For those Bourbon St. bound this month, pages 12-14 offer a wrap of some of the new projects Canadian companies will be shopping at NATPE in New Orleans Jan. 25 to 28.

Versions of these stories also appear in the Winter 1999 issue Playback International.

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Telescene is working increasingly with foreign partners such as Australian company Village Roadshow. The two companies are coproducing two series pilots, Lost World, based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic tale about prehistoric species, and an adaptation of the Dr. Jekyll story in which a doctor comes across a herbal medicine and concocts a formula that turns him into Mr. Hyde.

Bruce Motia, executive vp at Telescene’s l.a. office, says both projects originated out of a sense that action-adventure programming is not being well served by the u.s.

‘On the international market there is a proliferation of shows dealing with North American cops, North American hospitals, North American lawyers,’ says Motia. ‘Other countries are looking for shows more reflective of their own culture, not just on the beaches of Santa Monica.’

At the same time as these international trends were being sussed out, pay-per-view channel DirecTv was looking for a viable way to begin airing original programming and Telescene approached the channel with the pilots.

Telescene brought Village Roadshow on board to coproduce the pilots, budgeted at $4.6 million (us$3 million) each. Both shoots required an exotic locale and natural locations, so the decision was made to weigh the deal as a 70% Australia production, with Telescene taking the remaining 30% stake.

Production of both projects is underway in Australia. Lost World will be delivered in February ’99 and Dr. Jekyll in April ’99, at which time a decision to go to series will be made.

Telescene’s natpe lineup also includes a slate of two-hour adventure pilots to be followed by one-hour episodes. The projects are to be produced with Richmel Productions and Goodman/Rosen Productions for DirecTv.

The programs include Monster Smasher, created by Twin Peaks’ Robert Englels and following the adventures of an old-fashioned hero brought back to life in a modern world when a well-kept government secret accidentally begins to thaw; Gulliver: The New Voyages, in which Gulliver faces a series of bizarre events to find his way back home to Europe; The Vikings, set against the battle to conquer the new world of North America; Fearless, about seven young roommates who work as thrill guides, leading visitors on all sorts of extreme adventures; and Witness To Fear, set against a tabloid tv show.

Telescene is also selling Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) and Tony Scott’s (Top Gun) 44-part, half-hour erotic science fiction series The Hunger, produced for Showtime; and Nightmare Man, a 96-minute adventure following an ex-l.a. cop who awakens from a near fatal shooting to discover he has the strange ability to see detailed crime scenes in jumbled flashes.