Advertising and politics Working since his teens, Anticipating the market for
media planning and
media buying, he created his own Media Buying Services specifically to focus on these areas, a pioneering move at the time. The company grew to have five more locations, among them
Montreal,
Los Angeles and
New York. Simpson relinquished day-to-day control after five years to focus on his entertainment endeavors, A devout conservative, Simpson served as a strategist for the
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC) during the
Brian Mulroney era. He was head of special election events for his
victorious 1984 campaign, and a film policy consultant for his government. but ultimately saying of the compromised legislation introduced in 1988 by
Minister of Communications Flora MacDonald: "If you want to have your cake and eat it too, this is the legislation for you." Controversy arose when, shortly after the 1984 election, Simpson co-founded a new advertising agency called Media Canada, which was handed the government's advertising budget before it was even incorporated. The contract had originally been offered to Simpson's former Media Buying Services, but its current bosses had judged the terms unacceptable, leading to the formation of the new agency. The nature of those terms came under scrutiny when Roger Nantel, Simpson's partner in Media Canada, candidly revealed that part of his management fee would be used to finance events hosted by the incumbent majority. While the PCs' hiring of a friendly agency was not unheard of—the
Liberals had replaced MBS with the left-leaning
MacLaren Advertising during their own term in office—Nantel's admission led to accusations of
kickbacks from the opposition, and
Minister of Supply and Services Harvie Andre commissioned an
RCMP investigation to prove the absence of wrongdoing. In 1992, Media Canada merged with part of Vickers & Benson to form Genesis Media, of which Simpson remained a shareholder.
Attempted purchase of Global In April 1974, Simpson and MBS presented to the
CRTC an offer to acquire the
Global Television Network, a Canadian
network whose recent launch had been plagued by funding shortfalls. The CDN$6 million proposal was backed by publishers
Maclean-Hunter and
Odeon Theatres, but was passed over in favor of a bid from IWC Communications, which had been the favorite all along. When IWC, arguing that it had discovered hidden liabilities after taking control of Global, lowballed the company's creditors with an offer to pay them twenty-five cents on the dollar, Simpson again expressed interest in taking over and vouched to give them a better deal. But he was stymied by the strict guarantees demanded by IWC chairman
Allan Slaight to cede the company, and the latter's proposal was eventually approved by the creditors in June 1974.
Film production Through his business trips to Los Angeles, Simpson gained an interest in the entertainment business. Working with his brother Richard under the banner of the Simcom company, he first specialized in programming sales and
syndication, before branching out into feature film production in 1978. With few connections to the production side of the industry, Simpson initially stuck to what had worked for him as a TV rights broker. His first film was
The Sea Gypsies, which replicated the
family adventure formula of several programs he had sold for others. When
Prom Night was brought to him by director
Paul Lynch, Simpson wanted to cast
The Brady Bunch Eve Plumb in the lead to maximize TV revenue, and had to be convinced by Lynch that
Jamie Lee Curtis would be a bigger draw, as he was unfamiliar with
Halloween. Nonetheless, both
The Sea Gypsies and
Prom Night proved very lucrative and gave Simpson an immediate foothold in the sector. Between more commercial films, Simpson capitalized on personal connections to the Canadian recording industry to put together his passion project, 1982's
Melanie, a rock star drama which featured
Burton Cummings of
The Guess Who and
Lisa Dal Bello. The picture was positively received, earning three
Genie Awards, although one was later rescinded on a technicality. The following year, Simpson directed a documentary on the same subject,
My Own Way to Rock, for Canadian
premium cable channel
First Choice. A music enthusiast, he occasionally wrote songs for his own movies such as
Bullies, a rural revenge story described by director Paul Lynch as a counterpoint to the lighthearted wildlife adventure of Simpson's first production
The Sea Gypsies. Seldom remembered today, the film was criticized for its violence and turned down for subsidies by Telefilm Canada, but proved lucrative after it was picked up for U.S. distribution by
Universal. In 1984, Simpson co-founded Norstar, a new company with an emphasis on
distribution, into which Simcom was soon merged, giving him a vertically integrated organization. Norstar scaled back its distribution business in the 1990s, although Simpson's production and sales labels kept the name. Towards the end of his career, Simpson stepped in to produce the critically acclaimed but financially troubled series
The Eleventh Hour, which had been launched by his wife under her own production imprint, resulting in a final,
Gemini Award-winning season in 2004–05. He died during
post-production of their following
miniseries Would Be Kings, a modern
reimagining of
Shakespeare's
Henry IV, for which he received another posthumous nomination. ==Legacy==