Company Profile

As CEO and Executive Producer of Frantic Films, Jamie has been proud to see the company grow significantly, gaining recognition for its creative efforts and business success.

In his first year at Frantic, profits more than tripled - the beginning of an unprecedented period of growth that continues to this day.  Frantic was first named one of Canada’s Hottest Start-Up’s by Profit Magazine in 2001, later being named to their Profit 100 list of the fastest growing Canadian businesses three separate years and was twice named one of North America’s fastest growing businesses by Deloitte.  The company made four appearances on the list of Manitoba’s Fastest Growing Companies and was a two-time finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. 

Jamie is also the creator, producer and executive producer of many successful and award-winning projects.  He created and produced the first “living-history program in North America and the “Quest” series went on to critical acclaim and set several ratings records.  He has created or co-created over a dozen series and is responsible for hundreds of hours of production including TV movies (Zeyda and the Hitman, starring Danny Aiello, Mercedes Ruehl and Judd Hirsch), feature films (Lucid, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won at the Vancouver Film Festival), lifestyle programs (Til Debt Do Us Part) and documentaries (Devil’s Brigade).  A complete list of his film and television work is available at www.franticfilms.com .

Frantic also became a leading provider of cutting edge visual effects for clients including Warner Bros. (Superman Returns, Swordfish, Italian Job, Scooby Doo 2), Paramount (The Core, Paycheck), 20th Century Fox (X2 & X-Men: The Last Stand ) and ABC Television (Stephen King’s Storm of the Century), for which it received an Emmy nomination.  After opening offices in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Toronto and Sydney, Australia, the visual effects and software divisions were successfully sold to the Prime Focus Group in 2007.

Jamie began his career as a lawyer with the prominent Toronto law firm McMillan Binch, where he focused on corporate finance and entertainment law.  As Director of Business and Legal Affairs at Sullivan Entertainment, Jamie worked on two seasons of the TV series Wind At My Back (CBC/Disney), the MOW Promise The Moon (CBC/Hallmark) and the top-rated mini-series Seasons of Love (CBS/CTV).  While at Nelvana, he worked on programs such as Babar, King of the Elephants (CBC/Disney Channel/HBO), George and Martha (HBO/YTV), Little Bear (Nickelodeon/CBC) and Bob and Margaret (Global/Comedy Central/BBC).  He began his producing career at Credo Entertainment in 1998 where he worked on features, series and documentaries.

Jamie was the first recipient of the Lions Gate Innovative Producer Award.  Among his many creative awards are Gemini, Golden Sheaf, and Accolade awards. He was one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, received the I.H. Asper Broadcast Entrepreneur of the Future Award, was nominated as the New Media Visionary at the Canadian New Media Awards and was named the CFTPA’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008.  Currently, Jamie sits on the Boards of the CFTPA and is Past-Chair of Canada’s National Screen Institute.  Jamie also sits on the Manitoba Premier’s Economic Advisory Council and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

As President of Production, Lynne Skromeda oversees the finance and business affairs of Frantic Films' film and television division. She also oversees production from concept to completion and the company’s distribution arm. Over the past 11 years she has worked on over 35 productions including documentaries, lifestyle series, television movies and dramatic programming such as Pitchin’ In (Food), Til Debt Do Us Part (Slice), Princess (Slice), Fuelled By Passion: The Return of the Jets (CBC), Guinea Pig (Discovery Channel) and Devil's Brigade (History Television). In addition to her production work, Lynne is currently a member of On Screen Manitoba where she also sits on the Marketing Committee. She has also been a member of the Documentary Organization of Canada and Women in Film and Television- Toronto (WIFT-T) and has previously been a board member for On Screen Manitoba and the Plug-In Gallery.  She currently is President of the Board of the West End Cultural Centre and on the Board of Directors of TEDxWinnipeg.

Jeff Peeler is President and Executive Producer of Frantic Branded Content + Commercials. As a producer and executive producer, Jeff has been helping big brands establish awareness through internationally-distributed short content and advertising solutions for clients such as Wal-Mart, Kimberly Clark/Huggies, Verizon, MTV, Monsanto, and Parks Canada. Jeff served as Executive Producer on “Wheels of Change”, a 45-minute documentary produced for Cadbury Canada and on Season One of the NOS Energy Drink Challenge for Coca-Cola. His other long-form projects include work as Executive Producer on the multi-award winning “Forever Changed” for The Canadian Museum for Human Rights and the Gemini Award-winning “Peter Jordan's Grey Cup Adventure” for CBC Sports.

