Insight Film Studios has three new projects shooting in B.C., including its first service shoot, National Lampoon’s Ratko: The Dictator’s Son.

According to boss Kirk Shaw, the comedy was set to shoot in Tennessee, ‘but ran into trouble and panicked when they realized the labor costs. Even with the higher Canadian dollar, we could save them $200,000 because we’re a non-union shop,’ he says.

‘They called us, as a favor, on Thursday and we hit the ground running on Monday.’

The $2.3-milion feature – a copro by InterMedia and Cinetel Films – is a departure for Insight, which usually owns a stake in a production.

Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite, Employee of the Month) stars as the son of a wealthy dictator who enrolls at an American university. Shooting began June 5 under director ‘Savage’ Steve Holland (Better Off Dead…), and is expected to wrap June 29, with theatrical and DVD distribution through National Lampoon.

Insight is also producing Empty Arms, a Lifetime MOW with Laura Leighton Savant (Melrose Place) as a classical music critic and historian who becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with a country music star, played by Antonio Cupo.

Directed by David Weaver on location in Langley, Arms began a 17-day shoot June 4 and is scheduled to air Aug. 20.

Principal photography on Smoke Jumper, another MOW, is set to run June 25 to July 16 under director John Terlesky. The cast has yet to be announced.