A whole New Level

Vancouver – Life after Peace Arch Entertainment has brought Vancouver producer Tim Gamble to a new level. The principal of Vancouver-based Thunderbird Films has bought the first season of 13 half-hours of YTV’s live-action/mixed-animation kids series called Zixx: Level One, produced in Toronto last year, and moved it west as Zixx: Level Two.

Production began Feb. 10 on the live-action portion of the show and runs until March 22 in Langley, BC, a block outside the main Lower Mainland production zone and therefore qualifying for regional tax credits. The animation portion means the series also qualifies for B.C.’s Digital Animation and Visual Effects tax credit.

The recent boost in overall domestic tax credits in B.C. from 20% to 30%, meanwhile, is money in the pocket of Thunderbird and helps lessen the risk of deficit financing for the show, says supervising producer Ron McLeod. The per-episode budget of $460,000 is unchanged despite the richer tax credit, he says.

Toronto-based lead actor Barbara Mamabolo is the only cast member to remain from season one and will move out to the West Coast for production on the show about a teenage intergalactic police detective who enlists the help of Earth kids to save the universe every week.

The first season was produced by Alexandra Raffé of Savi Media and Debbie Nightingale of The Nightingale Company of Toronto, and Raffé remains an executive producer.

‘Season two is an upgrade of the first season – the characters have better weapons and cool vehicles, but the puzzles are harder and the villains smarter,’ says Raffé. ‘That’s why we call it Level Two.’ Ian Weir (Edgemont) is the showrunner.

Mainframe Entertainment of Vancouver will handle the animation component of the show and has an agreement in principle to co-distribute with Thunderbird. The CGI animation is designed to look like a video game.

‘Launching the series with 26 episodes available for licence is a huge advantage in the international marketplace,’ says Rick Mischel, CEO at Mainframe.

Zixx is produced for boys and girls aged eight to 12. Ian Edwards