Before there was CSI there was The Murdoch Mysteries, a book series penned by Canadian writer Maureen Jennings about Detective William Murdoch, who shocked his peers with wacky new crime-solving techniques – like dusting for fingerprints. Murdoch’s exploits in Victorian Toronto are being brought to the small screen for CHUM Television/ Bravo! by way of two MOWs from Winnipeg’s Original Pictures and Toronto’s Shaftesbury Films.

Except the Dying and Poor Tom is Cold began shooting back-to-back in Winnipeg in early September under director Michael DeCarlo (Hemingway vs. Callaghan).

Peter Outerbridge (Trudeau) stars as Murdoch alongside Colm Meaney (Random Passage), Keeley Hawes (A is for Acid) and William B. Davis (The X-Files).

According to Original president/executive producer Kim Todd, who ‘loves working with mysteries,’ using modern-day Winnipeg to recreate 1890s Toronto isn’t as much of a stretch as one might think.

‘Winnipeg has lots of very old buildings and whole blocks of old ‘downtown’ areas,’ she says. ‘But the films have a very contemporary feel, and with Michael DeCarlo directing, we wanted to make that combination – all of the interest in the period with a feeling of a contemporary story in its pacing and intrigue.’

Todd is producing with Shaftesbury’s Christina Jennings and co-exec producing with Jennings and Shaftesbury’s Scott Garvie. Writer Janet MacLean (Road to Avonlea) adapted Except the Dying solo, and worked with Jean Greig and Cal Coons on Poor Tom.

The combined budget for the two films is under $7 million, says Todd, with funding from Telefilm Canada, CTF’s LFP and EIP, Manitoba Film & Sound, Cogeco, CHUM and tax credits. The Shaftesbury Sales Company is handling foreign sales.

Todd hopes the films will be received warmly so that others may follow.

When shooting on The Murdoch Mysteries wraps Oct. 18, Todd says she will enjoy just 24 hours of rest before jumping into preproduction on another Original/Shaftesbury copro, The Shields Stories, a 6 x 30 anthology series for W based on stories by late Canadian author Carol Shields.

Sarah Polley (Go), Lori Spring (The Atwood Stories) and Norma Bailey (The Sheldon Kennedy Story) have signed on to direct episodes, with Polley and Spring also penning their episodes. Spring will write a second episode and serve as story editor for all six. Writers David Young (Mutant X), Dennis Foon (Scar Tissue) and Esta Spalding (Republic of Love) are also signed. Todd and Harbin will produce, while Todd, Jennings and Garvie exec produce.

The series is budgeted at under $4 million, with funding from W, CTF (both sides), the CanWest Western Independent Production Fund, Rogers Telefund, MFS and tax credits. Shaftesbury is distributing.

Todd hopes to have the series wrapped by Christmas Eve.

Panacea opens with MOW

Edmonton’s Josh Miller, a former executive with Minds Eye Pictures who worked out of the company’s Edmonton office, has opened his own production company, Panacea Entertainment in Edmonton. The writer/producer will still play a limited role with Minds Eye (finishing projects that were already underway before the Regina-based prodco began scaling back its operations due to some financial troubles), and is already developing several projects with it.

‘Minds Eye has been dealing with their reorganization, contracting down to a Saskatchewan-based company,’ says Miller. ‘I think there is an opportunity to get back to doing what I love, which is creating film and television.’

Miller boasts a development slate of 10 features, three series, two MOWs and two documentaries, and sees two of the larger projects – both copros with Minds Eye – moving into production as early as next summer.

The first is an MOW for CTV about Canadian Olympic gold medalists David Pelletier and Jamie Sale. Miller says the film (yet to be titled) will retell the story of their controversial 2002 Olympic pairs figure-skating win. ‘How they got there,’ he adds, ‘is just as interesting.’

An outline has been completed and a first draft is expected soon. Miller says he anticipates a budget of about $4 million. Development funding has come in from the CTV Saskatchewan Program Development Fund, SaskFilm and Telefilm.

The second project in development with Minds Eye is Crude, a dramatic one-hour series for A-Channel about the Alberta oil industry. Miller says the first draft of the pilot is completed. He predicts a $1.1-million per episode budget, with development money thus far from A-Channel, Telefilm, Cogeco and Movie Central.

Also in the works at Panacea is Chameleon, a one-hour doc for A-Channel about Andy Seidemann, the small-town RCMP constable who tracked down Louis Barron, a man some describe as Canada’s worst child serial pedophile. Miller was originally intent on producing an MOW about Seidemann with Minds Eye, but now plans to go the doc route alone, working with a $300,000 to $500,000 budget. Early cash has come in from A-Channel, the CFCN Fund, Videon Fund, Telefilm and the Independent Production Fund.

Miller has also received development money from Movie Central (where he worked back when it was called Super Channel) for his feature script Time Tourists. He will be looking south of the border for additional financing.

Distant Drumming nears completion

Alberta Filmworks is putting the final touches on Distant Drumming, the fifth North of 60 MOW based on the long-running CBC TV series.

‘This one felt quite special,’ says executive producer Tom Cox. ‘The script harkens back to the series. It’s more character-driven than plot-driven, and it’s something the actors could really sink their teeth into. Everyone showed up with a renewed sense of energy and purpose.’

This tale of justice and intrigue in Lynx River is directed by North of 60’s longtime DOP Dean Bennett. Having shot three of the North of 60 MOWs and somewhere in the range of 50 episodes, let’s just say he’s familiar with the material.

Peter Lauterman wrote the script, with Andrew Wreggitt assisting in a creative consultant capacity. Jordy Randall is producing.

Tom Jackson returns as Peter, with Tina Keeper and Dakota House also reprising their roles as Michelle and Teevee, respectively.

The budget for the film is about $3 million, which can go further, thanks to the extensive backlot North of 60 has developed over the last 11 years.

Funding has come in from the LFP and EIP, distributor Alliance Atlantis, the CanWest Western Independent Production Fund, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Film Development Program and tax credits.

Post is being handled at Studio Post in Edmonton and Distant Drumming will be delivered in November.

Cox says with no immediate plans for a sixth North of 60 film, he has turned his attention to another MOW project for CBC and Court TV in the U.S. called Asylum. Coproduced with L.A.’s Blueprint Entertainment, Asylum takes place just after the turn of the century. It is about an Afghanistan woman under Taliban rule who escapes to the U.S. only to be arrested.

Cox, who says it is amazing to see a Calgary parking lot turned into Kabul, is executive producing with independent producer Judy Ranan and Blueprint’s John Morayniss and Noreen Halpern. Don McBrearty (The Interrogation of Michael Crowe) is directing and Barbara Samuels (Black Harbour) is penning the script. Newcomer Layla Alizada, Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers) and Brian Markinson (Primary Colors) star.

Shooting will continue until early October on an undisclosed budget. Cox says funding had been secured from the broadcasters and distributor Oasis Pictures.