In 1940, Maynard Ferguson’s parents encouraged him to drop out of school and pursue his music full-time. Maynard was 12. At 14, he was leading his own big band in Montreal. After a stint in England in the mid-’50s followed by a period teaching music to children in India, Ferguson went to the u.s. and penned his most recognized creation, the theme music for Rocky, the film by which all other testosterone-based entertainment is judged.

Now that self-professed jazz junkie Ed Barreveld has left the nfb (he spent 10 years as head of finance and administration at the Ontario studio), he’s developing a documentary about Maynard, trumpet prodigy and world traveler. ‘It’s a story about jazz,’ says Barreveld, ‘but it’s very much a Canadian story.’

While Maynard might not be a household name in his homeland, Barreveld says recognition in England could help secure a European coproducer. ‘Ideally, I’d have a coproducer from Canada, the u.s. and Europe. I’d like to budget it at under $500,000, but music rights will probably eat up much of that. Plus there’s travel.’

Barreveld admits his second doc-to-be – the life and times of the late composer/arranger Gil Evans – will be a tougher sell outside the u.s. and Canada, and probably more challenging, creatively and financially. Evans is best known for his collaborations with Miles Davis in the late fifties and early sixties, much of which is soon to be rereleased by Sony and Mosaic in the u.s.

While there is potential marketing material within Evans’ story – for example Evans made electronic music with the ill-fated Jimi Hendrix and recorded with Sting well into his 70s – Barreveld doesn’t want that to overshadow the composer’s avant garde work during the ’40s and ’50s.

Although Barreveld sees Bravo! as an obvious outlet for both projects, he doesn’t count out Life and Times, cbc’s biography series. ‘Right now they’re playing it safe,’ says Barreveld. ‘But maybe there will be a chance once they’ve exhausted the Conrad Blacks and so on.’

In the meantime, Barreveld is associate producer on Alison Reid’s feature doc Lounge! A Hipster’s Guide to Cocktail Music (he also had a hand in the Toronto International Film Festival Swankville party), and he’s line producing Quest for the Lost Tribes, an Associated Producers adventure doc directed by Elliott Halpern.

Throw a party, make a deal

Speaking of Lounge!, Alison Reid is glad to report that her tiff lounge party – where the guests were packed ‘tighter than a cocktail weenie in a jar’ – helped make headway for her doc.

Four major u.s. distribs have approached, as have the bbc and hbo. The cocktail crew’s profile was so high during the week that many people thought they had a film in the fest, to the point where someone was heard to exclaim, ‘I loved your movie!’ Perhaps a few too many blue martinis

Putting money where the mouths are

Now that Canadians are making their mark in the ever-so-American arena of daytime talk shows – where screaming crazies are given a forum rather than locked up – it’s inevitable that a movie about talk shows would come next.

Honey Fisher of Fishtales Productions has teamed with CBC Newsworld producer Ed Ungar to write a feature-length dramedy screenplay called Talk!, a movie about the behind-the-scenes antics (and I bet they’re plentiful) at a daytime tv talk show.

Although Fisher and Ungar met while they were producing for Canada’s own Shirley, they are careful to emphasize that it is not based on that. No lawsuits, please.

Fisher has worked widely as a researcher and producer (Canada am, Life: The Program), and her documentary Mah Jong Orphan aired on cbc’s Rough Cuts in 1994. Ungar has worked for ctv, tvontario and for cbc radio and tv. They say the screenplay for Talk! is ‘even more outrageous than the real thing and screams even louder than the guests!’

The duo have been circulating the script in Canada and in Hollywood, looking for a producer and some cash. In the meantime, Fisher has started cowriting a half-hour tv comedy series with Eddy Yanofsky and Stuart Ross.

Under the B, 11

One of the most developed projects emerging from the National Screen Institute’s pitching workshop in Toronto (which, according to executive director Jan Miller, could become an annual festival event) was Frank Procopio’s feature screenplay Blue Dot, a dark comedy set inside a small-town bingo hall somewhere near Saskatoon. He’s hoping to put together a budget somewhere in the range of $1.5 million.

It’s a newly enthused Procopio this time around. The dentist/filmmaker’s last produced feature script, the 1990 Cafe Romeo, resulted in a profoundly disappointing final product because ‘there were too many compromises.’ This time he’ll be writing and directing.

Catherine Adamo, novelist and retired teacher/librarian, is story editing the script, set to be completed in November. Procopio says the research took him beyond the superficial jokes to the psychology, and often the addictions, that fuel diehard bingo players.

The next step for Procopio is setting up the right production and distribution team, an infrastructure which will let him concentrate on bringing his script to life, in his own way. ‘Fifteen years have taught me how to say `no’ at the right time, and now I think I’ve got the right combination to make this work.’

There’s also a half-hour comedy series bible completed revolving around the same theme, but Procopio says the tv version would be much lighter than the black comedy of the feature. He’d like to begin pitching to networks in January, with an eye on Global and Baton.

At the Gate

Dufferin Gate is at it again. Elvis Meets Nixon, a cable feature for Showtime, begins shooting Oct. 21 under the direction of Allan Arkush. The comedy is apparently based on an actual event and it’s budgeted from $3 million to $4 million.

The company has two projects currently in production, Colour of Justice for Showtime and Bad Day on the Block, Dufferin Gate’s first feature for Largo Entertainment.

Lumet at Cinespace

Cinespace will be home base for most of the shooting of Critical Care, a Live Entertainment/Orion Pictures feature directed by Sidney Lumet and produced by Lumet and Don Carmody (Johnny Mnemonic, Squanto: Indian Warrior).

The shoot runs Oct. 28 to Dec. 15 in Toronto, and the cast includes Crash victim James Spader, Albert Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Helen Mirren, and Kyra Sedgwick, who last suffered through Phenomenon with John Travolta.