be pilot

F/X, Skyvision Entertainment’s on-again-off-again series, is on again, says Skyvision, but this time as a two-hour pilot to be shot in Toronto this summer.

A year ago, Skyvision announced a deal in principle with Orion Pictures and Rysher Entertainment to produce the us$25 million action series based on the feature films f/x and f/x 2, with financing being handled by Skyvision and Rysher.

At the time, Skyvision president Brian Ross said the impact of f/x on the local production community would be comparable to or ‘a bit less’ than the $400,000 weekly payroll for Skyvision’s Robocop series.

f/x was scheduled to go into production for 22 episodes last October, with the two f/x features serving as the series’ pilots.

Earlier this year, as production plans continued to stall, Skyvision said a network deal was in the works for the series, cutting out the original syndication plans. The network was rumored to be nbc.

Distributor Rysher is still onside to cofinance the series with Skyvision, says Rysher executive vice-president Ira Bernstein. ‘It could be a number of combinations,’ he says, ‘but either way, we’re committed to the series.’

Skyvision’s ambitions for its first syndicated series, Robocop, were crushed late last year when Rysher canceled after the first season. Latest word from Skyvision is Rysher may settle for four two-hour mows, but both parties say nothing is confirmed at this stage.