Hush or slush?

Vancouver – On Jan. 29, Vancouver producer/director Harvey Kahn was set to wrap almost three weeks of production on Hush, a movie-of-the-week, starring Tori Spelling (Beverly Hills 90120) and Vancouver actor Tahmoh Penikett (Cold Squad).

In the production, a doctor and his wife move back to a small town where there is an ‘old flame’ and a plot to steal embryos. Victoria Pratt (Mutant X) costars in the $1.5-million MOW, done through Kahn’s Front Street Productions. Shooting took place in and around Vancouver at a time when the city was dealing with snow and a deluge of rain.

Kahn says he’s negotiating with a cable network, but couldn’t confirm at press time.

Hush is the latest in a string of female-driven thrillers from Front Street that have, so far, ended up on Lifetime in the U.S.

In November, Front Street produced Personal Effects, a story about a small-town lawyer who finds her missing brother. It stars Penelope Ann Miller (Thanksgiving Family Reunion), Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers), local Laura Mennell (Stargate: Atlantis) and Christopher Judge (Snow Dogs).

Earlier in 2004, Kahn produced Deadly Visions, starring Nicolette Sheridan (Desperate Housewives), Gordon Currie (waydowntown) and Frida Betrani (Last Wedding) in a story about a woman who has visions of murder. That MOW ran on Lifetime and W Network in Canada.

Next up on Kahn’s made-in-Vancouver, low-budget genre roster is the disaster flick Absolute Zero, about a blizzard in Florida. Another is the thriller Best Friend, a story where the title is, um, ironic. Ian Edwards

C’est cheese

Montreal – Sphère Média Plus is in production on Providence, a new teleroman for Radio-Canada, which began airing Jan. 4. The 13-episode, one-hour series is produced by Sphère’s Jocelyn Deschênes.

Directors Régent Bourque and Anne Senécal are shooting the show in and around Montreal, with plans to wrap principal photography by June 16.

The series, written by Chantal Cadieux, follows the daily struggles and secrets of a family that has owned and operated a cheese factory for three generations. The widowed matriarch of the family, played by Monique Mercure, struggles to manage the family business in the fictitious town of Providence, in addition to managing the trials and tribulations of family life.

Additional cast includes Hugo Dubé (Fortress), Bernard Fortin (Cher Olivier), Sonia Vigneault (Bouscotte) and Marie-Johanne Boucher.

At the same time, Deschênes is producing season three of Sphère’s Annie et ses hommes, with directors Richard Lahaie and Simon Barrette, and season three of Rumeurs, with director Pierre Théorêt. Principal photography on Rumeurs will be completed by Feb. 4, while Annie is set to wrap Feb. 28. Laura Bracken

Hotz stuff

Toronto – Howard Busgang and Bruce Hills – the fellows behind CBC’s hit mini The Tournament – are eyeing standup comic Jeremy Hotz for a sitcom and will put in for development cash next month at Telefilm Canada. The pair and CBC exec Anton Leo are looking to cast Hotz (The Newsroom) as the host of a late-night movie show, picking up an idea that was originally pitched to Comedy Central.

‘Anton has been very supportive of the project,’ says Hills, COO of Just For Laughs and one-half, with Busgang, of newly formed Adjacent 2 Entertainment.

Hotz is a reliable favorite on the standup circuit and, Hills hopes, could spearhead a new effort to turn out Canuck comedy and variety for the international market, building on Busgang’s experience in L.A. (Boy Meets World) and at CBC (An American in Canada).

‘But we believe in doing one thing at a time,’ he cautions. ‘It’s hard enough to sell one show, let’s not overcomplicate it. Let’s make [each] as best we can.’ Sean Davidson

OLN goes West

Calgary – Todd Langille of Calgary-based Zoom Communications is in post on Bad Boys of the West, the working title pilot for a one-hour docudrama series due to air on Outdoor Life Network in early March.

The project marks a relatively new programming strand for OLN, which, in its most recent CRTC licence renewal, had Canadian drama added to its list of programming categories.

Langille produces, writes, directs and edits the one-hour pilot, shot for under $500,000 on location in Kansas and Arizona between Nov. 9 and Dec. 5. The proposed series chronicles a reckless biker, played by real-life biker and Calgary resident Mark Blundell, who travels across North America retracing the steps of legendary gunfighters of the Wild West. Executive producers are Zoom’s Jeff Bradshaw, OLN director Anna Stambolic and Mark Melnyk. DOP is Mark Fuller.

Bradshaw says the series will be approached as a collection of one-hour western movies, with the pilot episode taking on the epic story of Wyatt Earp, played by Michael Madsen (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2).

‘We chose Hollywood star Michael Madsen to play the role of Wyatt Earp because of his elusive bad-boy, western outlaw quality,’ says Stambolic. ‘We are exploring the opportunity to turn this concept into a full series, with various Hollywood superstars in leading roles, each portraying notorious outlaws of the west in the reenactments.’

On the development slate at Zoom is a second pilot for OLN, Living Dead, which follows a ghost hunter’s voyages across North America. Newcomer Elliot Grey stars. Shooting will begin in March. Laura Bracken