Big Bang Pictures, the mobile division of Toronto’s The Nightingale Company, has added the racy mobile series The Retired Porn Producer to its roster. The series is a comedic take on advice shows, with tips from an anonymous fellow with 30 years of experience in the skin flick business.

Created by Toronto-based Scott Albert and Christopher Guest, the animated series makes its debut on May 15 on the Rogers wireless network.

The eps vary between two and three minutes in length. A new episode will be released each week, moving to retiredpornproducer.com after one month. Viewers can send questions to theproducer@retiredpornproducer.com.

Big Bang’s mobile roster also includes the extreme sports clip shows Parkour and BMX, Avery Ant (a series of rants by an animated bug), the comedy Campus Cram and Josey Vogels’ Sex Tips, based on the nationally syndicated writer’s advice columns and produced specifically for Big Bang.

The shows run on the Rogers and Telus systems. Debbie Nightingale, president of Nightingale/Big Bang, says she hopes to add Bell soon. She says mobile is beginning to take off.

‘It’s about positioning ourselves,’ she says. ‘But we are also starting to make money. And that’s increasing exponentially as well. We’re now getting calls for content, which is great, and not just in Canada but around the world.’

Case in point, Big Bang has landed a deal with U.S.-based Versaly Entertainment to provide content to its mobile VOD channel, Fast Lane, set to launch June 1.

NFB deals with Japan, Australia

The National Film Board has inked a mobile content deal with Japan’s NHK, Film Australia and Discovery Channel Canada to share content to produce short, educational clips.

Billed as the World Educational Consortium, the deal will start with a pilot project of six to eight ‘micro-movies’ – under one minute in length – to be screened at MIPCOM this fall. They will also be made available for streaming on the Internet and as interstitials.

The content will draw from broadcaster archives, aimed at tweens to young adults. Subject areas will include ‘great ideas,’ ‘great moments in history’ and ‘how different societies view beauty.’

Executive producer Wally Longul says he expects the consortium will operate for three to four years and produce about 100 episodes.

Corus available online June 1

Corus Entertainment will launch a ‘direct-to-family’ download service, TreehouseDirect.com, on June 1, allowing the purchase of single episodes, bundles or full seasons of programs seen on its preschooler cable channel.

First offerings include the Nelvana animated series Max & Ruby, Franklin and Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends, among others. No word on pricing.

‘This initiative builds on Corus Entertainment’s focus on creating exciting entertainment for children and families, allowing us to be everywhere they access content,’ said Corus president and CEO John Cassaday in a statement.

Students podcast Hot Docs

Hot Docs’ first foray into podcasting was handled by the eager students of Toronto’s Centennial College, under a deal with the school’s Centre for Creative Communications.

Podcasts of seminars, talks and classes went online within 24 hours throughout the 10-day documentary festival at podcast.centennialcollege.ca/~radio/ and hotdocs.ca.

In return, Centennial got billing as a sponsor and invaluable experience for its nine student volunteers.

‘This is giving them an opportunity to take some of the techniques they’ve learned here [at school] and apply it in the real world. It’s a key thing for us,’ says Chris Terry, professor of broadcasting and film.

ExtendMedia inks deal

Toronto-based software company ExtendMedia has announced a deal to provide content management software to U.S.-based online company ClickStar.

ClickStar plans to offer first-run, pre-DVD-release films and artist-created entertainment channels as part of its online services, and is the online arm of Morgan Freeman’s prodco Revelations Entertainment. It will launch later this year.

ExtendMedia’s OpenCASE software does everything from signing up and billing customers to delivering content and controlling the all-important digital rights, according to company founder Keith Kocho.

‘There’s no question that [digital rights management] is a big issue for studios and original content providers,’ he says.

OpenCASE is already in use by MTS, Cablevision, Corus and Bell Canada, which has used it for World Cup soccer on its Sympatico portal.

Mobifest ready to roll

The film festival Mobifest runs May 17 in Toronto at the Isabel Bader Theatre – featuring content shot and created specifically for mobile phones or other handheld devices.

Over 65,000 movies were viewed online and voted on by 8,000 people. The finalists will compete in three categories (Best Canadian Mobile Film, Best of Festival and Best ‘Caught On Treo’), with winners selected by a panel of judges.

Among other prizes, winning movies will be shown on Movieola -The Short Film Channel and screened on Air Canada flights this summer. See www.mobifest.ca. *