Rent boys

Toronto – Showcase has put its next sitcom on ice – sending the cast and crew of Rent a Goalie to a Toronto hockey rink. The 8 x 30 sports comedy shot all its game footage in one block, in the wee hours of the morning, earlier this month before relocating to New Toronto Studios.

The ensemble series centers on a gang of freelance goaltenders who hire themselves out for minor-league games, based on some of the ‘wack jobs’ creators and pickup players Chris Szarka and Christopher Bolton have met over the years.

‘Nine times out of 10, when these guys show up they’re very eccentric,’ says Szarka, who exec produces with Bolton and Nicholas Gray.

The series missed out on CTF cash last year, but was able to make ends meet with just tax credits and a licence fee by cutting back from a planned 10 eps. It is budgeted at about $400,000 per episode.

T.W. Peacocke (The Jane Show) directs and Graeme Manson (Crazy Canucks) is creative producer.

Bolton also stars as the owner of the rental service, working with Gabe Hogan, Inga Cadranel, Mayko Nguyen and Carlos Diaz, among others. Sean Davidson