Previously, as a VP and Producer at Credo Entertainment, Jeff was active in developing lifestyle and documentary television series including the popular international travel series World's Greatest Spas. His independent feature film credits include Jeff Erbach’s “The Nature of Nicholas” and Brad Fraser's “Leaving Metropolis”.

Jeff is frequently asked to speak about and comment on the emergence of branded content as a tool to help advertisers and brands reach their audience. He has been a featured speaker at numerous branded content and digital media events and has contributed comments to various industry publications.

As the Vice President of Scripted Programming, Shawn manages the department's development slate as well as acts as executive in charge of production on all the company's scripted programs. His goal, along with the team at Frantic, is to continue to identify, develop and produce high-quality programming and to lead the expansion of the scripted programming department as the company broadens its slate of new content for the international market.

Shawn has been with Frantic Films since 2007 and has worked in film and television management since 1996. He is an award-winning producer with considerable experience in several genres who has co-produced feature films, dramatic television series, variety specials and documentary series.

Recent projects include the supernatural comedy series Todd and the Book of Pure Evil for SPACE network, the prime time comedy series Men with Brooms for CBC, The multi award winning mini- series Keep Your Head Up Kid – The Don Cherry story for CBC, ten one-hour variety show specials of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival for CBC and the feature film Faces in the Crowd starring Milla Jovovich.

Other producer credits include the dramatic sci-fi television series 2030CE for YTV, the Gemini Award-winning documentary special Hockey Brawl for CTV, Guinea Pig (Season II) for Discovery Channel Canada, The Good Germany comedy series pilot for CBC and feature films Yellowknife and The Law of Enclosures.

Shaun's career in the film and television industry spans more than a decade and includes credits in the lifestyle, documentary, dramatic and variety genres. As a producer/production exec at Frantic Films Shaun manages business affairs and production on Frantic’s slate of scripted programs. A graduate of Capilano College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Shaun worked on a number of feature films and TV productions before joining Frantic in 2007. Since then, Shaun has managed a number of shows for the company, including the award-winning Guinea Pig science documentary series for Discovery Channel Canada and Rocket Booster Rescue for National Geographic Channel International.

Most recently, Shaun was a producer on the long running and successful Winnipeg Comedy Festival a prime time variety series for CBC and is part of the producing team for the highly-anticipated new Supernatural Comedy series Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil for Space/CTV and was a production executive on the feature coproduction Faces in the Crowd and the mini-series Keep Your Head Up Kid: The Don Cherry Story.

Shaun is an easygoing, hard-working member of the Manitoba film and television community with a true passion for the Industry. After hours, Shaun is an avid baseball player and fan and he is studying to become a sommelier.

As Creative Director at Frantic Branded Content + Commercials, Bill designed, created and directed a number of award-winning TV commercials and short format videos for clients such as The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, The Government of Manitoba, furniture and appliance retailer Dufresne, and Manitoba Hydro.

Bill graduated from Red River College in the early 1980s. He initially worked as a freelance designer/illustrator/animator before being hired by McKim Communications in 1987.  While at McKim, Bill worked on a wide variety of print and television projects for clients including Health Canada, YTV, Burns Foods, and Pepsi among many others.

He left McKim for a short sabbatical with Doowah Design before returning to the company as Associate Creative Director.

Also during this time, starting in 1979 until 1996, Bill animated over 40 animated vignettes for Sesame Street Canada.

In 1997 Bill entered a new phase of his career when he began teaching classical animation techniques to computer animation students at Red River College. In his 3 years with RRC he trained students who now work for animation studios throughout the world including EA Sports, Rhythm and Hues and others too numerous to mention.

In 2000 he took as position with Winnipeg Transit as lead Graphics Designer where he created interior and exterior bus advertising as well as print campaigns and TV commercials.

In May of 2002 Bill was hired as Creative Director of the Frantic Films Commercial department, now Frantic Branded Content + Commercials. Working hand-in-hand with a talented pool of animators and designers Bill constantly strives to push the creative boundaries with each project he undertakes.