*Telescene, Medialab to produce sci-fi series

Montreal’s Telescene Film Group and French coproduction partner Medialab have announced plans to shoot 26 one-hour episodes of the live-action/computer-animation series Escaping Eden.

Set on the danger-filled streets of the City of Angels circa 2230, the series follows the adventures of a police officer and his animated 3D clone partner. The live-action portion, slated to film in Montreal next spring, will be shot entirely indoors using blue-screen cinematography, with the cgi component, including futuristic sets, produced by Paris-based Medialab, partly owned by French pay-tv giant Canal+.

In other news, Telescene has named Chris Dalton as head of production and Diane Arcand as associate head of production. Both are based in Montreal. Jennifer Chrein has joined the company’s New York office as head of international sales and marketing.

Telescene went public in early July and has seen its stock rise from $9 to $12.75.

*TVA deals in France

TVA Network has inked broadcast-related deals with three French companies, Canal+, Home Shopping Service and tltv. The agreements were signed during Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard’s recent trade visit to France.

The Canal+ deal calls for the development of strategies encouraging the merging of tv and multimedia and the extension of French-language content on new specialty channels. The agreement with the Home Shopping Service, an M6 subsidiary, calls for tva to produce and manage Boutique tva, a new tele-buying service. The deal with tltv, an independent company 66% owned by Pierre Bellemare and Roland Kruger Associates and 34% by France Telecom Multimedia, could lead to shared minority positions for each partner in new specialty channels in both Canada and France, including a TVA/Serdy Direct proposal called Savoir-Faire.

tva has applied for five new specialty channels with various partners including Radio-Canada, Avanti Cine Video, Publications Transcontinental and The Globe and Mail.

*NSI’s first Features First

The National Screen Institute’s inaugural Features First program, offering support to emerging filmmakers in Atlantic and Western Canada with projects at the first draft script phase, has chosen its five filmmaking teams, four of which hail from the western provinces.

Jimmy Luvs Sherri, directed by Selina Williams and produced by Glace Lawrence, and Davor Marjonovic’s West of Sarajevo are both Vancouver productions. From Calgary comes Ladies Room, directed by Robert Cuffley and cowritten with Jason Long. Edmonton producers Paul Stiles and Ken Mead’s Poor Super Man, will be directed by Brad Fraser. Violet, written and directed by Rosemary House in St. John’s, Nfld., is being produced by Mary Sexton.

*Fire strikes Stargate set

Fire struck the Stargate soundstage at The Bridge Studios Oct. 12.

Burnaby’s fire department dispatched 13 vehicles to battle the blaze for nine hours in a sound wall between Stages 5 and 6. The set in Stage 6 had just been struck on Friday and crews were to return after the weekend to build a new set. The standing set in Stage 5 sustained minimal water and soot damage, and Bridge gm Susan Croome says that there were no injuries and there has been little downtime for the Stargate production.

Overall, there was about $150,000 damage, mostly to the sound wall, plus smoke, heat and water damage. Cpt. Richard Rawlings, Fire Investigations, is looking into the fire as a matter of routine and says it was ‘electrical in nature.’ A set light that overheated the wall is mostly to blame.

*Canal+, Tele-Metropole ink deal

France’s Canal+ and Quebec’s Tele-Metropole have inked a cooperation agreement covering multimedia and multimedia-related television programs.

The agreement calls for the broadcast in Canada of Canal+ and C: cyber programs, as well as the coproduction or adaptation in French of theme programs. Tele-Metropole is planning to launch a theme channel in Quebec with a concept similar to c:. The partners will also cooperate in the area of Internet services, multimedia publishing, and the design of programs combining tv and personal computers.

The deal, which will allow the partners to coordinate financial and human resources, stems in part from the companies’ mutual situation of occupying a sector where the French-language content offering is very limited.

*Cube scores Trimark distrib deal

Trimark Pictures has signed a deal for u.s. distribution and world sales agent rights for Cube, Vincenzo Natali’s feature directorial debut. The sale was negotiated by Peter Block, vp of acquisitions and business affairs at Trimark, and producers representative Natalie Vinet. Financial terms were undisclosed.

The fifth feature to emerge from the Canadian Film Centre’s Feature Film Project, Cube took the $15,000 Citytv Award for best Canadian first feature film at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and the $5,000 prize for best Ontario feature at Sudbury’s Cinefest.

Cube will be released theatrically in Canada early in the new year by Cineplex Odeon Films.

*ACT French nominees

The nominees for the 1997 Alliance for Children and Television Awards of Excellence in the French language have been announced.

For animation, Cinar’s Arthur and Cine-Groupe’s Quasimodo and Spirou are the nominees. In the information category, Radio-Canada’s Betes Pas Betes and Productions Prisma’s Generation W both get the nod.

In the variety/specials/games section, Productions sda has two shows nominated, Mais Ou Se Cache Carmen Sandiego and Sur La Piste ii. In the same category, Productions Modus tv has two nominations, for Le Studio and Les Zigotos. Prisma’s Les Mondes de Sismi and Radio-Canada’s Muskiotrip round out the nominations in the variety category.

In the educational category, sda’s Allo Prof makes the grade while in the preschool section, Radio-Canada’s Les Chatouilles du Matin and Cinar’s La Maison de Ouimzie and Le Monde Irresistible de Richard Scarry are up for the prize.

The act awards take place on Nov. 8 at Toronto’s Glenn Gould Studio.

*CanWest takes Irish stake

CanWest International Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Winnipeg-based CanWest Global, has acquired 2,450,000 ordinary shares of Ulster Television in Ireland.

CanWest now owns approximately 7.4% of Ulster’s outstanding shares.

CanWest’s vp, corporate development Leonard Asper says the acquisition was a strategic investment and CanWest has no intention of making a general offer for the company’s shares.

*WIC nabs Roseanne

WIC Television has signed the Canadian rights to the new daily talk show Roseanne from William F. Cooke Television.

Starring comedian Roseanne, the King World hour-long variety/ talk show will be a key fixture on next year’s wic schedules.

*Much Awards a ratings winner

MuchMusic’s live broadcast of the 8th annual MuchMusic Video Awards on Sept. 18 scored over three million Canadian viewers.

The music channel claims it is recording a 55% increase in the hard-to-reach but highly desirable 12-17 demographic this year over last. The 12-34 demographic comprises approximately 75% of Much’s audience.

*People

Nelvana has appointed Stephen Hodgins as senior vp, production and Patricia Burns as vp, production. Together they will oversee the operations of four new divisions at Nelvana’s Toronto studio: animated television production, domestic production, 3D animation production, and feature film production.

Nelvana says the new television division will deliver its first series, Bob and Margaret, in 1998 and will be headed by supervising producer Jocelyn Hamilton.

The domestic production division will concentrate on mixed media and non-traditional animation, and will be managed by supervising producer Vince Commisso.

Pamela Slavin is heading the 3D animation division, whose first production, Rolie Polie Olie, is slated to premier on Disney Channel in the u.s. in ’98.

Nelvana says the feature animation division will produce at least one film a year under the leadership of supervising producer Merle Anne Ridley, starting with Babar, King of the Elephants.

* Globe and Mail entertainment industries reporter Harvey Enchin left The Globe Oct. 10 and will start as the new business editor of the Vancouver Sun Nov. 3. Enchin, at the Globe 13 years and the first business beat reporter assigned to the entertainment industries, also vacates his position as Toronto correspondent for Variety with the move.

* Sportscaster Barry Deley joins hockey analysts Jim Robson and Ryan Walter in hosting the 26 Vancouver Canuck home games for bctv.