A new Canada/u.k./France coproduction, Star Hunter, could help turn New Brunswick into a major Canadian production centre.

Star Hunter, budgeted at $22 million, is a 22-episode sci-fi series scheduled to begin production on Apr. 24 in New Brunswick. The producers on the series are Toronto’s Danforth Studios and Fredericton-based Millbrook Productions along with France’s Le Sabre (a wholly owned subsidiary of Canal Plus) and Matrix Film and Television plc in the u.k.

‘What Star Hunter is going to do is establish the infrastructure for film in New Brunswick….It’s the first time we’ll have had any kind of consecutive volume in the province. It is pretty significant that way. It gives us a chance to attract businesses which can put down their roots here, like equipment suppliers and special effects shops, the whole nine yards,’ says Millbrook’s owner/producer Bruce Dennis.

Star Hunter will be primarily produced by its creators, Danforth Studios’ Phil Jackson and Daniel D’Or, with executive producer Elaine Scott. Jackson is set to direct the pilot, with he and D’Or slated to direct several episodes thereafter. The focus of the series is a bounty hunter named Dante, played by Michael Pare. Dante and his crew spend their days chasing down space fugitives and returning them to the prison planet. The series has already been presold to TMN, SuperChannel, Super Ecran and Canal Plus in France.