Vancouver: Mr. Citytv, Moses Znaimer, blew into town to kick off the 10th annual Film and Television Trade Forum as the opening luncheon speaker and to drum up support from the local production community for his bid for a fourth Vancouver tv station.

Unfortunately, he didn’t provide us with many details about his plans for the new station, given that his application is currently under review by the crtc and he doesn’t want to tip his mitt to the competing bidders.

He did, however, try to tantalize producers with what a City-style station could do to boost production in the province.

Znaimer claims that if there were just two more City stations in Canada, the CHUM/City organization could support the production of one movie per week. Add to that City’s hefty promotional punch, and the package starts to sound pretty appealing.

I wonder what the other applicants have to offer. Let the bidding war begin.

Gray day

While doing the rounds at the Vancouver International Film Festival, I bumped into producer Bill Gray at the Rogers-hosted reception at Cin Cin’s restaurant, which wins hands down again this year for the best cocktail fare on the fest circuit.

It’s a lot easier to find loose lips with fresh oysters and martinis to pry them open, and between sips and slurps, Gray dropped the news that he’s one of the casualties in Atlantis Film’s recent blood-letting.

Gray, who was executive producer with Walter Daroshin of Troika Films on The War Between Us, coproduced by Atlantis, says naturally it was very surprising and disappointing to be a part of the downsizing at Atlantis after relocating his family to Toronto from Vancouver a mere 18 months ago to join the company. But he says he’ll continue to freelance with the company while he and his wife, producer Valerie Gray, pursue more of their own projects.

Jeremy Katz, director of publicity for Atlantis, says overall, staff is being reduced by 20% to cut back on overhead, as was announced last month. He says the company ‘simply grew too fast,’ taking on strategically important projects like The Outer Limits and TekWar, which were not that financially lucrative.

Atlantis has also shut down its development department in Toronto. Vancouver-based writer Aurora Winters, who also moved to Toronto from Vancouver to head up the department, has already moved on to l.a. in quest of new opportunities.

Meanwhile, Vancouver-based screenwriter Chuck Lazer is busy working on a new dramatic kids tv series for Atlantis entitled Freeze Frame.

Hooked on phonics

Director Sandy Wilson was spotted schmoozing her way through the Vancouver fest. She just finished directing an episode of Hi-Tech Culture, produced by Omni Film Productions’ Brian Hamilton and Terry McEvoy for Discovery Channel.

The episode, ‘Seven Stages of Phone,’ was a real ‘kick’ to direct, says Wilson. It begins with long-distance love over the lines, then moves on to toddlers dialing 911, teens tying up the phone, telephone sex lines, the business etiquette of call waiting, parenting by telephone, and finishes with seniors phoning each other to see if they’re still alive.

Other notable shows in the series include a look at the Kwakiutl Indians of Alert Bay, who are using a Microsoft Access database to create a talking dictionary in an attempt to preserve their dying language.

That crappy weather look

Director Bruce McDonald’s next film, Hard Core Logo, being produced by Brian Dennis of Toronto and Vancouver’s Christine Haebler, with lawyer Karen Powell getting associate producer stripes, is still gunning for a late October shoot.

Apparently McDonald wants that ‘crappy weather’ look of late fall on the coast to film this theatrical feature about a punk rock band which reunites after many years to hit the road once again.

Timing is also of the essence for marketing of the film as next year marks the 20th anniversary of punk rock music.

Everest Entertainment has scored Canadian distribution rights for the approximately $2 million budgeted pic. The producers now need to pin down a u.s. distributor before Telefilm Canada makes its final commitment for funding.

Homeward bound

After five years on the coast, Stan Thomas, vp of programming with CanWest Global, is calling it quits to head back to his Prairie roots in Saskatoon.

While Thomas is officially entering into retirement mode, his activities will be anything but. Thomas says he’ll remain on as a consultant to CanWest as well as pursue his true passions, writing and producing. Projects in the works include Case Files of the RCMP (working title), and yes, another draft of his pet project, Badlands.

CTV, Orchard ink deal

The CTV Television Network appears to be showing a lot more interest in the West Coast production community of late. Could it be now that the Ontario Film Investment Program is shut down, production in Vancouver is looking more attractive?

First ctv signed a script development deal with Forefront Productions, and now Nick Orchard has signed with the network to do a two-hour tv movie pilot for a potential dramatic series.

Entitled Bridges, the serial drama will be a sort of Coronation Street for the condo and sailboat set of False Creek. And yes, says Orchard, Bridges Restaurant may figure prominently, if the right deal can be cut with the owners. Even though the concept has been floating around for about five years, Orchard says writer Ian Weir seemed to get the right mix of characters for the project to finally lift off.

There was more good news this month for Orchard and his partner in Zeitgeist Productions, writer Rick Drew. Universal Television has commissioned the duo to develop a half-hour youth comedy series revolving around an equestrian school. Universal was so pleased with what the two did with their Lifeguards series (even though it wasn’t picked up by a network), it decided to see what they could do with swarthy young shirtless bucks bailing hay and pouty gals in jodhpurs and tight tees bouncing up and down on horses with riding crops.

Zeitgeist has also acquired the live-action rights to Lynn Johnston’s For Better or For Worse comic strip, currently syndicated in over 1,400 newspapers worldwide.

Orchard and Drew had been developing another series with Johnston entitled Drawn Together about a young woman working in an animation studio. That series was a hair’s breadth away from a production deal with Fox’s new fx channel in the u.s. when the deal fell through. Orchard hopes this live-action series might stand a better chance while Drawn Together languishes in limbo.