Duopoly

Duopoly is an independent film, television and multi-platform content company founded in 2002 by Catherine Tait and Liz Manne. Tait and Manne, both veterans of the independent film and television industries, established the company in order to develop and produce compelling new content properties, to forge productive relationships with talent and creators from Canada and the US, and to help create new businesses in the entertainment space.

Catherine Tait is a veteran of the independent film and television industries in Canada and the US. She began her career in cultural policy in the federal government, at Telefilm Canada and as Canada’s Cultural Attache to France. She then ran the Independent Feature Project in New York for 6 years, overseeing during her tenure, the creation of the Gotham Awards, the No Borders co-production market, Script to Screen and many other programs to promote American independent film talent. After the IFP, Tait became President and Chief Operating Officer of Salter Street Films, a television production and distribution company that she took public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1997. Tait was responsible for Salter Street’s successful bid for digital broadcasting licenses including the Independent Film Channel Canada, and oversaw the sale of the company to Alliance Atlantis Communications in 2001. Programs produced during Tait’s tenure include Michael Moore’s THE AWFUL TRUTH and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, LEXX (SciFi Channel), and THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES (CBC).

In 2006, Tait founded iThentic, an online and mobile video company, with partners Liz Manne and Al Cattabiani, former CEO/Founder of Wellspring. In 2007, Barna-Alper Productions made a strategic investment in iThentic forming iThentic Canada. The Company restructured and is now headquartered in Toronto and has entered into an operating agreement with Smiley Guy Studios. See www.iThentic.com

In 2009, Tait founded NicheCo Media, an online content distributor, with partner Al Cattabiani. NicheCo provides independent producers with a guided self-distribution service – a turnkey solution for distributing their television and film content online while retaining their rights.

See www.KINKONDVD.com and www.AIRGUITARONLINE.com

Tait currently serves as a Director of the Canadian Board of Entertainment One, an AIM-listed entertainment company, and as a Board Advisor to Paperny Films, a Vancouver-based private film and television production company. She has served as a Director of the Board of Aliant, a leading telecom company (2000-2006) and as a Director of CHUM Ltd, a leading Canadian television and radio broadcasting company (2005-2007); and is former Chair of the Independent Feature Project in New York.

In 2009, Liz Manne departed from Duopoly. She remains a friend of Duopoly, a shareholder of iThentic, and can be contacted at esmanne[at]gmail[dot]com.