Toronto-headquartered business development company Cameron Thomson Group has opened a production arm called Cameron Thomson Entertainment and inked a deal with Italy’s Scala Group to develop a half dozen art-based TV series.

CTG, with ties to various players in the convergence, technology and post-production sectors, numbers among its strategic partners Global Interactive Gaming, Sonic Foundry, The Studio Upstairs and The Post Group. It is well positioned to enter into the coproduction game, with offices in London and Milan.

Florence-based Scala, in its 50th year, is an art history, publishing and multimedia company that has produced hundreds of books and CD-ROMs based around its extensive collection of images of classic art and culture. CTG has been working with Scala for the last year to develop its brand in the area of interactive broadband content. With its expansive connections in the production industry, CTE will now help Scala put the overall financial, production, post, and technology package together for the latter’s move into television programs.

Scala’s assets, which include video, film, animation, audio and music, are digitized and therefore easily convertible to international broadcast specifications. The company represents various museums and collections around the world, including the Vatican.

The proposed series include Art and Eroticism, Women in Art History, Art and Ancient Civilizations and Lost and Stolen Art Treasures. The approach of the shows would range from biographical to investigative reporting and lifestyle/travel, says the programs’ Toronto-based executive producer, Steven Jarosz, whose credits include The Tom Green Show, Table for Two and Untalkative Bunny.

‘Series is where we’re aiming, but the format could be half-hours, one-hours, or one-off specials,’ he says. ‘Most of the content has not been on TV before, so we can customize series for [the likes of] A&E and History Television.’

With the ink dry on CTE’s Scala deal, it will now go after North American broadcasters.

‘We’re aggressively developing these series [and looking at] preselling them at NATPE and thereafter,’ says company president Ron Thomson from CTG’s London office. The company plans to have a demo ready for display at the NATPE trade show.

Jarosz estimates that the assets CTE now has access to through Scala can supply five years’ worth of programming.

‘We’ve got a series [to fit] just about every broadcaster and every viewer,’ he adds. ‘People are going to [identify] ‘Scala Television’ as a high-quality, diversified brand of TV program. That’s what we’re trying to do. It’s a business, as opposed to just launching a TV series.’

Jarosz sees the various Scala programs as being also well suited to Bravo!, WTN, several of the diginets, and even sports channels for a one-off titled Sports in Art.

The proposed programs would be Italy/Canada/U.K. copros. Some series would rely on voice-over narration, which would facilitate multilingual dubbing, whereas others would incorporate an on-screen host. For those episodes aimed at North American audiences, host segments would be filmed on a set to be built in Toronto.

-www.cameronthomson.com

-www.scalagroup.com