Vancouver: Princess, the preying mantis, is the muse for the animation artists at Vancouver-based Bowes Productions, which is creating and manipulating the stop-motion insects used in the $3-million Monster Island, MTV’s homage to B-movie monster flicks.

When she’s not devouring crickets, Princess is modeling for the animators in their quest to make a realistic mantis puppet for the stop-motion elements of the MOW that MTV owns with Vancouver’s Insight Film & Video Production. Bowes, which is credited on the feature Snow Day and the MOW The Voyage of the Unicorn, is also making four giant ants, including the queen ant, and a giant ant head that will interact in live action with the actors.

Production on the non-Canadian-content show begins at a 25,000-square-foot soundstage in Delta Oct. 14 for four weeks.

Carmen Elektra stars in the large ensemble cast, while the band Foo Fighters is among those making cameos. William Shatner, at press time, was in negotiations to take a role. Jack Perez (Wild Things 2) directs.

Kirk Shaw, executive producer with James Shavick, says the campy movie was developed by MTV, which approached the Vancouver producers to finance the production. Shaw’s six-picture deal with Blockbuster helped broker an independent video presale from the video giant, and foreign sales contributed to the budget. MTV owns the U.S., while Insight owns the rest of the world.

In the tongue-in-cheek movie, MTV makes fun of itself. High school students, who win an MTV cruise-to-the-tropics contest, rescue a beautiful celebrity trapped on an island of mutant insects.

Insight’s next Blockbuster movie, the vampire story Jugs, starring Lorenzo Lamas, goes into production Nov. 6.

Devil may care

Larry Sugar of Vancouver’s No Equal Entertainment is in production with the Canadian supernatural series The Collector, a one-hour series that got some soul when the CTF spread an extra $12.5 million in funding to Equity Investment Program applicants.

According to Sugar, CHUM Television has signed on for 88 episodes – that is, if the first 13 one-hours fly.

The Collector, created by writers Jon Cooksey and Ali Marie Matheson (So Weird), focuses on a 700-year-old monk who sold his soul to the devil to save his love from the plague in 1348. In a deal to keep him permanently out of Hell, the monk collects souls.

Principal photography began Sept. 2, though the series’ back story was shot in Lithuania before the Vancouver production got underway.

The series was developed by executive producer Sugar together with CHUM and has been produced and financed largely by CHUM.

Chris Kramer (Just Cause) stars along with Carly Pope (Popular) and Ellen Dubin (Lexx).

Yvon of Yugoslavia

Canadian Armed Forces is broadcasting Studio B Productions’ Yvon of the Yukon to soldiers stationed throughout the former Yugoslavia. According to the production company, the series was selected by troops as a program from home they’d most like to see while overseas.

Studio B is in production with the third season and will be selling the series at this month’s MIPCOM Junior, where it will also be promoting the breakfast-themed series Flakes (52 x 11 for Family Channel) and Simon Stimple (26 x 22 for Teletoon). Studio B is in production with Flash series Being Ian (26 x 22).

Four’s company

Citytv Vancouver has chosen four short films (among 35 applicants) for the second year of the CineCity: Vancouver’s Stories initiative, for Aboriginal and visible minority filmmakers in B.C. Winners this year are:

* Everything’s About Getting Married (writer/producer Rani Sandu): a comedy/drama about a young Indo-Canadian woman’s love dilemma between a traditional Indian man and her non-Indian friend who has just declared his love for her.

* Goldilocks and The Three Dreads (producer Francis Le, director Aibi Okundaye, writer Kevin Garcia): an update on the fairy tale in which Goldilocks confronts aspects of racial hatred.

* Smile (coproducer/writer/director Julia Kwan, coproducer Yves Ma): a drama that explores the factures in a Chinese immigrant family on the day they use their Sears coupon for a free family portrait.

* Projections (project coordinator Alanna McLennan): a training and mentorship project involving professionals from the film, video and television industries and street-involved youth in the Downtown Eastside community.

City will support each one through development and production and ultimately broadcast the finished short films during primetime. Projects from the inaugural year, 2002, will begin airing on City Vancouver in January.

Post and beam

Big Red Barn Post is posting director Sylvie Peltier’s When Love is Blind (Red Letter Films) and Suckerfish, a short film by the National Film Board’s Picture This contest finalist Lisa Jackson. In November, the Barn will begin post on Endless Media Group’s bio of Alex Trebeck, produced by Dianne Carruthers and directed by Martin Wood, for CBC’s Life & Times.

Career change

Timothy Aiken quit his 13-year career in financial sales in Toronto and packed his family off to Vancouver to make the movie Gordon, which debuted at a Vancouver nightclub Oct. 7.

Shot on a JVC GY500 digital camera to capture a documentary style, Gordon (Oakseed Entertainment) is a romantic/comedy/drama exploring financial and emotional bankruptcy.

Brett Viberg stars along with Patricia Bellemore, Clyde Fitzpatrick, Ian Imrie, Helene Taylor, Krish Baichwal, Keara Anne Baggio and Benjamin Gutknecht.