Vancouver: Vancouver service producer James Shavick and coproducer Victoria Woods will cram 65 half-hours of The Addams Family into a 13-month production schedule that begins April 7.

The series for Fox Kids is based on the classic show and feature films and will debut in the fall.

Columbia/TriStar, meanwhile, is backing a pilot-plus-12-episode season of The Net, based on the feature film with Sandra Bullock about Internet espionage. At press time, no cast was announced for the one-hour for USA Cable and syndication, but production is scheduled for April 20 through the end of August.

– Those `Alliance’ shows

First a clarification: only one of the three shows mentioned last column lists Toronto’s Alliance as a producer, while the other two are only distributed by Alliance.

That said, Alliance will coproduce Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy with Vancouver’s Ogden Gavanski of Milestone Productions. The cbc series follows the Toronto-shot pilot and production is set for 13 episodes beginning in June.

With a few months to go before production, cast and locations are still being set. However, a good bet is Danny Virtue’s Mission-based ranch (home of series Neon Rider) as the main location.

Betaville, meanwhile, is more imminent. Production on 13 episodes begins April 14 and runs until August. The series – apparently inspired by Bladerunner – coproduced by Toronto’s Chesler/ Perlmutter and Vancouver’s Mary Storazio, with Lewis Chesler and David Perlmutter executive producing, and will be overseen here by Vancouver producers Tab Baird and Jeremy Lipp.

Alliance, as mentioned, will distribute.

And Vancouver’s Crescent Entertainment is behind The Crow, 22 one-hour episodes inspired by the feature of the same name. Gordon Mark will act as producer on the Canadian-certified show syndicated through Alliance and PolyGram.

– Series deja vu

DaVinci’s Inquest – which has recently completed production on its three-part series opener directed by Anne Wheeler – has been picked up for another 13 episodes even though the show doesn’t premiere until September on the cbc.

Production of the new order won’t begin until next spring, after the money starts flowing from the ctcpf. Alliance distributes this show, too, except for the u.s.

Meanwhile, Dead Man’s Gun, the one-hour western anthology by Vidatron and Showtime Networks, has been picked up for a second season of 22 episodes, which start production in mid-May.

mgm’s anthology series The Outer Limits will keep shooting at The Bridge Studios in Burnaby, with another 44 episodes to begin production in September. With only 22 episodes in the can, mgm’s sci-fi series Stargate will go for another 66 episodes with a second order of 44 to begin after the second season – which began production March 2 – wraps next year.

Showtime has apparently passed on a renewal for mgm’s other Vancouver-shot series Poltergeist, although other broadcasters haven’t yet spoken.

Paramount’s car series Viper has been picked up for another 21 episodes bound for syndication and upn affiliates. Production resumes in May or June.

There has been no word yet about Paramount’s series Sentinel, but its series Three looks like it won’t be renewed, though the show’s actors are on contract until May.

– Small-screen flicks

Twister comes to the small screen in the form of the Family Channel mow Stormchasers, which wraps production April 9. Kelly McGillis (Top Gun) stars as the scientist in this Regent Films/Shavick Entertainment show.

Vidatron – as one of the fastest growing production companies in Canada – is also working on Disney Channel’s 30-minute primetime pilot called Too Weird, a family show described as Harriet the Spy meets Poltergeist.

Production is scheduled to go to camera April 13. Vidatron producer Larry Sugar is confident the pilot will go to a series with Vidatron supervising production.

– Shirley comes home

Forefront Entertainment of Vancouver, a coproducer of The Adventures of Shirley Holmes with Credo Entertainment in Winnipeg, has secured worldwide distribution rights from the original broker Winchester Television of London, Eng.

Forefront will was selling the first 26 episodes and the next 13 of Shirley Holmes. Forefront will also be looking for presales for Boxhead Man – described as a live-action Dr. Seuss for the next century and developed with cbc money – and Magician’s House – a British coproduction for kids with Baton development money.

Forefront will also act as agent for Force Four Productions’ 26-episode parenting series on wtn called You, Me and the Kids, which dramatizes parenting situations.

– ReBoot goes home

Mainframe Entertainment and software giant Electronic Arts have begun shipping the new Sony Playstation game based on the ytv series ReBoot and the imaginary computer city of Mainframe.

Mainframe, the producer, created 20 minutes of new digital animation for the game, while ea produced the programming and is handling global marketing and distribution.

– Escape Vancouver

North American Pictures, based in Vancouver but with operations in the Czech Republic, has cast its latest film to be shot in Prague. Escape Velocity, billed a Cape Fear in space, will feature Patrick Bergen (Sleeping with the Enemy) and Canadians Wendy Crewson (Air Force One) and Peter Outerbridge (Kissed).

The production company is also jumping on the Xena bandwagon by producing its first television series based a medieval heroine from Bavarian mythology. Forgotten Kingdom expects to close presales at mip-tv, with production beginning in the summer in Prague.

– Feature watch II

Scouting is Lake Placid, an independent feature by Phoenix Pictures and backed by Sony. The budget is in the $20-million range for the story about a monster in the water.

Meanwhile, the local industry is hoping for a big miracle later this summer.

– Festival news

Vancouver’s International Rocketship will be the subject of a retrospective program at the ninth annual Internationales Trickfilm-Festival in Stuttgart until April 9. Rocketship director Marv Newland will introduce titles such as The Butterfly, Interior Plumbing, Lupo the Butcher, Dog Brain, Let’s Chop Soo-E, Bambi Meets Godzilla, Anijam, Hooray for Sandbox Land and Pink Komkommer.

– The Vancouver Asian Film Festival is now accepting submissions for its second annual festival. At least one member of the creative team must be an Asian-Canadian or Asian-American. Entry deadline is April 30. Call or e-mail Cyndi Laval, director of programming, at (604) 608-4558 or lavalc@van.gpv.com.

– Dirty Windows, a 35mm short film by Kino Zoom Productions’ writer/director team of Deborah Peraya and Loreto Di Stefano, has been selected to make its world premiere at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival April 16-21. The 16-minute film is about a couple’s relationship and was shot in Vancouver late last year.

– You lookin’ for me?

I’ve moved again, so please amend your contact list as required. Write me c/o Raincity Communications at 101-1161 Melville Street, Vancouver, b.c., V6E 2X7. My new phone is (604) 717-8800 and fax is (604) 717-8811. Same old e-mail applies: iedwards@istar.ca. New coordinates are effective immediately.

If you need advertising, call Tracy Houston at (604) 893-8925 or e-mail her at houston@direct.ca.