Based on an idea from chairman and ceo Robert Lantos, Alliance is aiming for an Oct. 12 startup on six one-hours of the political/spy/action series Cover Me for the cbc. Series creator and exec producer Peter Lauterman (e.n.g., North of 60) will be at the helm.

Slated for a January launch on the national pubcaster, the series teams two attractive opposites – a redneck rcmp officer in Alberta and a stunning separatist Quebecoise csis operative.

‘This series came out of Robert’s passion to deal with our country’s issues,’ says Lauterman, who along with Jennifer Black is currently exec producing three more Harlequin mows shooting in Nova Scotia for Alliance.

‘It’s a political series, it’s not satirical and it’s not a farce,’ says Lauterman, adding: ‘It’s definitely not another version of Hart to Hart, Diamonds or To Catch A Thief.’

Cover Me was developed by Lauterman with much help from Alliance’s Christine Shipton and recently got the greenlight from the cbc based on a pilot shot last year.

‘He [the Mountie] is the embodiment of all that Alberta is and she’s a separatist who’s never been out West. His fear of her language and culture, and her ignorance of his are the issues of the show,’ says Lauterman. ‘They don’t like each other and they get partnered together in Toronto. The only thing they have in common is they both hate Toronto and don’t want to be there.’

The unlikely duo are brought together when a mole is suspected of leaking intelligence secrets to the world at large. Acting under pressure from American intelligence interests, the Canadian government assigns the mismatched pair to root out the mole.

Lauterman explains that if the Canadian agencies won’t act on the problem, the Americans will. ‘So there’s the issue of sovereignty, not just sovereignty vis-a-vis Quebec and Canada, but sovereignty vis-a-vis Canada and the United States.’

Adding to the tension will be a strained relationship between the operatives’ commanding officers. The rcmp and csis officers who are above our heroes ‘hate each other,’ says Lauterman.

The two lead roles will probably go to relative unknowns, with the supporting characters of the commanding officers likely being played by established Canadian character actors.

Production on Cover Me will be quarterbacked out of Toronto, but Lauterman hopes to do some location shoots in Montreal, Alberta and possibly Ottawa if the approximately $1-million per episode budget allows. ‘The show deals with national issues and international intelligence gathering, so it will have to have a sense of moving around the country,’ he says.

– Devine is sublime

David Devine’s Toronto-based and publicly-traded Devine Entertainment has received an order from hbo for six one-hours of The Artists’ Specials, the latest installment in Devine’s series of youth-oriented specials.

The six fact-based drama programs will begin production in Canada in August (most likely Quebec) before moving to Europe in May of 1999.

Likely subjects for the series are Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Degas, Rembrandt, Goya and Michelangelo.

In the past, Devine produced The Composers’ Specials and The Inventors’ Specials, currently airing on hbo. The new films will bring Devine’s library total to 19 original films.

‘The shows have been successful for hbo and they keep ordering them,’ says president and ceo Devine, who will produce The Artists’ series with Richard Mozer.

‘The idea of our films is to be classic in nature so they will exist 50 years from now and therefore our library will be evergreen,’ adds Devine, who says the company’s library strategy is based on the Walt Disney animation model.

The Artists’ Specials will be a Canada/Slovak Republic coproduction with Alef Studios of Bratislava, which teamed with Devine on the Gemini-winning Handel’s Last Chance, one of The Composers’ Specials.

The per episode budget will be approximately $1.5 million. The company’s recent move to the tse from the Alberta exchange gives Devine stock a lot more credibility with brokerage firms, according to Devine.

Production on a book and cd-rom series to supplement the specials is expected. With financing in place, Devine says the company is in the first phase of cd-rom production for both the Composers’ and Inventors’ programs.

‘Devine Entertainment owns 92% equity in all of our film products and 100% equity in our cds,’ says Devine. The cd-roms will be produced in a joint venture with a Canadian company.

Writer Heather Conkie, who won the 1996 Cable Ace for best dramatic writing for The Composers’ Specials and wrote Beethoven Lives Upstairs, which premiered on hbo and won the primetime Emmy Award for outstanding children’s program in 1993, will be the lead writer on the Artists’ series. Ann MacNaughton (Traders) has also been signed up to pen some scripts.

Casting has not been completed, but Devine says the intention is to sign well-known actors to play the famous artists.

The Composers’ and The Inventors’ Specials are presently sold in 50 countries, including Japan, the u.k. and France, says Devine, who is also currently developing two new youth series and two mows.

Canadian rights to The Artists’ Specials are still up for grabs.

– Upstart starts up

Former Alliance development exec Suzanne Berger’s new boutique prodco Upstart Pictures is set to lens its first feature, Top of the Food Chain, in Toronto early this summer.

The sci-fi comedy was written by coproducers Phil Bedard and Larry Lalonde, who served as writers/supervising producers on Alliance’s Once A Thief. Berger will produce the approximately $2.5-million budgeted feature, with John Paizs (The Big Crimewave) directing.

Financing for Upstart’s initial project comes from Montreal distributor Compagnie France Film’s (Equinox) purchase of Canadian rights, a private investor, and a prebuy from Citytv and TMN-The Movie Network. Berger says an application for additional funding will be filed with Telefilm.

Casting is currently underway and Berger is hoping to attract some well-known Canadian talent.

– U.S. action

Some Ontario shoots marking the busiest spring/summer in recent memory include the June-to-October shoot of Scholastic Productions’ Dear America tv series; the Parthenon Pictures feature Delilah, running May 4 to June 14; and two more big u.s. features, Phoenix Pictures’ Dick, shooting April 13 to June 16, and Universal’s New Jersey Turnpike.