Rock the docs

Vancouver – Production begins at the end of March on two new documentary series by Omni Film Productions of Vancouver.

Rock Your World is a 13 x 30 multimedia nonfiction series aimed at teens – a challenging sell to commissioning broadcaster CBC, says Omni’s director of development Lauren Millar, because teens are more likely to watch adult programs than shows designed specifically for them.

Each episode will feature three inspiring stories of young people across Canada ‘who are taking matters into their own hands and changing the world.’

But it’s the format that will excite viewers, says Millar.

Rock Your World – jokingly called a rockumentary – is cut like a music video and features nontraditional storytelling, again, like a music video. The segments are cut to original music by high school and university kids, and an accompanying website will allow for music uploads and downloads for fans.

In the demo for the series proposal, Omni covered two B.C. girls who, after hearing about the hardships for young people in troubled Uganda, raised $100,000 to build a school there in a safe zone.

Production of Rock Your World takes place across Canada.

Stuntdawgs, meanwhile, is an original, live-action, nonfiction series (13 x 30) for The Movie Network that explores the art of stunt making.

Hosted by Canadian Peter Harris Kent, who was the stunt double for Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stuntdawgs shows stuntmen/women keeping their skills sharp between movie shoots.

‘It has a Monster Garage feel to it,’ says Millar of the series, which starts shooting at the end of this month in a Port Coquitlam warehouse. ‘These are real guys bashing their bodies around. It shows what goes into making stunts.’

Meanwhile, Omni is four episodes through a six-ep second-season order of Ancient Clues, a one-hour series that uses modern forensics to study archeology. The series, which airs on Discovery Canada and Discovery International, delivered better-than-expected audience numbers, propelling the second season, which will again shoot all over the world. Season three is being researched now.

Omni is also gearing up production for Namaste, a 26 x 30 yoga series for HD Net and Access.

Other Omni projects in development include the feature documentary Missing Sarah (for CBC and the National Film Board), based on the book about one of the missing Vancouver women whose DNA was found at the notorious Picton, BC, pig farm; the one-hour comedy pilot This Space for Rent (CBC); the four-hour, two-ep Asian gang miniseries Dragon Boys (CBC); the 13 x 30 comedy series Alice, I Think (CTV and Comedy Network); and the one-hour MOW Key to the Midway (CBC). Ian Edwards

The Eyes have it

Vancouver – The Eyes, the Vancouver nonfiction division of Toronto-based Peace Arch Entertainment, has completed principal photography on its second season of Campus Vets, a reality show about new veterinarians.

‘Campus Vets remains very popular with viewers across Canada,’ says Eyes president Blair Reekie. ‘The state-of-the-art facilities of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine played a central role this season, giving viewers a unique, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives of veterinary students.’ The program airs on Life Network. Ian Edwards