Norman Jewison, Damon D’Oliveira and Globe and Mail columnist Johanna Schneller all got lucky with Corus Entertainment, following the latest round of its Made With Pay Fund.

The fund has backed 19 new features, including High Alert, a project ‘inspired’ by Jewison’s 1966 comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming. The veteran director is working with his son Michael on the project, along with writers Rick Mercer and his former Made in Canada colleague Ed Riche. Sandra Cunningham (Fugitive Pieces, Where the Truth Lies) produces.

Nova Scotia-based Picture Plant, meanwhile, got an okay for its adaptation of Bear – the controversial 1976 novel by Marian Engel – which is in the works with writer William D. MacGillivray (Reading Alistair MacLeod) and producer Terry Greenlaw (Men of the Deeps).

Other movies backed by the fund include: What Happened Later, adapted from the Ray Robertson novel by writer Ian Carpenter (ReGenesis) and produced by D’Oliveira (Poor Boy’s Game) of Conquering Lion Pictures; and Sailor Girl, adapted from the Sheree-Lee Olson novel by Schneller.