montreal: Telescene Film Group’s new cautionary drama anthology The Hunger represents a major investment in the Montreal production market, with over 80% of the $22 million budget being spent locally.

The series, a collection of short films of the erotic and bizarre, is a coventure with Scott Free Productions, Tony and Ridley Scott’s u.k. production company, and Showtime Networks in the u.s. The first two of 22 half-hour episodes were shot in London, Eng. last fall, with the balance being filmed on location in Montreal through to mid-May.

Terence Stamp will host The Hunger, slated to premier as a movie trilogy on Showtime in early 1997.

But the big news from the series is that Telescene has ended up with complete control and ownership.

Telescene president and series exec producer Robin Spry says Showtime’s investment is limited to 12 months of u.s. pay rights, and ‘once that 12-month period is over, Telescene owns all world rights, including the u.s.’

‘Thanks to the 18% tax credit we’ve managed to bring 82% of the ($22 million) budget into the Quebec economy that otherwise would not have come here,’ says Spry.

The Hunger dramatizes edgy and sometimes creepy tales of often exceptional people who follow their desires to dire consequences, be they in the realm of the supernatural, surreal or subconscious.

l.a.-based Jeff Fazio, executive producer and series creator, says the original inspiration, three years back, was a flood of Hollywood monster movies. ‘I realized monster movies were sometimes a metaphor for societal fears and monsters are the embodiment of the fear of aids, a mysterious force that kills you. So I thought, why not do something similar in television?’ Fazio is credited with bringing the famous Scott family on board.

Classic short stories

The series is based on published short stories from prominent authors as diverse as Theofil Gauthier, Brian Lumley, Harlan Ellison and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as original scripts.

‘Many of the episodes are really dramas with an erotic element added and some kind of supernatural or paranormal element, but essentially they are dramas,’ says script editor Gerry Wexler (Margaret’s Museum).

Wexler says films like Repulsion and Cat People served as reference points ‘for the tone and the shadows’ of the series.

Several directors have been assigned to The Hunger.

In an episode called ‘Redlight,’ director Christian Duguay says the vision is one of ‘urban solitude, older film noir (references) and Chet Baker (mellow New York-style jazz).’

The director says experience has helped prepare for the tight five-day per episode shooting schedule ‘by choreographing scenes directly through the camera and incorporating film language and the direction of actors in a way that’s both efficient and cinematographic.’

‘It’s not the conventional coverage of going from a master shot to two-overs and to a close-up. I’m choreographing with a moving camera where sometimes it’s about the rhythm, letting the moment play and going with the character.’

‘Redlight’ stars Liliana Komorowska, Duguay’s wife, as a top fashion model who begins to believe the camera is stealing her very soul.

Production designer Michel Proulx – who heads a team of 22 – says the main challenge is ensuring a rich and varied turnover in decor and design elements for each story. Episodes are set in Europe and North America, and are both contemporary and historic.

During prepping, Proulx, cinematographer Francois Protat and Fazio had a close look at films by Tony and Ridley Scott, including The Hunger and the sci-fi cult classic Blade Runner.

Proulx (Hemoglobin, Hysteria) says the pitfall with tv design is that decor often ‘seems lifeless, non-evocative, magazine cute.’

‘It’s a 35mm shoot and we mainly have feature directors. We’re really treating this as a feature film.’ Unlike typical tv fare, Proulx is using translights (backlit scenic slides) as backdrops for windows.

Strange and moody

Protat and second unit cameraman Jean-Charles Tremblay are using Kodak 5293 Daylight film and the new Vision 500 film stock.

Protat (Johnny Mnemonic) says he needs plenty of room and high ceilings to create The Hunger’s moody and strangely colored contrast lighting.

The role of black in the cinematography is also important, says the veteran dop.

‘It’s very dangerous because if part of the picture is really underexposed (what we get) is a wonderful black on film, but in television someone usually at some level doctors the thing and it ends up gray and washed out and it’s all destroyed.’

(Color correction is handled differently in North America and Europe because of differing sensibilities towards black on television.)

Says Protat: ‘Most of the time I’m using this new Vision 500, this faster Kodak film. I thought it was appropriate because I knew we had very little time and we wanted a fast film that was strong with a fine grain. It’s so sensitive that we sometimes see too much detail in the black zone. It almost sees in the dark.’

And Protat says waking up to a different director and style on Monday morning ‘is a real slap in the face.’

The rushes are being processed in Montreal by Sonolab, with film-to-tape transfers being done at Supersuite. Sound for the series is being recorded on Nagra Stereo Time Code.

Six episodes were shot by early January, two in London, Eng. and four in Montreal. The first three will be edited as a feature film trilogy with hopes for a theatrical release, says Spry.

Jake Scott, Ridley’s son, directed the first story, ‘Menage a Trois’ starring Karen Black.

In ‘The Swords,’ based on a Robert Aikman script, Tony Scott directs Balthazaar Getty and Amanda Ryan in a story about a wealthy young American fascinated with a woman in an English sideshow.

In ‘Necros,’ directed by Russell Mulcahy (Highlander iii, The Shadow) a vacationer falls under the spell of an enchantress, ignoring local warnings the woman’s older gentleman companion is actually a vampire. Philip Casnoff, Celine Bonnier (Million Dollar Babies) and Leonardo Cimino (Waterworld) star.

In the Ellison tale, ‘The Face of Helene Bournouw,’ Richard Ciupka directs Stephen McHattie (Emily of New Moon) and Jayne Heitmeyer (Sirens) in a drama about an ambitious tabloid journalist who seeks out a potentially fatal mystery woman.

‘At My Back I Always Hear,’ an episode scripted by Marianne Ackerman and Patricia Rozema and directed by Rozema, is a ‘creepy psychological tale of voices’ concerning a university professor’s ‘communications problem’ with an attractive student. Leads are Michael Gross and Karen Elkin.

In ‘Footsteps,’ directed by Jimmy Kaufman (A Star For Two), a carnivorous gourmand played by Sofia Shinas travels the world sating a voracious appetite until she meets up with Patrick, an unusual vegetarian played by Paul Anthony Stewart.

High above-the-line costs

Spry says the upscale half-hour budget is ‘tight’ because The Hunger is being shot on 35mm to feature film standards. cgi, considerable above-the-line costs, and ‘having to pay to do business with the Scotts’ have helped up the ante.

Telescene has presold the series to Showtime in the u.s., TMN-The Movie Network in Canada and Park Entertainment of London, Eng., which has world sales against a guarantee.

Telescene vp Paul Painter, exec producer on the series, says Telescene was initially chasing a first-run syndication deal, but he says The Hunger has found a better home on cable, with the partners looking for some deficit financing. ‘Normally if they (cable) get anything half decent in terms of ratings they want to go for two and three years,’ says Painter. ‘They want to deal with known quantities as opposed to new shows which can’t be tweaked as you’re moving along.’

Telescene is prepping for a spring shoot on the first 26 half-hours of Student Bodies, a teen sitcom for u.s. syndicator Twentieth Television.

Showtime is wholly-owned by Viacom.

Spry, Painter, Fazio, Ridley and Tony Scott and Bruce Moccia are the exec producers on The Hunger. Henry Rosenbaum is executive consultant.