Toronto toonco Nelvana is in production on another animated series for a u.s. broadcaster. Titled George and Martha, the kids’ series is for the yet-to-be-launched HBO Family.

Based on the popular books written and illustrated by the late James Marshall, the exploits of two next-door-neighbor, best-friend hippos named George and Martha are the focus of the show.

Nelvana has received an initial 13 half-hour episode order for the preschool-aimed show, which supervising producer Jocelyn Hamilton says is ‘simple yet sophisticated and doesn’t talk down to kids.’

‘We’re really excited about the series because it’s a simplistic type of series with really subtle humor and we think that eventually it could be a primetime children’s series,’ says Hamilton, who is Nelvana’s television division supervising producer.

In production until April next year, George and Martha will premier as part of the HBO Family launch in January.

George and Martha is a Cancon show and will apply to the usual funding agencies, says Hamilton.

Hamilton says a couple of high-profile actors have been approached to be the voices of the title characters, but won’t reveal details because no deals have been finalized.

‘hbo is really big on having stars to promote the show,’ she says.

Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, whose character Little Bear is a Nelvana series, is overseeing the production of George and Martha. Apparently Sendak controls the licensing and merchandising character options while Nelvana has the worldwide television rights to George and Martha.

The series is being produced with no coproduction partners and no Canadian broadcaster or foreign sales have been announced.

Hamilton says George and Martha will use traditional cel animation with computer-generated backgrounds and paint.

– Dead Aviators in T.O.

Family-oriented mow Dead Aviators, a coproduction between Accent Entertainment and Temple Street Productions, will begin production in Toronto at the end of September.

Scheduled to broadcast on Showtime in the u.s. and on cbc in Canada, the $3-million to $4-million budgeted tv movie is about a young girl who moves to the East Coast to live with her grandmother. At her new digs the girl discovers the ghosts of two French aviators whose plane crashed on a wwii mission and together they rebuild it.

David Wellington (Long Days Journey Into Night) is directing the Semi Chellas script, which received development funds from the Ontario Film Development Corporation, Telefilm Canada and fund.

Accent’s Susan Cavan and Temple Street principal Patrick Whitley are producing Dead Aviators.

Accent’s Dog Park, directed by Bruce McCulloch, has been selected as a gala presentation at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, where a u.s. distribution deal will hopefully be inked. Cavan is currently exec producing McCulloch’s next feature, Superstar, for Viacom (Paramount) in Toronto until Oct. 16.

Temple Street, the family entertainment arm of Whitley’s Dufferin Gate, is currently shooting two cable features in town: Sea People, directed by Vic Sarin, and Summer’s End, with Helen Shaver at the helm. Temple Street won two daytime Emmys earlier this year for In His Father’s Shoes.

– True indie Stuff,

A gutsy low-budget feature titled Stuff, produced and directed by James Dunnison, is slated to begin principal photography in Toronto this September.

With a production budget of under $50,000, the comedic romantic thriller, which Dunnison describes as ‘the story of a guy whose wildest fantasy comes true and becomes his darkest nightmare,’ will shoot on digital video with the intent of a 35mm film blowup.

Privately financed with no funding agency, studio or distributor monies, the film boasts a strong music talent contingent including coproducer Roma Khanna, manager of business and legal affairs at Sony Music Canada.

Dunnison’s wife Rebecca, who cowrote the script with him, used to be the lead singer of punk band Lick The Pole, featured in Bruce McDonald’s Hard Core Logo. Stuff’s star Max Danger is the 90-pound keyboard player for Toronto’s The Deadly Snakes, and The Pursuit of Happiness singer Moe Berg has been corralled for a cameo role.

A former writer in residence at the Canadian Film Center, Dunnison says the production has already been approached by a number of agents to discuss sound track possibilities.

Vancouver-based dop Bill Morrison will lens Stuff, and Dennison says the production may use the European standard pal format digital video because of its superior quality and higher number of scan lines than North America’s ntsc.

Look for used jewelry monger Russell Oliver (familiar to Toronto residents for his in-your-face tv ads) to play the role of – yes – a charismatic, shifty pawnbroker.

– Crystal tries to clear

New prodco Crystal Films has completed principal photography in Toronto on the feature More To Love (formerly Fat Chance) directed by Paul Lynch.

Starring Maxwell Caulfield (Empire Records, Grease 2) and former Swedish soap star Louise Werner, More To Love is currently being edited by Nick Rotundo.

Producers and Crystal principals Bob Tuli and Randy Butcher say that with the roughly $1 million worth of financing in place, they decided to forego presales and go ahead with production. They will now try to make distribution sales with the completed film, which should be finished by September.

Crystal is also searching for its next project as it hopes to complete at least one feature a year. Those with finished feature scripts are invited to contact Tuli at (905) 643-0022.

– Jackson rolls in T.O.

Alliance Communications kicked off production in Toronto this month on 12 half-hour episodes of the coming-of-age series The Famous Jett Jackson for Disney Channel.

Previously known as Silverstone, the character-driven adventure show follows Jett Jackson, a 13-year-old television star who moves back to North Carolina in an attempt to return to a normal life.

The Famous Jett Jackson is created by Fracaswell Hyman and New York-based multimedia company JP Kids. Hymen and Liz Nealon of JP Kids are exec producing while Kevin May is producing. Alliance distributes worldwide excluding the u.s.

Jett Jackson wraps Oct. 10.

– Higgly, Wiggly, Wonkers & Snout

Toronto’s Telegenic Programs and JAMS Productions will be putting four little piglets in front of the camera for 26 half-hours of its latest live-action kids’ show, Higgly, Wiggly, Wonkers & Snout.

Lensing will commence in February 1999, and while the series will be shot on video, a new process called asiva (for which Telegenic owns the Canadian rights) will make it look like it was done on film.

asiva is a computer enhancement process that allows the production team to save money by shooting on video while ending up with a finished product that nears the quality of something shot on 35mm film.

According to Telegenic president Michael Taylor, this new process will allow them to shoot Higgly Wiggly Wonkers & Snout under low light with a natural look as well as save time and money.

The animal action will take place on a farm north-east of Toronto. Tracy Grant will produce, jams executive producer is Marion Schwarz, who created the characters. No Canadian tv presales for the series or directors have been signed.