VANCOUVER: Brightlight Pictures in Vancouver has signed a five-picture deal with H2O Motion Pictures of Los Angeles and London, worth $50 million.

The deal, announced July 30, means five features will be shot in BC over the next three years.

‘This is a significant partnership for a BC-based film production company,’ says Steve Hegyes, producer and principal of Brightlight Pictures. ‘Each of these pictures will combine Canadian with international talent.’

The five coproductions in the deal are:

* Peachland, a romantic comedy written by Montreal scriptwriter Kate Schlemmer. Production for the story, which involves a passion for Latin music and dance, is scheduled for winter 2003, in Peachland, BC with Maria Ripoll (Tortilla Soup) signed on to direct. ThinkFilm has distribution for Canada.

* People Who Knock, a coming-of-age story adapted by Doug Taylor from a Patricia Highsmith novel, will be directed by Lynne Stopkewich (Kissed). Production is scheduled for next spring. H2O and Brightlight have partnered with Alliance Atlantis and BBC Films to produce.

* Running Wild, adapted by screenwriter David Leland (Mona Lisa) from a JG Ballard novel, stars Samuel L. Jackson as a forensic psychiatrist who investigates an unusual crime on a Pacific Northwest island. Production, in partnership with Alliance Atlantis, is slated for next summer on Vancouver Island.

* White Clouds, written by Dennis Potter (The Singing Detective), is a dark comedy based on the best-selling novel Cara Massimina by Tim Parks. The Canada/Italy copro is set for production next summer in Verona, Rome and Sardinia, Italy and will post in BC.

* With Prejudice, written by Michael Stokes, adapting a New Yorker article, follows two obsessive women attempting to uncover a crime that may or may not have taken place. Production is set for fall 2004 in Vancouver, with Paris-based Pathe distributing.

‘As our slate of films shows, Steve and I share the same vision and mutual desire for quality and commerciality in filmmaking,’ says H20’s CEO Andras Hamori.