Vision TV seeking Seekers

Toronto – The words ‘spiritual discovery’ and ‘Ralph Benmergui’ are not often found in the same sentence, but that hasn’t stopped him or VisionTV from developing Seekers, a new doc series in which five people will follow the former talk show host on a cross-continent quest for deeper insight into their troubled lives.

The 6 x 30 project is in late development at Vision and could go to camera by August, says cocreator Allan Novak (Loving Spoonfuls, Second Time Around) – shooting at spiritual sites in Arizona, B.C. and in Toronto, where participants will go through a gamut of religious and spiritual practices. Everything from native sweat lodges and modern-day witchcraft to kabala and old-time Christianity.

Benmergui will host and take part while coproducing with Novak, a longtime friend and collaborator.

‘Ralph has a long-standing passion for the subject of faith and religious faith,’ says Novak. ‘This will be the antithesis of cheesy reality. It’s not just trumped-up drama.’

The pair recently put out a call for five ‘adventurous and enquiring’ lost souls to go on the three-week trek and handed the results to casting director Sue Skinner.

‘We’ve heard some very, very interesting stories so far,’ says Novak.

Seekers is budgeted at roughly $100,000 per episode, backed by fees and tax credits.

Novak’s Indivisual Productions, meanwhile, is about to shoot the half-hour pilot Punched Up for The Comedy Network. The reality satire will place three professional comedy writers into the lives of a regular, real-life family where they will ‘enhance everyone’s lives through better writing,’ Novak explains.

The idea is to apply the rules of scriptwriting – What’s my motivation? What’s the payoff? – to everyday life. The writers and a family are currently being cast, again by Skinner.

Punched Up is similar to The Joe Blow Show, a reality and musical theater mash-up that Novak made for Comedy in 2003. It played well, but did not get picked up, perhaps because of its slippery premise, says Novak.

Punched Up, he says, is ‘clearly in reality world, which everybody gets and understands.’

Novak is also developing a home-reno satire for CBC, Homewreckers, with creator Shawn Alex Thompson and story editor Dan Redican, both of Puppets Who Kill. He also won the iPitch contest at last month’s Banff World Television Festival for his mobile media project MobiStarz.

Benmergui, meanwhile, is developing a MOW for the Ceeb about its famous comedy duo Wayne and Shuster. Sean Davidson

En pointe!

Winnipeg – Merit Motion Pictures (Recreating Eden) and Vonnie Von Helmolt Film (Dracula: Pages from A Virgin’s Diary), both based in Winnipeg, are in production on part two of Ballet Girls, a three-part miniseries for Bravo!.

The three one-hours examine how nine young girls strive to win the lead in the Winnipeg Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. The behind-the-scenes documentary examines each girl’s quest to play the coveted role of Clara in the Christmas classic. Part one of the series, which shot in Winnipeg, Toronto and Vancouver last October and November, is completed. Production on part two, which follows the girls’ experiences through intense summer courses, is currently underway.

The doc series from producers Merit Jensen Carr and Vonnie Von Helmolt will air on Bravo! next year.

MMP is also currently in production on season three of Recreating Eden, while Von Helmolt is shooting her next major dance project for CBC’s Opening Night, based on Mark Godden’s adaptation of The Magic Flute. The performance special is being directed by Barbara Willis Sweete and will be distributed worldwide by Rhombus International. Laura Bracken