Nelvana is heading into production on its second primetime animated series, Committed.

Adapted from Michael Fry’s syndicated comic strip of the same name, which reaches 5.5 million readers a day through 110 newspapers across North America, including the National Post and Los Angeles Times, the 13-part series has been licensed to ctv and Fox Family Channel in the u.s.

It will be launched for further international sales at the upcoming natpe.

Written by Canadian scribe Howard Nemetz in consultation with Fry and exec story consultant Stan Daniels (creator of Taxi and writer on The Mary Tyler Moore Show), Committed is a contemporary and offbeat snapshot of family life, which tells the story of a working mom, a stay-at-home writer dad and their three children.

‘It’s like Bob and Margaret had they had kids,’ says producer Pam Slavin, adding, ‘Fry’s humor speaks to people about the stresses of daily life, but it also has a lot of heart. At the end of the day, you say, ‘Yes, life is stressful, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ ‘

Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, Clive Smith, Howard Nemetz and Fry are exec producing. Lynne Warner is line producing.

To date, Nemetz has completed three scripts, and Slavin says they will be expanding the writing team. Character designs have been established and casting is underway, but nobody’s been confirmed. A director is also yet to be attached.

Committed, which will be created in straight primetime 2D animation, is consistent with Nelvana’s strategic objective to grow its primetime animation slate.

It is also ctv’s first-ever Canadian primetime animation series and is scheduled to launch in late 2000.

*Obsrd takes flight with No Tomorrow

founded almost a year ago by Richard Poplak and Tamir Moscovici, obsrd (pronounced ‘absurd’) has finally emerged from the cutting-room closet with the recent launch of its first film, No Tomorrow.

Screened on Nov. 17 at Toronto’s Paramount Studios, the 30-minute short, written and directed by Poplak and produced by Moscovici, is a calling card for one of the newest prodcos on the Toronto scene.

‘With No Tomorrow, we wanted to flex our muscles and show the Canadian industry the technical maturity we have and the kind of quality we can put together for a minimal budget….We just made our business card,’ says Moscovici, who met his partner Poplak nine years ago at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Tannenbaum Gallery School where they studied film design with Phillip Barker (The Sweet Hereafter).

The budget for the film was $125,000, which included the formation of a website, all the publicity and marketing costs, the creation of a record label – Two Wars and a Revolution Records – and the release of a cd, the soundtrack to the film.

‘It should have cost closer to $650,000, but because of connections and favors we pulled it off for much less,’ explains Moscovici.

The film was made without any government funding. Instead, the two young entrepreneurs sold shares in both the film and the company to private investors.

No Tomorrow captures the dark humor and contemporary storytelling that will be the hallmark of future obsrd productions.

The company’s mission is to ‘develop and produce high-quality, low-cost films with international appeal.’

The first feature in development is Rehab, a black comedy that Moscovici describes as a modern, darker version of Some Like it Hot. ‘By exploiting the Canadian tax credits, raising the core capital, and through bond companies like Screen Ventures, we plan to put this film together for $1.5 million, without having to go to the government, Telefilm, the nfb or Canada Council,’ says Moscovici, who is producing the film.

The script has been written by Poplak, who will also direct. The film will be in preproduction by early 2000.

Also in development is The Tale, a 13-part, half-hour animated series for adults. ‘It’s a modern, adult version of Hansel and Gretel, done in a turn-of-the-century art nouveau style, with intricate hand-drawn animation and some computer background cel design to the speed up the process,’ says Moscovici.

Poplak is handling the drawing and both partners are in the process of writing the series. The intention is to partner with an experienced animation company like Nelvana or Disney.

At the same time, the young duo (they’re both 26) is working on developing their website, so eventually people can download mp3s of their films.

‘We’re a young company, so this is the time to build our infrastructure,’ says Moscovici. ‘The record label, the Internet, multimedia, animation…we want to get involved in all of it and not be left behind and stay stagnant to the last hundred years of filmmaking.’

*Annex hits the High Water Mark

annex Entertainment is in development with High Water Mark, an $8-million feature set to go into production by May 2000.

Presold at mifed to buyers from around the world, including Germany, Italy and Korea, High Water Mark is about a terrorism catastrophe that takes place at the Hoover Dam. ‘But instead of Bruce Willis saving the day, it’ll be two young protagonists in their mid-twenties – a computer geek and a great-looking girl,’ explains producer Richard Borchiver, who is coproducing and co-exec producing with partner Paul Wynn.

What happens is the young couple stumbles on a terrorist group’s plan to blow up the Hoover Dam, which would flood Las Vegas and cut off the water supply to many other regions.

The film was written by Robert Boris (Air Force One, Extreme Justice). Neither director nor talent have been signed yet, but Borchiver says they’re looking for at least one big American star, someone of the caliber of Tom Berenger, ‘otherwise we can’t sell it internationally.’

The shoot will run three weeks in Ontario at a location like the Pickering nuclear power plant where there are a lot of tunnels, etc., and one week in Las Vegas.

*Blue Train Films rocks the scene

blue Train Films, founded in March to specialize in the production and distribution of film and tv series in the jazz, blues and world music genres, has been given the green light by tvontario/tfo to produce a new series entitled The Duo Sessions. Bravo! is confirmed for a second window.

The 13-part, one-hour series, which will be produced in English and French, will feature duets of Canadian jazz musicians performing together (some for the first time), as well as a segment profile on each artist.

Musicians already confirmed include pianist Oliver Jones, sax player Jane Bunnett and Montreal guitarist Sonny Greenwich.

Blue Train president Daniel Berman, who created the $325,000 series, is exec producing, producing and directing.

The series will be shot in Toronto at the Du Maurier Theatre Centre at Harbourfront beginning in December.

Other projects in development at Blue Train include Dewey Time, a feature-length doc spotlighting legendary jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman, for Vision tv. The film is budgeted at $50,000 ($150,000 deferred) and is scheduled for broadcast in September 2000.

Musical Streets is a six-part, half-hour doc series that probes the history of six landmark avenues where American music was shaped. Budgeted at $750,000, it traces the life of the communities on 52nd Street and Tin Pan Alley in New York, Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Beale Street in Memphis, Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco and Maxwell Street in Chicago.

African Jam is a 13-part series that brings together contemporary African musicians and well-known blues, jazz and pop artists in the West. The series, budgeted at $2.8 million, will be partially shot in Africa, as the western performers will visit the homelands of their African counterparts in each episode. Shot in high-definition with 5.1 digital audio surround sound, the series will be available for home video and dvd.

*Buck buys Fishbowl

Buck Productions recently acquired Toronto post-production facility Fishbowl Productions, rounding itself out as a full-service prodco. Buck, which started out four years ago as a one-man show in a four-by-four office in Parkdale, is now equipped with a digital editing suite and a host of in-house talent, camera equipment and high-caliber projects in development, boasts founder Sean Buckley.

Along with Fishbowl’s editing and camera equipment came sales rep Darren Peck, editor Antonia Thompson and production coordinator Luanne Bryan.

Buck is currently in development with Critical Mass Releasing on a tv series called The Bohemian.

Budgeted somewhere between $600,000 and $1 million, the six-part, one-hour dramatic series takes a behind-the-scenes look at the gritty reality of owning a night club.

‘It’s like a Cheers meets Oz. It follows the plight of two characters who are, against all odds, trying to create and run a downtown night club. It demystifies the romance of owning your own club,’ says Buckley, who created the series with longtime collaborator Phil Morrison. (Buckley and Morrison recently completed Buck’s first feature film, Last Call.)

Buckley is also directing and is now in the process of attaching writers.