Sweet revenge

Montreal – With unflagging focus, the prolific JB Media continues to produce a slate of MOWs this summer in Montreal. The next project, following Over the Edge, is False Pretenses, starring Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita), Stewart Bick (Deceived, Choice) and Melanie Nicholls King.

Director Jason Hreno (Wicked Minds) is helming this 18-day shoot, produced in association with Power in the U.K. JB Media’s Jean Bureau, Anne Carlucci and Stephen Greenberg are serving as executive producers along with Justin Bodle, CEO of Power. Bureau and Josee Mauffette are producing. The collaboration will be the second in a slate of JB Media movies to be produced in association with Power, and the tenth JB Media project over the last 36 months.

The $4-million shoot, which started on July 11, comes from a script by Thomas Swale. It follows the JB Media formula in that it features a woman (Wilson) who must regain control of her life after an unexpected catastrophe.

The dramatic thriller is being filmed at several locations around Montreal, including the Palais de Congress, the Delta Hotel, the old Royal Bank building, in Lachine and Laval. False Pretenses is being distributed by Montreal’s Incendo Media. It’s presold to Lifetime in the U.S. and Movie Central, Super Ecran and The Movie Network in Canada. International sales are handled by Power in the U.K. Joanne Latimer

TV Nation

Montreal – Assembling a cast that includes heartthrob Adam Beach (Windtalkers) and Nathaniel Arcand (North of 60), Rezolution Pictures started its four-day shoot of Moose TV on July 28. The half-hour one-off comedy, commissioned for the CBC’s Trans Canada Comedy Trail, is filming on location in Kahnawake, outside Montreal.

The show is set in a northern outpost called Moose that is inhabited by Native people and an idiosyncratic assortment of southern refugees and lost souls. It’s about daydreaming George (Beach) and his sidekick Clifford (Arcand), who relaunch an abandoned TV station. Angling townspeople end up with their own TV shows, thus creating a comedic mingling of life and TV. Written and directed by Gemini Award winner Ed Macdonald (This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Made in Canada), the show comes from executive producers Catherine Bainbridge (Cree Spoken Here) and Ernest Webb (22 Minutes, Made in Canada).

‘Out of sheer boredom, George and his buddy start this pirate TV station. With Moose TV, we’re not handing audiences a box of serious issues,’ explains Macdonald, about his directorial debut project. ‘It’s a primetime comedy about Natives being funny, not somber and serious.’

Moose TV, which airs Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. on the CBC, also stars Tamara Podemski (North of 60, Dance Me Outside) and Diane Flacks (Dog Park). Producer Christina Fon (Lassie) is on board this $170,000 project, along with veteran line producer Lucie Bouliane (Monica la mitraille). Joanne Latimer