Zeitgeist planning coproductions with British, American partners

Vancouver: Nick Orchard of Zeitgeist Productions is working with London, Eng.-based Portman Productions to coproduce a feature film based on the novel The Suspect by West Coast author L.R. Wright. Through contacts of Portman, their agent is hoping to land either Sir Alec Guinness or Nigel Hawthorne for the lead role.

Also in advanced development is the half-hour comedy series Lifeguards, formerly titled Forever Summer. It seems Orchard’s coproduction partners, Universal and Ivan Reitman Productions, thought the title Forever Summer sounded too much like a Harlequin romance for a series about college kids working at a chi chi summer camp. A pilot script by Orchard’s partner Rick Drew has been completed and Universal is now shopping it around to the u.s. networks.

Budget woes at cbc haven’t altered Orchard’s plans for Campus Rag, a low-budget, one-hour dramatic series for cbc about the goings-on at a campus newspaper. The project is in development with Toronto-based Alliance Communications.

‘If anyone knows how to do a low-budget series it’s us,’ says Orchard who, along with Pat Ferns of Toronto’s Primedia, produced the teen dramatic series Northwood for cbc on a positively minuscule budget.

Zeitgeist also recently completed production of a mini-pilot as a pitch tool for its late-night comedy series, The Private Tapes of Sev Banin.

The entire show will be seen through the eyes of a video camera operated by the series’ central character, a twentysomething semi-failed filmmaker who returns home after film school to a life of grant applications, low, low, low-budget gigs and a quirky mix of Seinfeldesque Gen-X pals.

Sound familiar? Orchard says natch the key to the series’ success is casting the right central character. He is looking for that rare blend of actor cum comedian, or vice versa. He also hopes to take advantage of the wealth of Canadian comedy writers living in l.a. and give them a reason to work at home.

Slow going

Financing of The Beacon Group of Companies’ mega-studio project down in Whatcom County, Washington is moving somewhat slower than the Vancouver-based film financing and real estate development company had hoped.

Apparently Beacon was supposed to complete purchase of the land for the long-awaited film studio and condo resort in Semiahmoo by Jan. 30. Now the deadline has passed and Whatcom County officials say they are considering holding a public hearing to look at the possibility of returning the property to its previous zoning because of continued local resistance to the plan.

Beacon counsel John Smith says Beacon has applied to Whatcom officials for an extension of the rezoning agreement for the site while it continues to put the financing in place. Smith says Beacon is meeting with new investors and is ‘very enthusiastic’ about the project going ahead.

Speaking of studios, word has it there’s another group of developers in town looking at converting Richmond’s Bridgeport market into a film studio. Nice convenient location, close to the airportÉah, anybody out there in the sound-proofing business?

Blue Moon on the rise

Once In A Blue Moon somebody comes along who changes your life forever. That’s the theme and the title of a new low-budget feature being produced in Vancouver next month by Jane Charles (Cyberteens in Love) and Sarah Duncan of Blue Moon Films. Well-known local commercial director Phil Spink wrote the script and will move beyond the 30-second constraint to helm his first feature.

The story, set in 1967 and loosely based on Spink’s own life experiences growing up, focuses on 10-year-old Peter Piper and his foster brother Sam. The two form a close bond that allows them to rise above the incessant problems of their dysfunctional family and settle a score with the neighborhood bullies by building a rocket ship to the moon.

Charles says the film script was originally selected for production under the New Views II program, but Telefilm Canada liked the project so much it bumped it up into the Feature Film Fund. However, the budget will remain in the $1 million range.

Alan Morinis of Ark Films has come on board to executive produce and Malofilm Distribution of Montreal has picked up Canadian rights.