Toronto: Two years after exiting their Starhunter series, producers Daniel D’Or and Philip Jackson have put together a deal for a new show by invoking a little-used provision of the Canada/U.K. copro treaty, and are in prep to shoot season one of Ice Planet as a ‘twinned coproduction’ between their Toronto-based SpaceWorks Entertainment and Highgate Films in London.

The series, about the marooned crew of a spaceship, will shoot on similar sets in Canada and the U.K., starting this summer in Toronto on a budget of $32.5 million.

Twinned copros are allowed under most treaties and are not bound by the same cast and crew regulations as typical coproductions. But producers rarely seek them out because of other red tape. Twins must share a common genre and producers, must have similar budgets and must shoot within a year of each other – a risky series of promises to make.

Instead of making two separate productions, however, Ice Planet is dividing its 22 x 60 season in two, shooting 11 hours in Canada and 11 in the U.K., twinning one-half of the season with the other. A clever move, say observers.

‘Doing a series split in two, basically shooting at the same time, is less risky,’ says Brigitte Monneau, manager of coproductions at Telefilm Canada. The application is still pending but ‘could be acceptable under the twinning provision,’ she says.

The series stars perennial tough guy Michael Ironside (The Perfect Storm, Nuremberg) as the unfortunate ship’s captain. The shoot will move to a U.K. facility in the new year, while the bulk of the CG post will be done at Optix Digital Pictures in Toronto.

D’Or and Jackson have a five-season storyline in mind. Space has signed for season one, to air in 2006, but the British rights are still up for grabs. CHUM Television International is distributing.

This is not the first version of Ice Planet, and it may not be the last. The story comes from a 2001 German film and was supposed to turn into a series two years ago via a copro between Regina-based Minds Eye Entertainment and H5B5 Media of Germany. That deal fell through, however, and the rights-holder moved on to SpaceWorks. The producers are also eyeing a videogame version and a second feature.

D’Or and Jackson produce with John Sivers and John Hall of Highgate and Germany’s Frank Winnenbrock. The pair parted company with their Starhunter partners in 2003, citing creative differences.