Vancouver: AAAGH! It’s the Mr. Hell Show – a Canada/u.k. coproduction – debuted Oct. 30 and became the first production gestated by Vancouver’s Sextant Entertainment Group.

The 13-part primetime animated sketch comedy show – featuring the Devil and a bizarre cast of characters – airs on The Comedy Network and will air on the bbc starting in February.

‘Sextant has succeeded in bringing together some of the best animation talent and creative writers in this country,’ says Matthew O’Connor, Sextant’s president of production. ‘Mr. Hell is the first animated series produced by this team under the Sextant banner. It’s also an example of what can happen when you mix that much creativity with a lot of caffeine.’

Sextant owns all the merchandising and licensing rights associated with Mr. Hell.

-www.sextantentertainment.com

-www.mrhell.com

*Drawn together

Computers meet The Wrists in the latest match-up of coproducing companies.

Prolific cgi company Mainframe Entertainment and 2D, cel-and-ink shop Studio B Productions have joined up to develop new projects that use both traditional and computer animation techniques.

Fishing for a broadcaster at press time was the proposed series Surf N Turf, the creation of Amanda Connelly and Jimmy Palmiotti, who also sold the rights to their Gatecrasher comic book to Mainframe.

snf features 2D characters in 3D backgrounds and camera moves. Surf, a brilliant-but-maladroit chef bulldog, and Turf, a laid-back Californian lobster-Maitre d, operate the Sandcastle Restaurant. Subplots include Escape for Aquatraz, about fish trying to escape the tank before they become entrees, and Nick and Scratch – Vehicular Placement Engineers, about the valets.

‘With Studio b as partners we believe we’ll be able to achieve the perfect blend of the two types of animation to produce a new level of entertainment,’ says Ian Pearson, Mainframe ceo.

‘We now have the opportunity to combine a perfect set of complementary skills between our companies and to create a fresh, innovative style of programming for the international market,’ adds Studio b partner Chris Bartleman.

Studio b produces Yvon of the Yukon (ytv), What About Mimi? (Teletoon) and D’Myna Leagues (ctv starting in January 2001). Mainframe makes Action Man (Fox Kids, ytv) and Heavy Gear (Bohbot Kids Network).

*Rock and roam

The first Telefilm Canada-supported coproduction between b.c. and Newfoundland started principal photography in late October on The Rock. Rare Birds, starring William Hurt, Andy Jones and Molly Parker, pairs up Vancouver’s Big Pictures (Janet York and Sam Feldman) and St. John’s-based Pope Productions (Paul Pope).

The film, based on the novel of the same name by St. John’s native Edward Riche, is about a man at the end of his rope, a failing restaurant and a hoax that attracts duck watchers from all over the world.

Sturla Gunnarsson (Scorn, Such A Long Journey) directs; production wraps Dec. 3. Lions Gate Films distributes.

*Emmy-ca-dabra

Canada/u.k. coproduction Magician’s House – a 50-50 deal between Forefront Entertainment of Vancouver and Kudos Productions in London – has been nominated for an International Emmy, competing with Canadian-made Street Cents in the best children’s and young people’s program category.

The production is also up for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for the best children’s drama.

‘This is incredible validation of all the creative and financial wizardry in this production,’ says Helena Cynamon, former Forefront partner who acted as executive producer and producer of the season nominated for the awards. ‘Creative producer Karen Troubetzkoy was a key dedicated and creative driving force in the project,’ she adds.

The baftas were to be awarded Nov. 12 in London. The Emmys are handed out Nov. 20 in New York.

*Art Angel

The busy artists at Rainmaker have a hit on their hands with Dark Angel, the Twentieth Century Fox Television sci-fi show by James Cameron. After shooting a pilot in Vancouver this summer, the series went into full production in October, with Rainmaker providing lab, telecine and effects services. In particular, Rainmaker did the show’s so-called ‘signature image’ of the heroine atop a crumbling Seattle Space Needle, fully built as cgi.

Rainmaker animators Trevor Cawood and Neill Blomkamp, compositor Michael Porterfield and director of digital imaging Brian Moylan worked with effects supervisor Elan Soltes to create the showy piece.

Rainmaker is also working on series such as mtv’s 2gether, nbc’s Just Deal, Paramount’s Level 9, New Line/Trilogy’s Breaking News and Fox’s Lone Gunmen. It’s also working on Yaletown Entertainment’s series Weird Homes and Weird Wheels.

*Nature nurture

Former Peace Arch producer Larry Sugar (First Wave, So Weird) has launched CreativeCrib.com with Vancouver new media company dcinema Entertainment.

Called a ‘creativity incubator’ and a ‘talent aggregator,’ CreativeCrib wants to connect talent with the people who can put a project together. The company seeks to build a network of mentors who can lead ‘Master Classes’ in various creativity-dependent industries, such as film and television, music, architecture and design, literature, theatre, fine art, fashion and dance.

Sugar, who is a keen supporter of education and industry skills development, will lead the first Master Class in film and television production. Fifteen participants, selected by Sugar from applications submitted online, will work with him in Vancouver over the course of a year in an attempt to produce their television and film productions. Mentor and students convene monthly and correspond through e-mail and telephone.

The classes will be streamed online, archived and annotated with e-diaries.

Master Classes in other disciplines are planned for Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, Europe and Asia.

dcinema ceo Daniel Frankel says students in the first classes will pay about $1,200 for the course – money that will cover administration costs. The rest of the tuition will be covered by corporate sponsorship, he says.

And to protect intellectual property, participants and site users are registered and sign releases.

Applicants can begin to submit proposals Dec. 8, says Frankel who insists the site will be live by then. *

-www.dcinema.com

-www.creativecrib.com