Comedy/format at MIP:

THE ITCH

Premise: A biting parody of entertainment news shows, it uses sketch, impersonations and news-desk reporting to send up celebrity news and entertainment groupies.

Genre: Comedy satire

Demographic: 18 to 34; Episodes: 13 x half-hour

Budget: Cdn$2 million (us$1.3 million) overall

Delivery: Immediate

Prodco: Salter Street Films, Halifax, Canada

Distributor: Salter Street Films

What’s the skinny?

The show features a companion satirical website. The Comedy Network is on board in Canada.

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER

Premise: Celebrity guests dine in total darkness and try to guess each other’s identity.

Genre: Entertainment format

Demographic: Adult; Episodes: Variable

Budget: Variable

Delivery: Immediate

Prodco: Calt, Paris

Distributor: Distraction Formats, Montreal

What’s the skinny?

Filmed by state-of-the-art infrared cameras, the series’ dark atmosphere encourages intimate conversation – no subject is taboo. Airs on La Cinquieme and France 3 in France.

LIOGRAPHY

Premise: This spoof of a&e’s Biography sends up our culture of celebrity, with phony but close-to-reality

people profiles.

Genre: Comedy

Demographic: 18+; Episodes: 26 x half-hour

Budget: Cdn$2.6 million (us$1.7 million) for first 13 eps

Delivery: Immediate

Prodco: Creative Atlantic, St. John’s, Canada

Distributor: Minds Eye International, Regina, Canada

What’s the skinny?

Leslie Nielsen as host gives the series, to air in Canada on The Comedy Network, star power.

CHILLY BEACH

Premise: The people of this resort community (located in Arctic wilderness Canada) are painfully polite to one another as they celebrate hockey brawls and beer drinking and endure regular moose and polar bear attacks.

Genre: Animated comedy/Satire

Demographic: 18 to 34

Episodes: 22 x half-hour

Budget: Not revealed

Delivery: Fall 2001/Spring 2002

Prodco: Coprod of Infopreneur, Toronto, and Salter Street Films, Halifax, Canada

Distributor: Salter Street Films

What’s the skinny?

The series is a spin-off of a popular online cartoon from Infopreneur.

MARY 2 1/2 D

Premise: Reality is in the eye of the beholder as animated and live-action showbiz characters try to reinvent and improve themselves.

Genre: Animated/Live-action satire

Demographic: Adult

Episodes: 13 x half-hour

Budget: Not revealed

Delivery: Forecast 2002

Prodco: Cellar Door Productions, Charlottetown, Canada

Distributor: Pending

What’s the skinny?

Developed with Canadian broadcaster ctv, the concept comes from writer of acclaimed feature New Waterford Girl, Tricia Fish.

PMS GIRL.COM

Premise: A humorous, risque, unflinching look at every woman’s burden and every man’s nightmare, through the eyes and experience of Pattie, who, in Jekyll and Hyde fashion, regularly turns into scary PMS Girl.

Genre: Animated comedy

Demographic: 18+ women

Episodes: 13 x half-hour or 26 x 11 minutes

Budget: Approximately Cdn$200,000 (us$129,000) per half-hour

Delivery: 2002

Prodco: Sound Venture Productions, Ottawa, Canada

Distributor: Sound Venture Productions

What’s the skinny?

Broadcaster WTN (Women’s Television Network) in Canada onboard. Plan is to turn PMS Girl.com into a multimedia vehicle, allowing viewers to download their favorite episode, get real advice on PMS, and have access to a ‘bitch room,’ outrageous greeting cards and other features.

5TH QUADRANT

Premise: Investigative Reports meets The X-Files in this parody that lampoons the conventions of these serious shows by using doc-style testimonials, re-creations, ‘expert’ interviews and outlandish special effects.

Genre: Comedy/Mock reality show

Demographic: 18 to 34

Episodes: 13 x half-hour

Budget: Not revealed

Delivery: Fall 2001

Prodco: S & S Productions, Toronto

Distributor: S & S Productions

What’s the skinny?

From the people who created The Red Green Show. To air in Canada on The Comedy Network.

ONLY JOKING

Premise: A hidden camera captures people in their most awkward, confused, embarrassing and hilarious moments as unsuspecting bystanders are lured into becoming the target of gags and practical jokes.

Genre: Reality-based comedy

Demographic: Open

Episodes: 464 x 90 seconds or 39 x half-hour

Budget: us$7,000 per 90-second ep

Delivery: Immediate

Prodco: Keynews Television, Belgium

Distributor: The Multimedia Group of Canada, Montreal

What’s the skinny?

No dialogue means no dubbing or transformation required. A follow-up to the Just Kidding series, which has grossed us$10 million in licence fees over eight years. Selling to format producers and broadcasters.

ONLINE CAROLINE

Premise: A young woman asks viewers/Internet correspondents for advice on her career, love life and friendships, drawing the audience into a strange mystery.

Genre: Interactive drama format

Demographic: 16 to 34

Episodes: 24 webisodes and 9 x three-minute tv eps

Budget: Variable

Delivery: Immediate

Prodco: xpt, London

Distributor: Distraction Formats, Montreal

What’s the skinny?

Distrib is selling to Internet companies and to broadcasters. The tv series and website feed each other. The character sends viewers e-mails, and they can access her voicemail or can look in on webcam activity. Nine-minute broadcast episodes designed to air several times during two- or three-day cycle.