Alas, the heyday of Montreal English film has come and gone, peaking and virtually perishing by about 2004. And with its decline came the departure of most of the incredible producers I represented: Nicolas Clermont and Robin Spry passing away, Pieter Kroonenburg and Tom Berry taking their respective companies to L.A., Murray Shostak and Danny Rossner shutting down Shostak-Rossner Productions and Claudio Castravelli... I dunno, has anyone SEEN Castravelli and his Taurus 7 Productions recently?

But through it all, the one standard from 1998 on, when Heenan Blaikie entertainment lawyer Michael Prupas formed a service company benefitting many of the above and more, has remained Muse Entertainment. Muse not only serviced local production houses, but embarked on projects of its own and is today responsible for such series as Tales from The Neverending Story, This Is Wonderland, The Tournament and current hit Durham County, miniseries including Human Trafficking, Ben Hur and The Last Templar and service production on such acclaimed movies as I’m Not There, the brilliant film about Bob Dylan’s life and career.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with the founder’s son, Jesse Prupas, sitting with the Westmount resident at Copoli and interviewing him as we chowed down on their always-stellar grilled chicken salad. Now 32, the company’s Vice-President of Development and Distribution has become a very important player on the local film scene since his early days toiling on sets, doing pretty much anything asked of him. That came after he spent four years in New York, as of 1997, graduating from Columbia with a degree in political science.

He said the film business has suffered due to a variety of reasons, including the higher Canadian dollar (making Americans think twice before coming here, now that their massive garage sale discounts are gone) and also admitted that “the unions may have been a bit overconfident.” That is an understatement. As I see it, the greedy Quebec unions are at the heart of the demise of English production in this city, since Toronto and Vancouver still enjoy healthy film shoots.

But, despite film people like the late, controversial Micheline Charest, formerly of the ultimately doomed Cinar, trying to talk him out of a film career, Prupas heeded his father’s advice and assumed this important role. Prupas looks at the many scripts that come in – about 600 queries per year and 240 completed scripts, of which only 15 or so are developed by Muse based on the savvy Prupas’s recommendations. They are now so busy that an L.A. office has been opened to augment the three in Canada.

“I try to reply personally to all the writers who contact me because they have the hardest job in the world,” he told me. He also advised writers to have a literary agent if possible, to facilitate the process. “Every story out there has likely existed in some manner before, though I am sensitive to the fact that anyone who does submit thinks their story is unique. There are a million screenplays out there, but how many get made into films or series?” For us writers, all with the hot idea that will make us rich, a sobering thought indeed.

The heir apparent is extremely pleased with the direction Muse is taking, concentrating on dramatic series (an eight-hour miniseries on the Kennedy clan is in the works), comedies and children’s programming, such as Alfred Hedgehog.

Married with a new baby, Prupas considers his life in Westmount to be charmed. “I grew up in Westmount and we now live in a house dating back to 1895... It’s wonderful and we love it here.”