 million of production for Omni Film, where he is now Vice President and one of three partners.
Recent programs which Brian executive produced and/or produced include: Defying Gravity, for CTV, BBC, ProSieben, and ABC in the United States, Pure Design for HGTV Canada, Word Travels for OLN and Smart Cookies for W Network. Brian also produced and executive produced three seasons of Robson Arms, CTV’s critically acclaimed dramedy; and executive produced: Make Some Noise, a 13-part music/activism series for CBC which won the Gemini for Best Youth Non-Fiction series, as well as the Shaw Rocket Prize, and the prestigious Japan Prize for Youth Programming; This Space for Rent, a comedy series pilot for CBC; Alice I Think, a 13-part prime-time comedy series for CTV and Comedy Network; The Terry Fox Legacy, a 1-hour documentary for CTV; Ancient Clues for Discovery Channel; and 39 half-hour episodes of Healthy Home for HGTV. Brian oversees Omni Post, a busy facility which handles end-to-end post production for Omni Film projects.
Brian holds a First Class Honours Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and received his television training from the Banff Centre for the Arts.
Gabriela Schonbach – Vice President and Executive Producer
Gabriela Schonbach is a partner and vice president with Omni Film Productions, where she oversees factual development and production as well as co-manages drama, lifestyle and distribution. Gabriela is currently executive producing the 10-hour drama series Arctic Air for CBC, Primeval: New World for SPACE, as well as the 8 x 60 series Pyros for Discovery Canada and Discovery UK and Europe and the fourth season of Ice Pilots NWT for History Television now airing successfully internationally in the US, UK, Europe, and Australia.
Gabriela has produced, written and directed many hours of award-winning broadcast programming include Stuntdawgs, a Gemini Award-winning action/factual series for Movie Central and The Movie Network, now airing across Discovery Europe, Alice, I Think, a prime-time comedy series for CTV and The Comedy Network, wellness series Quiet Places and Quiet Mind for Vision TV, and Namaste, a groundbreaking yoga series for CLT/Access and Discovery Health US.David Gullason - Executive Producer, Factual
David is currently producing the fourth season of Ice Pilots NWT for History Television and a new documentary series for Discovery Channel Canada and Discovery UK/Europe called Pyros. Previously, David produced the factual series System Crash for CLT, Stuntdawgs, a Gemini-award winning series about stuntmen for the Movie Network, the wilderness series Wild at Heart which was nominated for the Japan Prize, the Gemini-nominated History Television feature Icebound, the first season of TLC’s Untold Stories of the ER, three seasons of Discovery’s Storm Warning, the special effects series Cinema Secrets for American Movie Classics/Movie Network and the two hour special Space Medicine for Discovery Health. He has produced and/or written a string of documentary series and specials as a supervising producer at Alliance Atlantis’ FACT unit in Vancouver.
Other credits include a one hour documentary Blind Hope (about the quest for artificial vision) and the four-part series Medical Profile for Discovery Health, and Simon and the Spirit Bear for National Geographic Channel. His shows have won top prizes at the Columbus Film and Video Festival, Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival in Paris, the New York and Houston Festivals and at the Geminis. David has degrees from the University of Toronto and Ryerson University.