Vancouver: Gavin Wilding – the Vancouver-based creator of low-budget, high-cleavage b-video fare such as The Raffle, Listen and Stag – has signed a five-year deal to release films in the u.s. through Merv Griffin Entertainment.

‘It’s new territory for them and for us,’ says Wilding, who was in Culver City Feb. 22 and 23 to screen his latest film, Convergence, for studio executives in order to secure a big-screen debut. According to the screening invitation, Convergence is the first feature film handled by Griffin, which will handle all rights in the u.s.

Wilding says that, compared to his earlier films, Convergence is a more serious film, a dark essay on the obstruction of fate. The film, made for less than $4 million, revolves around a reporter who should have died in a plane crash as a child but was saved a man she later comes to work with – a convergence that begins a string of odd events.

The film stars Christopher Lloyd (My Favorite Martian), Adrian Paul (Highlander) and Cynthia Preston (Total Recall 2070) and was produced through Wilding’s Rampage Entertainment. Non-u.s. distribution is being handled through Rampage affiliate White Rock Film International.

Wilding is back in the director’s chair March 15 with production on Christina’s House, a $3-million horror-genre feature about a teenager who discovers a strange man living in her house. Wilding is doing the production in partnership with the writers who are also the creators of the original Poltergeist movie. Production on Christina’s House wraps April 9 and Griffin will distribute in the u.s.

*Reel acceleration

Joining big(ger) budget features Detox and Duets on the B.C. Film Commission film list are a rash of new projects.

Gary Sinise, Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron are set to star in the Miramax thriller Reindeer Games, a feature about an ex-con involved in a scheme to rob a casino. Production, running March 15 to June 15, takes place at Lions Gate Studios in North Vancouver and Prince George. John Frankenheimer directs.

Vancouver-based Prophecy Pictures will wrap The Silencer March 13. Starring Michael Dudikoff (Jerry Springer’s Ringmaster) and Brennan Elliott (G-Saviour), the feature is about an undercover fbi agent who infiltrates a secret organization of assassins.

And the Canadian independent feature Y2K wrapped production Feb. 19 and is in l.a. for post. The film – about a missile silo that is activated by the millennium bug – stars Lou Gossett Jr., Jaimz Woolvett (Unforgiven) and Sarah Chalke (Nothing to Good for a Cowboy).

*TV times

Lisa Richardson’s new company Dogwood Pictures is enjoying a quick start with its second project – the abc mow Our Guys, which wraps March 17.

Starring Ally Sheedy, Eric Stolz and Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to the Dollhouse), the mow is based on a true story of a New Jersey town where football team members were accused and eventually convicted of sexually assaulting a mentally challenged girl.

And The Prince of Mirrors: The Rich Donato Story is a true-to-life mow based on the story of an l.a. school janitor who is forced to take his high school equivalency exams to keep his job. Lou Diamond Philips and Joan Chen star in the production that runs until April 2.

*Celebrity trek

Vancouver documentary producer Harvey McKinnon will attempt to go where no biography has gone before with a cbc Life & Times special on William Shatner. Production takes place at Shatner’s California horse ranch, as well as in Toronto and Montreal. McKinnon’s previous Life & Times work resulted in a profile of David Suzuki.

*Lucky five

The Western office of Telefilm Canada and the b.c. branch of the Directors Guild of Canada have announced the 1998 Kick Start Competition winners. The program, designed to assist emerging filmmakers with their short films, gives $10,000 to each director and provides a ‘mentor’ to maximize the learning process.

* Blueberry, by Regina’s Brett Bell, is a comedy/drama about a woman’s retaliation against her alcoholic father. Tom Davidson is mentor.

* Cinderella: Single Again, by Vancouver’s Kellie Benz, is a comedy about Cinderella returning to the dating scene after her divorce from Prince Charming. Glynis Whiting is mentor.

* tm, by Vancouver’s Ian Goodman, is about a guru of transcendental meditation who holds workshops in the dreariest part of town. Kristen Clarkson is mentor

* Wind, by Vancouver’s Fredrik Graver, is about a man who is offered his heart’s desire. Eileen Hoeter is mentor.

* Do Wok A Do, by Calgary’s Michelle Wong, is about a Chinese-Canadian girl who is stuck in a small Prairie town and schemes to contact ufos. Wendy Hill-Tout is mentor.

The 10-minute films must be completed within a year.

*More shorts

Ex-X-Files crew members have coalesced around a 30-minute short called Tilt, a modern retelling of Don Quixote. In this case, a failed salesman is led on an adventure in Vancouver’s downtown eastside by a mentally ill man who thinks he is a knight. Tom Braidwood (The X-Files), Babz Chula (Dirty) and Glenn Taranto (The New Addams Family) are three in an ensemble cast.

Patrick Stark and Barry Shelton produce and Lance Peverley is writer/director.

And post-production is proceeding apace to meet the March 17 deadline for applications to the Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival for Letters from Kosovo – a 15-minute short about a Canadian banking executive who is kidnapped by the Kosovo Liberation Army and sends video letters to his family at home.

Staffed with graduates of the Capilano College film and tv program, Kosovo is written and directed by Walter Wilting and produced by Lucas Pavan.

Local actors Charles Andison and Jason McFadden star in the $4,200 production that wrapped two days of production Feb. 21.

*Chocolate news

At the Berlin Film Festival, Sharon McGowan and Peggy Thompson, producers of Vancouver-made romantic comedy Better Than Chocolate, sold their international rights to Alliance Atlantis following sold-out screenings and positive reviews.

*Selling spree

The recent purchase of Burnaby-based TSC Shannock by Video One (which says it will remain solely in the video business) means that the film and television library of distribution subsidiary TSC Film is currently for sale and distribution staff are starting new businesses.

Television sales specialist Janine McCaw, for one, has started Vancouver-based Dark Horse Entertainment and has two series under contract for non-Canadian sales.

At Home with Herbs, by Victoria-based Corley-Graham Communications, is a 13-part series about herbs and airs on Knowledge Network. Rebels: A Journey Underground, is a six-part series by Calgary’s Interstate 80 for the History Channel and is about the bad boys of history.

*Honor roll

The Vancouver Film School has launched a new scholarship competition – full tuition for six full-time positions in the areas of classical animation, multimedia and writing for film and television. The courses begin May 3.

Three of the positions are open to residents of the gritty, disadvantaged downtown eastside neighborhood and three are open to all b.c. residents.

Applicants must be 19 or be a high school graduate and complete the application by March 15. Finalists may have to submit a portfolio of work.

The total value of the scholarships is nearly $68,000.

The animation and multimedia students will also qualify for 12-week, unpaid internship positions with digital animation company Mercury Filmworks and new media company Stratford Internet Technologies.