– Wait-persons of the world unite.

For anyone who’s ever laughed at bad jokes for a tip, carried more than their weight in hot soup, and looked forward to when their ‘real life’ might begin, this is for you. Short For Nothing is the inaugural project from Toronto’s Open Door Productions, a collaboration between writer/director Siona Ankrah and producers Christine Hampson and Dawn Cormier.

The film, budgeted in the $500,000 range and financed through private investors, spans one week in the life of female friends in their late 20s. The group – servers by day and a singer, an actor/director and a writer at heart – are looking 30 in the face and wondering why they aren’t where they wanted to be by now.

Combining an actra cast with a non-union crew, the producers used downtown Toronto bars as the setting, with The Loose Moose posing as the group’s place of employment. The cast includes Chris Makepeace, Jonathan Scarfe (back from l.a.) and Jennifer Podemski supporting a trio of up-and-comers as the leads – Karen LeBlanc (recently cast in the Toronto version of Rent), Tennyson L’eh and Stephanie Jones. Stan Mackiw of MAT Films is the executive producer.

Open Door is currently in frantic finish mode, hoping to meet the Toronto International Film Festival’s mid-May deadline for Perspective Canada. Next up, another feature from the hot-and-getting-hotter pen of Ankrah. Three scripts are completed and in various stages of prep: Meanwhile Back at the House, Seek and Hide and The Amber Nectar.

-Job 1 is done

The talented legions at Disney’s studios in Toronto and Vancouver have completed the first project bearing a ‘Made In Canada’ label. Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, a made-for-video feature, will be released Nov. 11 with the requisite onslaught of ‘brand new consumer products,’ including a Walt Disney Records release.

Greg Lucier, Walt Disney Animation Canada’s director of operations, could not confirm exactly what the Canadian animators will be working on next. ‘There are a number of different projects still on the table,’ says Lucier. However, a Disney rep based in Orlando, Florida, believes the Canadians will be working on a theatrical project next, one which could have ‘Canadian historical ties.’

-A long hiatus

The cottagers will be moving in and The Rez will be moving out, temporarily.

The half-hour series is now in production on season two after a long, long break during which cbc considered whether to bring back the drama. The original six episodes aired early in 1996.

With eight new eps in the can, production wraps at the end of May to rev up again in September. In the interim, vacationers will have the run of the place. The Rez – a coproduction of cbc, Yorktown Productions and Shadow Shows – is shot on and around the Shawanaga First Nation Reserve near Parry Sound.

The second season of the series – based on Bruce McDonald’s 1993 film Dance Me Outside, which in turn was based on a collection of short stories by W.P. Kinsella – features new cast. Adam Beach (Squanto), Gary Farmer (Dead Man), Kari Matchett (Ready or Not) and Elaine Miles (Northern Exposure) join the originals.

Episodes of season two are helmed by the likes of Graeme Lynch, T.W. Peacock, E. Jane Thompson, John L’Ecuyer and supervising producer Gary Harvey.

-Life Under Mike

James Motluk is forever banned from Queen’s Park, like those kids who bashed in the doors last year.

He was trying to get an interview with Premier Mike Harris for his feature doc Life Under Mike, and – this is surprising – he was denied. So in the spirit of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, he tried pulling a Marg Delahunty ambush before being removed from the building.

Budgeted at $100,000 (some of which has yet to be raised), Life Under Mike examines the effect of the ‘Common Sense Revolution’ on factors like food bank demand, eviction rates and labor strife, and features interviews with author Linda McQuaig (Shooting the Hippo) and economist John Kenneth Galbraith.

Trade unions kicked in for much of the budget, but Motluk (Nasty Burgers) still needs to raise some cash in order to finish the post. As yet, there’s no broadcaster on board but delivery is expected in September.

On Motluk’s back burner is a feature and a biographical project on Ivan Reitman. The Cynics, a feature about a group of unemployed writers in Toronto, is based on Motluk’s own script and will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million. There’s interest from German indie distrib Telefilm Saar, and Motluk says he’ll likely be searching for a Canadian coproducer.

-Sweet deal

New Line Cinema’s First Line Features division has picked up American distribution rights to Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter. The Alliance Communications film had its world premiere in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival May 15.

-Coming Up

Buck up wrestling fans. Hulk Hogan (aka Terry Hogan), he of the thinning yellow hair and bulging biceps, will star in the action-adventure Assault on Devil’s Island, a project for American cable net tnt to be produced by Berk-Schwartz- Bonann Productions (Baywatch) for Alliance. Alliance holds worldwide distribution and merchandising.

The two-hour project will shoot this summer in Key West, Florida, with Jon Cassar directing Cal Clements Jr.’s script. Newfoundland’s favorite daughter, Shannon Tweed, also stars.

– Paragon has signed a development deal with Wilson Coneybeare for at least two new series for Discovery Channel – The Conjurers and The Electric Century. Coneybeare (son of veteran broadcaster Rod Coneybeare) picked up a Writers Guild of Canada Award last month for an episode of Kratts’ Creatures.

– Meredith Baxter (bested only by Judith Light as the most omnipresent female lead in network one-offs) is starring in an mow for Family Channel to be produced by Grosso Jacobson. Let Me Call You Sweetheart, a script from Christopher Lofton, starts May 26.

– Paramount tv will be shooting two tv movies from The Defenders series through to early July. Both Choice of Evils and Payback will be directed by Andy Wolk.

– Among Montreal-based cfp’s heavy production slate for 1997 is a project expected to shoot here in June. Tom and Jerry, a thriller, will be directed by Saul Rubinek and star J’e Mantegna, Ted Danson and Peter Riegert.

– And finally, for those who have not yet heard, Discovery Canada will once again be receptive to pitches as of June. However, most of the schmoozing and boozing will be done at the Banff Television Festival where Discovery has blocked afternoons from June 9 through 13 to meet with a limited number of producers. Proposals must be structured according to Discovery’s producers guide, and Discovery has to have them in hand by May 21.