Vancouver: Insight Film Studios is in production on its first feature film, When a Man Falls in a Forest, starring Sharon Stone, who is also aboard as executive producer.

According to producer and Insight president Kirk Shaw, this is a huge step forward for the company, known for its MOW library, which includes titles such as Deck the Halls, Secret Lives and Truth. Insight is funding the $4-million project, with the aid of provincial tax credits.

‘I don’t know if we will realize our money back or make a profit, but a lot of things changed the day we signed up to make this movie,’ says Shaw. ‘New doors opened and we find ourselves a much bigger studio than before. For Insight, this is a significant step and statement in both Vancouver and Los Angeles.’

The film, about three lonely men trying to reconnect with others, was developed through the Sundance Film Lab – an offshoot of the film festival – by its writer/director Ryan Eslinger (Madness and Genius), who also brought DOP Lawrence Sher (Garden State) and rocker-turned-composer Billy Corgan to the project. It was packaged by the William Morris Agency in L.A., which reps both Eslinger and Stone. Stone stars with Timothy Hutton (Last Holiday) and Dylan Baker (Spider-Man 2 & 3). Shaw is producing with L.A.-based Mary Aloe (Downtown: A Street Tale), who brought the film to Shaw at the American Film Market in November.

Shaw says this is the first of six low-budget features his company will produce this year, in addition to 17 MOWs. Insight-produced TV movie Ties that Bind from director Terry Ingram (Relic Hunter) wrapped in mid-February, while Lesser Evil by Timothy Bond (Eve’s Christmas) shoots March 2-21. Both films are being made for Lifetime Network in the U.S.

When a Man Falls shoots Feb. 20 to March 18. Shaw says the plan is to submit it to the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where he will seek out a theatrical distributor.