Mainframe goes live

Vancouver: Computer animation company Mainframe Entertainment is taking its first steps into live-action production as the international distributor for Toronto-based Protocol Entertainment’s (Goosebumps, Train 48) upcoming television production of Harriet the Spy.

The association with the 22 x 30 children’s series based on the classic character is strictly financial and marks the first time Mainframe has put financing and distribution efforts behind a live-action show, says Mainframe CEO Rick Mischel. A significant portion of the show’s undisclosed budget will come from international presales, he adds.

When asked whether this shift in focus means animation is limiting Mainframe’s growth, Mischel says: ‘Absolutely not. We are in the brands business and Harriet the Spy is a brand. If the brand is more suitable for animation, then we produce in animation.’

Production details for the Canadian-content show are yet to be determined, but Mischel says the target broadcast date is fall 2005. A broadcaster was not signed at press time.

Mischel is an executive producer along with U.S.-based rights holder 2 Friends Entertainment, the U.S. sales agent. Vancouver-based Mainframe is owned by U.S.-based IDT Entertainment Company.

Harriet the Spy novels by Louise Fitzhugh have sold more than four million copies in the U.S. since the publication of the first book in 1964. The books have been published in 14 countries.

In other Mainframe news, the company has entered into a deal with skateboarding legend Tony Hawk to produce a computer-generated direct-to-video feature.

The project, called Tony Hawk in ‘Boom Boom Goes the Circus’, uses Hawk’s voice and likeness in a story of an evil circus owner who plots to ruin Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam show by kidnapping the skateboarding star.

Production is scheduled to begin in November, with delivery planned for early 2006. Ian Edwards