Vancouver: Whether through divine intervention, a special papal blessing or dumb luck, Canada’s first multicultural sitcom Lord Have Mercy! got the funding it needs from Telefilm Canada after all.

The funding transplant, courtesy of Credo Enterprises’ recent bankruptcy that hip checks previously approved CTV MOW Hockey Dreams into oblivion, means the 13-part production for VisionTV by Leda Serene Films can move into production in September in Toronto with live studio audiences and a three-camera setup.

APTN and Showcase Television have broadcast windows next year.

Originally, Telefim declined Mercy’s production funding application because, according to the series’ producers, the evaluation grid discriminates against shows with smaller broadcasters with smaller audiences. Mercy went into the competition with the maximum amount in development from Telefilm as well as having two broadcasters on board at the time of its application.

Set at Mt. Zion, a Caribbean storefront church in the heart of downtown Toronto, Mercy centres on the friction between two pastors and the array of ‘eccentrics and misfits’ who congregate at the church ‘to do everything but worship.’ The musical backdrop of the series will showcase a blend of gospel, soul and Caribbean music.

Director Frances-Anne Solomon (who earned a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for her 1997 feature Peggy Su!), writer Vanz Chapman (Drop the Beat) and executive producer Paul de Silva created the series. Cast includes rap star Sean Singleton from Baby Blue Soundcrew, Canadian comic Russell Peters and First Nations actor Gary Farmer.

At press time, Telefilm was entering into contract negotiations with Mercy producers and didn’t know how much the series would get in funding.

Also at press time, another production that failed to woo Telefilm’s EIP funding was negotiating with CBC to proceed anyway.

Rob Bromley, a principal at Force Four Productions in Vancouver, says the budget for Jinnah On Crime: Securities – the second MOW about an Indo-Canadian crime reporter – has been downsized and CBC is working on a scheme to finance production.