Vancouver: CHUM Television, in its first wholly owned and controlled feature film, can be credited with making a road movie that really travels.

Production on the MuchMusic Movie/The Road Movie (final title, we can assume, to come) began in Newfoundland Aug. 25 and has since traveled to Toronto, Montreal and Alberta. Production wraps after a lengthy stint in B.C., with visits to Vancouver’s Stanley Park and the regional hotspots of Yarrow, Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Ladner and White Rock. At press time, the crew was shooting in Tofino on Vancouver Island and was going to Campbell River and Victoria for the final big three days of shooting.

The production wraps Oct. 10, with The New VI filling in for MuchMusic’s HQ in Toronto in a recreation of the MuchMusic Video Awards. Musical stars Avril Lavigne, Matthew Good, Sum 41, Swollen Members and Gob will speak or perform in the feature.

Despite CHUM’s previous investment in MOWs and other production and its long history in licensing, cofinancing and partnering, The Road Movie is its first independent foray into feature-land. Seville is distributing and the feature is slated for a summer 2004 release.

‘Film production is an important and exciting new direction for CHUM,’ says Stephen Tapp, executive VP television, CHUM Limited. ‘From development and financing to promotion and exhibition, we have a proven track record in providing pivotal support for Canadian films in all phases of the process. Now, as producers, we are able to collaborate with Telefilm on the goal of increasing box office for Canadian films by leveraging our special relationship with audiences loyal to our brands.’

The hefty $8.3-million budget, says Diane Boehme, director of independent production for CHUM and co-executive producer with Moses Znaimer, is due to the large chunk of change set aside for the original soundtrack for the movie and the cost of transporting a 35mm film crew to locations across the country.

The Road Movie follows the cross-country misadventures of three teenage buddies and the two young women they meet on the road from Tofino to Newfoundland. You can’t cheat one coastline for the other, says Boehme.

The feature stars Ontario actors Christopher Jacot (Mythquest) and Shawn Roberts (Word of Honor), Calgary comedian Ryan Belleville (The Sean Cullen Show), Newfoundlander Joanne Kelly (Jeremiah) and Vancouver’s Mayko Nguyen (Mysterious Ways). Jason Priestley plays an oversexed music producer. Actors Matt Frewer, Jackie Burroughs, Andy Jones and August Schellenberg provide cameos along with VJs Amanda Walsh and George Stroumboulopoulos.

Vancouver’s Brightlight Pictures is line producing. Mark Griffiths (Au Pair) is directing and Greg Middleton (Punch) is DOP. Kelly Senecal is credited with the story, while Eric Goodman, screenwriter, has been traveling with the feature doing on-the-spot rewrites.

CHUM, meanwhile, has five other projects underway on the Island, some of which might get a theatrical window, says Boehme. Lies Like Truth should be in production early this winter. Cable Beach and They Wait are in the rewrite stages. Tough City and Johnny Too Tall have also been commissioned from Vancouver Island producers.

Happy customer

U.S. independent feature Deep Water, the Hitchcockian story of a drifter in small-town America where nothing is what it seems to be, came to Canada for the cost benefits and the location in Clearwater, B.C. But the success of the non-union shoot, which wraps almost five weeks of production Oct. 18, means first-time feature producer Chris Coen is looking to return with his next features, Mind Games and Break Back.

‘Without a doubt, we’ll come back,’ he says. ‘It’s not as cheap as I expected, but the crews are marvelous. The locals are fantastic.’

Deep Water, written and directed by David Marfield (Strangeland), had some initial challenges scouting locations during the intense fires in the Interior of B.C. this summer, but that has eased up with the cooler weather and rain.

Cast includes Lucas Black (Sling Blade), Peter Coyote (Suddenly Naked) and Lesley Ann Warren. Scott Kevan (Cabin Fever) is DOP.

Coen says no distributor has been signed to the production, the budget for which is undisclosed. The target is a launch at Sundance 2005.

New kinks

Vancouver’s Paperny Films, working out of its new production facility/offices in Vancouver, has wrapped production on the third season of its hit documentary series Kink (this time in Montreal) for Showcase. Kink seasons one and two have been sold to the IFC in the U.S.

David Paperny, meanwhile, is director on the one-off documentary Transplant Tourism, about the black market in human body parts, for CBC’s The Passionate Eye, to be broadcast in the fall.

Newswoman Sue Ridout is directing the two-part History Television series The Last Days of World War II.

Paperny, meanwhile, has just delivered the 13-part series Spring, about the season in locations around the world, for HGTV. And the production company is midway through its third season of cooking show New Classics with Chef Rob Feenie for Food Network.

Eats yer spinach

Mainframe Entertainment of Vancouver has started production on Fox Broadcasting’s Popeye, a 3D computer-animated, half-hour television show and one-hour home video holiday special.

The project, celebrating Popeye the Sailor Man’s 75th anniversary, includes the classic King Features Syndicate characters Olive Oyl, Bluto and Wimpy.

‘We are thrilled to continue the Mainframe tradition of bringing classic characters like Popeye to life in CGI animation,’ says Mainframe CEO, Rick Mischel. ‘Being a co-distributor also fits with our goal of controlling distribution rights of the best in branded characters.’

The special is cowritten by actor/comedian Paul Reiser (Mad About You) and Jim Hardison. It’s due in the fourth quarter of 2004. Artisan will release the DVD and VHS versions.

In other Mainframe news, the company will be co-developing and coproducing (with Silver Lining Productions) the animated adventure series for preschoolers called Small and Friends, based on the best-selling children’s book by Scottish author/illustrator Debi Gliori.

Small and Friends will be 26 half-hour episodes made up of two 11-minute stories.

Etc.

* The New VI, CHUM’s Victoria station, turns two Oct. 4. Celebrations include an open house at Pandora’s Box, the nickname for the heritage-meets-state-of-the-art facility.

* Young environmentalist Simon Jackson, founder of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition in Vancouver, has parlayed his lobbying for the rare white Kermode bear into Hollywood hype. At a Vancouver press conference Sept. 15, Jackson was joined by Hollywood producer Max Howard (Melwood Pictures), music producer Keith McGuffey and former Backstreet Boys singer Kevin Richardson to announce the intention to produce the animated Spirit Bear. A portion of the film’s profits will go toward conserving the Spirit Bear’s habitat.

* The film commission of Prince George and Northern British Columbia has launched a new website, www.filmpg.com, highlighting locations throughout northern B.C.