Micheline Charest

Micheline Charest

Micheline Charest (1953 - April 14, 2004) was a television producer and founder (and former co-chair) of the Cinar (now Cookie Jar Entertainment) television company.

Contents

Biography

Born in London and raised in Quebec, Charest returned to the UK to attend the London International Film School. In 1976, she traveled to New Orleans where she met her future husband, New Yorker and Tulane graduate, Ronald A. Weinberg. While in New Orleans, Charest and Weinberg organized an event for a women's film festival, and worked at distributing foreign films to US theatres. The couple moved to New York and formed Cinar, then a budding film and television distribution company.

In 1984, Charest and Weinberg changed their focus from media distribution to production, and moved the business to Montreal, where they concentrated on children's television programming. During this time, Charest would go on to serve as either producer or executive producer for dozens of popular animated series for children, including The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Animal Crackers, Emily of New Moon, Mona the Vampire, and The Wombles. As a production company, Cinar was also involved in the work of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Madeline, Space Cases, Zoboomafoo, and Arthur. By 1999, Cinar boasted annual revenues of $150 million (CAD) and owned about $1.5 billion (CAD) of the children's television market. The company had become known for quality, non-violent children's programs, broadcast in more than 150 countries and one of the founding partners in the Canadian cable television channel TELETOON.

Scandal

The success of Charest, Weinberg, and Cinar ended in March 2000, when an internal audit revealed that about $122 million (US) was invested into Bahamian bank accounts without the boardmembers' approval.[1] Cinar had also paid American screenwriters for work while continuing to accept Canadian federal grants for content. The names of Canadian authors were credited for the work, allowing Cinar to benefit from Canadian tax credits. While the province of Quebec did not file criminal charges, Cinar denied any wrongdoing, choosing instead to pay a settlement to Canadian and Quebec tax authorities of $17.8 million (CAD) and another $2.6 million (CAD) to Telefilm Canada, a Canadian federal funding agency. The value of Cinar stock plummeted, and the company was soon delisted.[2]

In 2001, as part of a settlement agreement with the Commission des Valeurs Mobilières du Québec (Quebec Securities Commission) Charest and Weinberg agreed to pay $1 million each and were banned from serving in the capacity of directors or officers at any publicly traded Canadian company for five years. There was no admission of guilt and none of the allegations have been proven in court. In March 2004, Cinar was purchased for more than $140 million (US) by a group led by Nelvana founder, Michael Hirsh.[3] Charest and Weinberg reportedly received $18 million (US) for their company shares.

At the end of August 2009, Claude Robinson, after 14 years, won his case against Cinar, Weinberg, Charest and co.

Death

Charest died on April 14, 2004 due to complications ensued after elective plastic surgery.

Miscellaneous

Charest was ranked 19th in The Hollywood Reporter's 1997 list of the 50 most powerful women in the entertainment industry. [4]

Charest and Weinberg had two children together.[5]

References

External links


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  • Micheline Charest — (* 1953 in London; † 14. April 2004 in Montreal)[1] war eine internationale TV Produzentin und Gründerin der CINAR AG.[2] Sie erlangte ihren Abschluss an der London International Film School. Besondere Bekanntheit erlangte sie durch die weltweit… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Micheline Charest — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Charest. Micheline Charest (1953, Londres 14 avril 2004, Montréal), productrice canadienne. Sommaire 1 Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Charest — is a surname, and may refer to: Benoît Charest (born 1964), Canadian composer and guitarist Jean Charest (born 1958), Canadian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Quebec Micheline Charest (1953 2004), successful Canadian television producer… …   Wikipedia

  • Charest — ist der Name folgender Personen: Jean Charest (* 1958), kanadischer Politiker Micheline Charest (1953–2004), internationale TV Produzentin und Geschäftsführerin der CINAR AG Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung zur Untersch …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Cookie Jar Group — Cookie Jar redirects here. For other uses, see Cookie Jar (disambiguation). Cookie Jar Group Type Private Industry Distribution and production …   Wikipedia

  • Arthur (TV series) — This article is about the children s TV series. For other uses, see Arthur (disambiguation). Arthur …   Wikipedia

  • Fabienne Larouche — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Larouche. Fabienne Larouche (26 octobre 1958 à Saint André du Lac Saint Jean, Québec ) est une scénariste et productrice québécoise. Sommaire 1 Biographie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cookie Jar Entertainment — Tipo Compañía Publica Fundador Micheline Charest Ronald A. Weinberg Presidentes Michael Hirish Kelly Elwood Propietario Corus Entertainment (30%) Viacom Inc. (30%). Fecha de inauguración Cinar (1976) Cookie Jar (2000) …   Wikipedia Español

  • 2004 au Québec — Éphémérides Chronologie du Québec : 2001 2002 2003  2004  2005 2006 2007 Décennies au Québec : 1970 1980 1990  2000  2010 2020 203 …   Wikipédia en Français

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