Just weeks into fall and already it’s been a very busy season for Minds Eye Pictures of Regina. The prolific Western Canada prodco celebrated the official opening of the Canada-Saskatchewan Soundstage, is moving its head office, hosted an international industry conference, is shooting a $4.3-million feature and recently sold another to Universal Studios in the U.S.

Universal will take The Unsaid, a $22-million psychological thriller starring Andy Garcia and coproduced with New Legend Media out of L.A. and Montreal. to English-speaking territories worldwide plus Japan.

‘Universal hasn’t given a date or told us how they’re going to release it, but we’re just very thrilled to be able to say that Universal Studios did a negative pickup on The Unsaid,’ says Minds Eye president and CEO Kevin DeWalt.

Meanwhile, the Canada-Saskatchewan Soundstage officially opened in Regina Sept. 20, and not only will Minds Eye move its head office into the facility by December, it also celebrated the grand opening with the announcement of Falling Angels, the first feature film to be shot in the new facility.

Principal photography on Falling Angles, starring Miranda Richardson, began in Moose Jaw, SK on Oct. 7, with plans to spend around 15 of the 27-day shoot at the new soundstage. The $4.3-million feature is coproduced by Toronto’s Triptych Media, with DeWalt executive producing and Triptych’s Robin Cass producing.

Directed by Scott Smith (The Chris Isaak Show) and penned by Esta Spalding (Da Vinci’s Inquest), the feature, based on the Canadian novel of the same name by Barbara Gowdy, recounts the story of three teenage sisters struggling for independence within the family unit in the ’60s and is scheduled for delivery in May 2003.

Falling Angels is funded through the EIP, LFP, The Harold Greenberg Fund, and federal and provincial labor tax credits, with development partner Universal Studios Canada and presales to Movie Central, Citytv, The Movie Network and Super Ecran. Wild Bunch Sales International out of London will distribute internationally, with domestic distribution through Seville Pictures also of Montreal.

The prodco is also in development on An Intern’s Diary, written and directed by Dave Thomas with Minds Eye’s Josh Miller, Nic Wry of Studio Entertainment in Alberta and Andrew Alexander of Second City Entertainment in Toronto producing. The $4.2-million comedy feature, funded through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and Telefilm’s Canada Feature Film Fund, focuses on the stressed-out life of a hospital intern and is tentatively scheduled for a February shoot.

Minds Eye is also developing The Andy Seidemann Story, a $2.7-million MOW for A-Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm and Cogeco. Writer Scot Morison is penning the script based on the true story of a Mountie who travels Alberta and Saskatchewan trying to track down a child molester disguised as a church minister. The film will start shooting in the new year for delivery in July 2003.

Green Grass Running, coproduced by Minds Eye and Brevity Films of Toronto, is also in development, with funding from Telefilm, The Harold Greenberg Fund and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Sturla Gunnarsson will direct the $4.5-million feature based on a Thomas King novel, which will shoot in Saskatchewan next summer for delivery the following year.

Minds Eye also hosted the International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers conference held in Regina Sept. 15-21, an annual event designed to foster international cooperation and coproduction among member companies. The event provided a good opportunity to acquaint producers from around the world with what Saskatchewan has to offer, says DeWalt.

‘There certainly is business being done,’ he says. ‘And it’s a chance for us all to screen each other’s films for the year. The whole idea is that you are not in competition with these people so everyone can speak very freely about issues and concerns.’

Nomadic wraps Mrs. Ritchie in Calgary

Calgary-based Nomadic Pictures wrapped a 26-day local shoot for its latest dramatic feature, The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie, on Oct. 11. Produced with U.K.-based Anafi Productions, a subsidiary of Visionview Films, the Canada/U.K. coproduction, starring Gena Rowlands (Hope Floats), James Caan (The Godfather), Kevin Zegers (Air Bud) and David Schofield (Gladiator), is based on the true-life story of writer and first-time director Paul Johansson. It explores how working as a handyman in the magical gardens of Mrs. Ritchie, an elderly woman with a difficult past, helps a young boy come to terms with a family secret.

Chad Oakes and Mike Frislev produce, with Nick Cassavetes, Walter Josten, Phil Alberstat, Steve Robbins, Jim Reeve and Jana Edelbaum exec producing.

The $5.7-million production is funded through the CanWest Western Independent Producers Fund and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, with presales to Movie Central, The Movie Network and A-Channel in Canada and Showtime in the U.S.

In development at Nomadic is Fixxer, 13 half-hours produced with MTV USA. The comedy, described as a kind of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in series format, is directed by Mel Damski and written by Tom Jacobson and Jim Wedaa. The US$525,000-per-episode series is a Canada/U.S. coventure and receives funding from MTV USA and MTV Canada as well as provincial and federal tax credits. Golconda Films of London is handling international sales.

Oakes and Frislev will produce, with Jacobson and Wedaa executive producing. Shooting is scheduled for spring 2003 and post will be completed in the U.K.

Surgeons and butchers meat at Fresh Cut

Calgary prodco Fresh Cut Entertainment is following up its first series, Little Italys, a six-part travel and lifestyle show airing on Corus Entertainment-owned Telelatino Network in spring 2003, with a new cooking series that places surgeons alongside butchers at centre stage.

Shot in Calgary over the summer, Close to the Bone: Surgeons and Chefs, an independently funded $50,000 eight-part, half-hour series, recently moved into post-production in Calgary.

Surgeons and butchers have a lot in common, explain Fresh Cut principals Doug Hodgson and Jeff Hohn, who also directs. They work in clean and disciplined environments and they both like their knives sharp.

Series host Allan Shewchuk along with executive producer and orthopaedic surgeon Rick Hu bring in surgeons who specialize in the particular cut of meat they’re preparing on the show. For example, if ribs are on the menu, they will bring in a thoracic surgeon.

Also in development at Fresh Cut is Light Industrial. Hodgson and Hohn have produced a half-hour pilot for the comedy series focusing on a temp agency. Executive produced by Tim Aylesworth, Light Industrial stars Matt Embry, with Aylesworth and Steve Pruden writing and Hodgson directing.

Fresh Cut is also in development on Masters of the Planet, a one-hour documentary on the pros and cons of resource exploitation.