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
Andrea Droege – Vice President, Finance
Heather Hawthorn-Doyle - Executive Producer, Omni Lifestyle
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 documentaries, television series and dramatic productions since 1975.
Michael’s dramatic mini series Dragon Boys, about Asian gangs, recently won two Geminis: for Best Dramatic Mini Series and Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series. The sequel is currently in development with CBC. His popular teen drama, Edgemont, ran for five seasons on CBC and aired on ABC Family Channel in the U.S., Channel 5 in the U.K., and on many networks world-wide. Michael also discovered Kristin Kreuk who went on to star in Smallville. He was executive producer of the children’s television series The Odyssey, broadcast in over 60 countries and recipient of numerous prestigious awards including an International Emmy Award nomination, a Gemini Award for Best Youth Programme, and a Worldfest Gold Award at the Houston International Film Festival.
Michael’s success also extends to factual series. He produced the long-running series, Champions of the Wild, a 65-part series starring scientists and the animals they save from extinction.
Michael received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of British Columbia.
Gabriela Schonbach – Vice President and Executive Producer
Gabriela Schonbach is a partner and Vice President with Omni Film Productions in Vancouver, B.C., where she has written, directed and/or produced over 50 hours of broadcast programming. Recent productions include: Shimmy, a 26 episode dance series for CLT and Discovery Health, Stuntdawgs, a Gemini award winning 13-part action/factual series for Movie Central and The Movie Network now airing across Discovery Europe; and Alice, I Think, a 13-episode prime-time comedy series for CTV and The Comedy Network. She is currently producing The Dolphin Dealer for CBC, a feature documentary that won the $50,000 CTV Documart award at Banff, and is developing a one-hour drama/comedy series for CTV, as well as a half hour comedy series for CBC. Gabriela also executive produced The Disappearance of the PX-15, and Slammin’ Iron, documentaries for History Television, Discovery Science and CBC. Previously, she created and produced the multiple award winning wellness series Quiet Places and Quiet Mind as well as Namaste, a 26 episode yoga series.
Gabriela’s began her career working as a photojournalist in Washington, D.C. where she earned a B.Sc. degree at Georgetown University.
Brian Hamilton – Vice President and Executive Producer
Brian Hamilton moved to Vancouver in 1992 and joined Omni Film Productions in 1994. Since then he has produced or executive produced more than 30 projects representing 120 hours of broadcast programming for Omni, where he is now Vice President and one of four partners. Brian has served on the CFTPA-BC Board since 2006.
As Producer and Executive Producer, Brian is currently in post-production on the third 13-episode season of the CTV prime time series Robson Arms. He is also Executive Producer of Shock/Wave, a two-hour documentary special for CBC, also currently in post-production, and four lifestyle series in various stages of production, for HGTV, W Network and OLN. Brian manages Omni Post, a busy facility which handles end-to-end post production for Omni projects.
Recent programs which Brian executive produced and/or produced include: Make Some Noise, a 13-part music/activism series for CBC which recently 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 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.
Andrea Droege – Vice President Finance
Andrea Droege is head of overall corporate operations and a key strategist in all phases of development, production and distribution.
Andrea is involved in all of Omni's productions, including financing, overseeing budgeting and structuring partnerships. She specializes in tax credit analysis, having spent years working to challenge and improve the Federal and Provincial Tax credit programs. Prior to this, she was a production accountant for 10 years, working with independent producers in both drama and documentary. Andrea currently serves on the CFTPA's tax credit policy committee.
Heather Hawthorn-Doyle - Executive Producer, Head of Omni Lifestyle
Award-winning producer/director Heather Hawthorn-Doyle has been responsible for thousands of hours of programming including producing CBC Television’s Make Some Noise (winner of the $50,000 Shaw Rocket Prize, the Gemini for best Youth series, the internationally acclaimed NHK Japan Prize and is short listed for the bi-annual Prix Jeunesse International awards), directing CTV’s The Vicki Gabereau Show and now as the executive producer and Head of Omni Lifestyle, a division of Omni Film Productions Limited.
Omni Lifestyle currently has three exceptional series in production and post production: She’s Crafty (23x30), a hip, young craft series for HGTV, Word Travels (13x30), a unique docu-soap that looks at the ‘lives behind the bylines’ of two of Canada’s top travel writers for OLN, and Smart Cookies (13x30) a fabulous smart money series for W Network. And Omni Lifestyle is just about to begin production on ReFresh (working title) a new ‘green’ design series for HGTV that will air in the fall of 2008.
Heather Hawthorn-Doyle has an international reputation for making visually distinctive programming with strong hosts and for bringing together great teams to produce exceptional television.
David Gullason - Executive Producer, Factual
David’s credits include producing 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, Canadian TV’s top prize.
David has degrees from the University of Toronto and Ryerson University.