Vancouver: The WB Network has commissioned a pilot and six one-hours of The Black Sash, a mid-season replacement series by Tollin/Robbins Productions.

In the drama, a former cop falsely accused and incarcerated in Hong Kong returns to the U.S. and becomes a martial arts instructor by day and a bounty hunter by night. It stars Russell Wong (Romeo Must Die), Ray J (Moesha), and Canadians Corey Sevier (A Wilderness Station) and Sarah Carter (Trapped).

Production runs Nov. 4 to Jan. 24.

Teacher’s pet peeve

School of Life, an independent local feature produced by Roseanne Milliken (Baby Geniuses), is a low-budget dramedy. Written by Californian Jonathon Kahn and starring Vancouver actor Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder) and American David Paymer (State and Main), School of Life is a ‘family dramedy’ about an uptight and unpopular science teacher who becomes jealous of a charismatic and younger new teacher who captures the students’ attention. Through his misadventures sabotaging the young teacher, the protagonist learns a few lessons in life. Toronto native Bill Dear (Santa Who?) directs and U.S.-based Constellation Entertainment is signed on as distributor.

Production wraps five weeks of shooting Nov. 17.

Heart string

Coming Home Films of Mayne Island is doing a seventh and eighth installment of its Voyagers of the Heart documentary series – about extraordinary Canadians and their acts of compassion – for Knowledge Network and other broadcasters.

Director/producer Beverley Reid and DOP Peter Kellington and their team are in Cambodia this month for Maria’s Story, a profile of Saskatchewan native Marie Ens and her efforts on behalf of parents and children with HIV/AIDS.

In February, the producers are in Uganda for Sounds of Sunlight, a profile of New Westminster physician Irwin Stewart and his work to reestablish infrastructures for the deaf. The Canadian International Development Agency is a funder.

Rapt stories

Saved, a low-budget, non-union independent black comedy wrapped five weeks of production Oct. 27. Shot mostly in a high school in Surrey, the negative pickup for United Artists stars Jena Malone (The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys), Macaulay Caulkin (Home Alone) and Mandy Moore (Try Seventeen) in a story about a pregnant teen at a Christian school. Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) and Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to the Dollhouse) also star in the ensemble cast. Brian Dannelly (He Bop) directs and is cowriter.

Meanwhile, miniseries First to Die wrapped seven weeks of production Oct. 23 for NBC. Starring Tracy Pollan (Children of the Dark), Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal), Pam Grier (Jackie Brown), Sean Young (No Way Out) and Carly Pope (Popular), First to Die is about a homicide inspector who teams up with three professional women to catch a serial killer attacking newlyweds. Robert Patrick (The X-Files) and Angie Everhart (UC: Undercover) also star in the ‘three-hour television event’ based on James Patterson’s novel.

Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) directs and Michael O’Hara (Switched at Birth) is the producer.

Vampires on the Web

A story of star-crossed lovers set against a secret war between vampires is the creative spike of Sunrise, a locally made $500,000 digital feature.

Bankrolled by local company Free Range Films, Sunrise is based on a story by lead actor Donovan Cerminara and a script by first-time director Jesus Basuel. Taryn O’Neill (Puzzled), Ryan Robbins (Taken), Holly Burke (A Girl Thing), Julie Howgate and Johnny Cantinveros make up the rest of the ensemble cast. Tosca Musk (Puzzled) is the producer.

Production is scheduled for locations around Vancouver. Distribution, meanwhile, is scheduled for the Internet, though few details were available at press time.

Five weeks of production wrap Nov. 18.

School days

The University of British Columbia has jumped on the film industry bandwagon and is offering a new Professional Film Arts Program through its new downtown Vancouver campus. Designed for industry professionals already in the industry (rather than neophytes), the program includes courses about firearms safety, cinematography and lighting, special effects makeup, costuming, documentary filmmaking, and the business of film production in B.C.

One program, called Documentary Alliance, analyzes and explores the ‘topics, treatments and trials of documentary production with other professionals in their field.’

Bulletin board

The CBC has acquired the Leo Award-winning short film Death’s Dream, by writer/producer/director David Massar, for national broadcast on Canadian Reflections and the new series ZeD.

CBC has a three-year licence for the 15-minute fantasy love story about a man who meets what he believes is his guardian angel in the aftermath of a car accident.

* A Tribe of His Own: The Journalism of P. Sainath, the debut project of local director Joe Moulins (Moulins Media), has won a Chris Award at the 2002 Columbus Film Festival in Columbus, OH. The hour-long documentary, produced with VisionTV, Knowledge Network and SCN, among others, was named best biography in the social issues category and tells the story of a freelance reporter dubbed the Bad Boy of Indian Journalism.

* The second annual Whistler Film Festival returns Dec. 5-8 with its program of 20 ‘adventure, culture and mountain films.’ The festival will also feature a series of digital filmmaking workshops, filmmaker panels and appearances.

* A Match Made in Seven, which has played a half-dozen festivals since debuting at the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival in May, premiered on CBC’s Rough Cuts Oct. 22. Produced by Ilan Saragosti (Saragossa Films), the documentary is about Jewish ‘speed dating’ in Vancouver where local Jewish singles get together for seven-minute dates to see if they might be a romantic match.

* Trust – a 23-minute, 16mm short film by Vancouver writer/director Sean Frewer and producer Todd Brooks – screened at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival Oct. 17. In the ‘modern-day film noir,’ three friends desperate for cash hatch a doomed plan to replace valuable paintings with forgeries.