Sullivan Entertainment’s Wind at My Back Christmas Movie is shooting this month in dynamic Scarborough, ON. The MOW spin-off of the TV series is not really a finale for the show, according to production manager Dan Matthews.

‘It ties up loose ends from where the characters left off at the end of the fifth season, and it’s packaged in a holiday movie,’ Matthews explains. However, ‘there are no immediate plans’ to do another season of the series at this point, he adds.

The MOW is directed by Stefan Scaini and written by Rebecca Schechter. Kevin Sullivan and Trudy Grant are executive producing the approximately $2.5-million production. Sullivan will act as distributor.

Shooting goes until Sept. 21 for a total of 14 camera days. The project is financed by broadcaster CBC and Telefilm Canada’s LFP and EIP programs.

The MOW follows WAMB character Hub as he falls in love with a nice Jewish girl while studying to be a priest. Turns out, the girl is being hunted by Canadian immigration authorities who, in 1938, were not very receptive to allowing Jews and Jewish refugees into Canada. Hub takes the girl home for Christmas dinner, where everyone is sure to learn some valuable lessons.

The production is slated to air on CBC in December.

Building some mysteries

A Canada/U.K. coproduction is underway on the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto. Six MOWs based on mystery novels by Mary Higgins Clark are planned to be shot back-to-back between September and the end of January 2002.

Canadian director Mario Azzopardi is already helming the first three-week shoot, to be followed by fellow Canadian Rene Bonniere and Frenchman Paulo Barzman, who will direct the second and third MOWs, respectively. Peter Mohan penned the first script, while Donald Hounam wrote the second and Irina Diether the third.

Executive in charge of production Ken Gord says, ‘We’re doing [the six MOWs] TV series style. We’re prepping and shooting at the same time.’ Each MOW has a budget of ‘around US $2.4 million,’ he says.

The project is driven by American broadcaster Pax Television, while Global Television has Canadian rights. France 2 will air the films in France and ZDF has the German broadcast rights. L.A.-based Rigel will handle distribution.

Executive producers Sonny Grosso and Larry Jacobson are behind the project along with producer Lisa Parasyn. The mysteries are a coproduction with the U.K.’s Filmtime Productions and Toronto’s Lucky Day Productions.

James Woods’ Canadian experience: ‘It’s Nelvana’

Nelvana has secured American actor James Woods to voice the character of Gloomius Maximus in the first-ever Rolie Polie Olie feature-length film.

The 75-minute, CG-animated direct-to-video movie has already gone into production and is scheduled to be completed in February 2002. The release of the approximately US$1.2-million picture is slated for summer 2002.

Woods is the latest star to gravitate toward the Nelvana pot of honey. Also lending a little lung to Nelvana productions are Alicia Silverstone (Braceface), Bryan Cranston (Santa Claus Brothers) and Gilbert Gottfried (Cyberchase).

‘In bringing their own recognizable brand of humor or drama to a show, these stars provide a certain familiarity for the audience,’ says Clive Smith, senior executive vice-president at the animation powerhouse.

Al Waxman Calling Card films selected

The Ontario Media Development Corporation has announced the selection of two documentaries and three dramatic short films for the summer round of the Al Waxman Calling Card Program. Completed films are promoted through an industry screening and broadcast on Showcase (for dramatic shorts) and TVOntario’s View From Here (for documentaries).

The drama selections are: Countdown, directed by Nathan Morlando and produced by Andrew Rosen; Fairy Feller, from director Rajiv Miakhuri and producer Hanna Tower; and The Promise, directed by Brett Sullivan and produced by Peter Spence.

On the documentary side are The Pledge, directed by Naomi Wise and produced by Dorlene Lin, and Fister’s Dungeon, directed by Sophie Hargest and produced by Andrea Quesnelle.

Since its launch in 1997, the drama calling card program has greenlit 34 Ontario drama productions. The documentary program has blessed five Ontario projects since its inception in 2000.

Whizbang works Where or When

Taking a new twist on the traditional Freaky Friday/Trading Places scenario, Where or When, a US$10-million production from Domain in the U.S., is being produced in Toronto under the watchful eyes of service provider Whizbang Films.

The feature project is the story of two baseball players, one of this era and one from the glory days of the grand old game. In trading places, the old-time baseball player teaches the modern player about the ‘spirit of baseball’ and leads his team to the World Series. Meanwhile, the modern superstar athlete learns a lot about how to treat people, something he’d forgotten in a haze of money and gold jewelry.

The film is directed by Bill Dear, written by Allen Estrin and produced by Stan Canter. Whizbang’s Frank Siracusa is line producer.

The shoot is planned for 40 days, with five days scheduled in Detroit at old Tiger Stadium and 35 days in Toronto. Constellation will handle all distribution for the international theatrical release.

O’Brien draws Academy toward Lunatic Fringe

GENIE-nominated writer/director Terry O’Brien’s (Stolen Heart) latest feature script, Lunatic Fringe, has advanced to the quarter-final round of the 2001 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. The program is administered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and judged by Academy Award winners.

Although no deal is confirmed, O’Brien says the attention gained through the fellowship has generated interest from major Hollywood studios and the momentum should help in attracting high-profile Hollywood stars to the film. The shoot is planned for spring 2002.

The script follows the adventures of April, who, in a quest for her past, discovers her father is a homeless man with the ‘vacant eyes of a reluctant murderer.’ As she works to introduce him back into society, she goes deeper into her own personality, eventually questioning her own sanity.

O’Brien will direct and coproduce the picture along with Christopher Ball of Backroad Films. Ball will also act as DOP, recreating the same successful team from Stolen Heart.

Tootie strikes back

You take the good, you take the bad, you take ’em both and there you have, The Facts of Life, The Facts of Life.

Oh yes, Tootie, Blair, Mrs. Garrett and the gang are in Toronto this month shooting the ABC MOW The Facts of Life, based on the 1980s TV series of the same name.

The story picks up 15 years later as Mrs. G’s girls get together for a Thanksgiving dinner. Mrs. Garrett has been with the Peace Corps and lost her husband, while Tootie (now called Dorothy) is a talk show host, Natalie is a TV producer and Jo is a social worker. Blair, now in control of a hotel empire, is wealthier than ever.

Director Charles Herman-Wurmfield is guiding the girls as they learn ‘they need each other’s friendship more than ever.’

Ilene Amy Berg is executive producer for American prodco Berger Queen Productions. The MOW is produced in association with Laurence Mark Productions and Touchstone Television. In Canada, Greg Copeland is producing for service entity Facts Productions.

The reunion flick is slated to air as a presentation of The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC in November.

T.O. actor shines in Shanghai

The Central China Television Network (CCTV) has cast Toronto actor Bernard Forster in the lead role in its 20-episode miniseries Car City. The series will follow Volkswagen’s attempts to establish a German-Chinese joint-venture car plant in China.

Forster, who plays ‘Carl,’ chief negotiator for the VW team and Shanghai plant manager, was discovered by CCTV polishing and voicing English-language local news stories at the Shanghai Broadcasting Network.

CCTV expects more than a billion viewers for the production, which wrapped 15 weeks of shooting at the end of August in Shanghai.

‘It’s been a great experience,’ Forster says. ‘CCTV told me this is the first time they are featuring Westerners in one of their miniseries.’ The series will begin airing in November.