Cannes, France: Before MIP 2001, senior producers at various Canadian companies, including Alliance Atlantis Communications, were questioning the spring market’s timing and relevance. But although many sellers on the Croisette noted lower traffic in the Palais and fewer parties chaque soir, almost all reported brisk program sales on site with more deals to come.

(No one made the infamous claim that it was the best market yet, but one producer did venture to say it was the best market in four years. ‘Sales have been phenomenal.’)

Notable trends include several Canadian production houses pursuing self-distribution, less discussion of multi-platform content, more talk about formats, and a predictable surge in the number of companies moving into feature films. (Much of the upswing in features is linked to the new Canada Feature Film Fund, see story p. 1.) Also, some independent producers – distressed by the struggle to secure a U.S. broadcaster – seemed to want to shake up buyers’ expectations by announcing new types of production.

Market organizer Reed Midem says the actual number of participants fell to 11,043 this year, down 226 bodies from last year. While the number of booths at the main market, April 2-6, was down by only two this year (to 481), the number of companies with or without a booth was higher by 88, at 2,853, despite the much-ballyhooed absence of Warner Brothers International.

As for MIPDOC, which led into MIP on March 31 and April 1, 186 buyers attended, 15 more than last year, and there was ‘a slight dip’ in sellers, to 177. The number of programs presented to docmakers rose more than 6.5% to 1144.

In the area of new challenges, Vancouver’s Lions Gate Entertainment will launch 13 hours of wilderness trek reality series No Boundaries this fall on the WB. Describing the program as ‘quite ambitious for us’ was Kevin Beggs, executive VP of Lions Gate Television. B.C. or perhaps Alberta figure to host the July shoot, given that the 14 or 15 participants, aged 20-30, will face challenges in such ‘spectacular wilderness’ settings as glaciers, mountains, a desert, and water.

As to budget, Beggs would only say it’s less than US$1 million per episode, but the cost will be mainly covered by a ‘production arrangement’ with Ford, which can feature its vehicles. Ford maintains it does not want the series to be an infomercial. For more on No Boundaries, see B.C. Scene p. 30.

Meantime, LG was reporting 85% clearance for its new Adrian Paul (Highlander) series Tracker (22 x 60) for a fall launch in U.S. syndication. Shooting is set to start June 15 in Toronto on the Canada/E.C. coproduction (partnered with TeleMunchen, Germany), with a European shoot to follow. Beggs says deals are done with SBS stations in Switzerland, Sweden, Poland and Denmark, and should close soon with French, the U.K. and Eastern European broadcasters.

And LG sold its 2 x 90-minute action mini Superfire to ProSieben Germany, Eagle Pictures Italy, M6 France, Telecino Spain and Nippon Herald in Japan. Set for delivery to ABC U.S. in August, Superfire follows ‘an elite team of forest firefighters’ battling a superfire, a natural phenomenon with ‘the energy release of an atomic bomb.’

In the softer reality world of eco-holidays, Avecom Distribution of Montreal is selling 13 hours of Suzuki’s World, produced by Calgary’s Twilight Pictures. Head of sales Michelle Stratford says CBC commissioned a one-hour pilot with a view to exploring the world travels and nature discoveries of scientist David Suzuki’s teenage daughter. With an all-in budget of $2 million, the series will shoot in Canada, Mexico, Africa, Hawaii and other exotic locales.

An entirely different take on nature is forthcoming via the anthology drama series Exposed, a 13 x 30 coproduction from Toronto’s Back Alley and Montreal’s Galafilm. Back Alley is also moving into feature drama and for its entree, sex is also the theme. Arousal, to be based on the Barbara Gowdy short story 93 Million Miles Away, is in development and set for a shoot in 2002, and may find a Manitoba coprod. Playback has more detail on Back Alley in Ontario Scene, p. 29.

Vancouver-based animation stalwart Mainframe is also changing gears. Wondering ‘what will be the post-anime trend’ in kids TV, Mainframe’s Dan Di Dio says the prodco will venture into live-action with series-in-development Battle Snakes. An ‘epic high-tech journey’ set in 2191, Battle Snakes will combine live-action human characters with 3D CGI snakes.

Di Dio also says Mainframe is keen to own higher percentages of its shows to better exploit distribution and merch rights. To that end, the plan is for a licensing re-launch for the hit series ReBoot. Season IV is headed for production and Di Dio says Toronto’s Irwin Toys is bringing out six to 12 additional licensed products for ReBoot characters and even a Bucket of Binomes, little one-and-zero critters from the show.

Other kids series in development include Wubbies, a cel-animated series made up of 11-minute eps, and intended to crack the preschool market. And for tweens, Mainframe is developing Gate Crasher with Black Bull Entertainment.

Companies gaining steam in self-distribution mode include Sound Venture Productions of Ottawa, S&S Productions of Burlington, ON, and Tube Studios of Montreal.

Irrepressible exec producer Roddy McManus had four Tube series at market. First up, Inuk (formerly Nunavut), a MIP launch for this digital animation series, which has presales to CBC, Tele-Quebec and APTN. Packaged as 26 x 13 or 13 x 30 and set in the Arctic, Inuk is set for a fall launch. Entertainment Rights of London is the international distrib and McManus says ER is also strong in licensing and merchandising, which should help extend the brand.

Fred the Caveman, a treaty coproduction with Antefilms of France, is described as ’39 x 7 minutes of pre-histeric humanity’ and evolves onscreen in the spirit of Mr. Bean and Charlie Chaplin. Thus far, the Teletoons in Canada and France have bought into this series, whose style McManus describes as ‘digital papercut’. Director Rudi Bloss has just finished a short called The Moving Pyramid with I.L.M., which is on the fest circuit.

Tube was also offering 39 x 8 minutes of Albert & Atom, a coproduction with Millimages of Paris that sold to TVO, Access Alberta, SCN and Knowledge Network. Digital mixed media, Albert & Atom is a science-for-kids show featuring an animated Albert Einstein and his pet dog Atom who fly around in their spaceship, E=MC2. And finally, for anyone who’s ever admired the bright blobs hanging around the freezer, Tube is in development with Teletoon on Fridge Magnets (‘They’re alive…off the fridge…out of control’), 26 x 11-minute eps aimed squarely at tweens. They’re stickin’ together to escape the perils of the cat box or the quicksand of exotic cheese.

At Sound Venture, principal Neil Bregman reported a strong market as he served as his catalogue’s main distrib. He sold 46 half-hours of his striking live-action kids series The Toy Castle to ABC Australia, heard interest in a merchandising/licensing/home video and broadcast deal from Benelux, and sold to TV Breizh for French-speaking U.K. and to EJunior in United Arab Emirates. Singapore Cable Vision, which bought the first season, picked up the second, which will shortly be in production.

Bregman says he also sold the company’s entire French library to Tele des Arts, which launches this fall, and has interest in his comedy property PMS Girl.com from Teletoon france and WTN.

In just its second market as a distrib, S&S Productions was busy. VP of production David Smith reported 13 eps of season XI of The Red Green Show went to Comedy Channel Australia, which also prebought the feature Red Green’s Duct Tape Forever, which shoots this summer. S&S holds world rights to the movie, with TVA International the Canadian distrib. It’s also presold to part of PBS, but the theatrical and video releases will precede TV. There is much more on S&S in Ontario Scene, p. 29.

Playback will have lots more MIP results from all regions of Canada in our next issue, April 30. Stay tuned! *