As we speak, the nation’s production company creative types are asking each other ‘Is this funny?’

A collective call was recently sounded by Global Television and cbc imploring Canada’s funniest to submit ideas for a new comedy show.

The unprecedented partnership will see the public and private broadcasters pooling financial (i.e. ctcpf envelopes) and production resources on the development of what will reportedly be a high-end, big-budget series.

While rumors indicate the intention is to create the elusive successful Canadian sitcom, Global vp of Canadian production Loren Mawhinney says sketch comedy series are also being considered.

Mawhinney says a number of ‘interesting proposals’ have already been submitted in hopes of being developed by the cbc/Global tandem.

This type of network coproduction, says Mawhinney, is the way of the future.

‘This project came out of the desire to create an interesting program. I think there are going to be a lot more coproductions at all levels. We do work with ytv, maybe one day we’ll work with Baton. As more and more signals are licensed into the marketplace, you’ve got to figure out a way to maximize your dollars.

‘The Traders deal was good for us, our ratings went up when the cbc licensed the show.’

The comedy series is tentatively slated for production in 1999/2000. No word yet on the sticky subject of first window.

– Macro slate at MicroTainment

In existence for a mere two years, MicroTainment Plus International has a full slate of upcoming production from its three divisions – factual entertainment, drama and animation.

The Toronto-based prodco is headed by a pair of veteran comedy, music and variety writer/ producers, president Mark Shekter and partner/chairman Garry Blye (The Andy Williams Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour).

The company’s drama division is about to go into production on 13 half-hours of a teen detective/comedy/adventure series titled Dick and Tracy for the cbc. Coproduced with New Brunswick’s Mobius Entertainment and budgeted at over $400,000 per episode, the series follows the adventures of teens Dick and Tracy, who take over Dick Sr.’s detective agency when he mysteriously disappears.

ytv has a second window on the show, which will shoot in New Brunswick beginning this summer and wrap in December. Shekter and Blye will exec produce, with Shekter the head writer. International sales are currently being negotiated.

On the doc side, MicroTainment will be supplying some product to a&e with a Biography doc on the House of Cartier in production until October and an Investigative Reports one-hour called Peace, Love and Murder, the story of a Philadelphia hippie guru named Ira Einhorm who murdered his girlfriend and was on the lam for 16 years before being captured recently.

Canal+ is also involved in the Cartier project.

Stuart Samuels manages the doc division, which is currently in negotiations or preproduction on another eight documentaries.

Toon-wise, MicroTainment is in development on a half-hour youth animated series with Ottawa’s Amberwood Productions titled The Angel Academy, which finds ‘a comical team of young angels who are sent to earth to apprentice as guardian angels for children.’

In the past, the company worked with Catalyst Entertainment’s Phoenix Animation to produce the 12 one-hour Bedtime Primetime Classics specials.

While financing and broadcasters are being secured for Angel Academy, development is also underway on an animated special titled The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, based on a short story by Wizard of Oz writer L. Frank Baum. French partner Millimages is involved in the special, which has a tentative fall ’98 start.

‘We’re trying to create a nice cross-section of product to appeal to a wide range of buyers,’ explains Shekter. ‘If you don’t do factual entertainment these days you’re omitting the a&es and Discoverys. Drama is always a staple and animation is forever.’

– Canadian production on Speedvision

Burlington, Ont.-based Daro Communications principals and producers Dan Woods and Rob Snowden liken their 13-episode, half-hour series Classic Car Restorations to Bob Vila’s home improvement show.

‘People have called it This Old Car,’ says Woods, who coproduces and hosts the show, which runs four times a week on u.s. cable net Speedvision.

With a total budget of $169,000, Classic Car Restorations’ first season follows the complete restoration of a classic Ford Mustang and a Chevrolet Corvette.

The Betacam sp shoot, directed by Snowden and coproduced by Snowden and Woods, began production in December and will wrap mid-April.

Snowden and Woods pitched the ‘serial automotive how-to’ series to various Canadian broadcasters for a couple of years with little success, until last October when Speedvision expressed interest after seeing a pilot.

Financed through a modest licence fee from Speedvision and corporate sponsorship, the pair is hoping for an order of 26 more episodes after a submission to the network in April. Season two is slated for production in June.

Woods says the intention is to generate more revenues through classified ads on the series’ Website (classiccarrestorations.com) and through home-video sales of the show. Daro is currently talking to vidco Viewer Services about a home-video deal.

Daro has maintained the rights to rebroadcast Classic Car Restorations in Ontario and is negotiating for a window with Hamilton’s ontv and Barrie’s vr.

Viewers may recognize Woods as the English teacher and later vice-principal on Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood’s Degrassi series.

– Turn it up

Production began in Toronto March 30 on director/writer/ exec producer Glenn Forbes’ 24-minute sci-fi thriller Amplifier. Examining a mother and daughter’s shared addiction to technology, the ambitious short is being shot on 35mm by dop Tony Wannamaker (Project Grizzly).

Privately financed and budgeted at $30,000 with deferrals and favors including help from PS Production Services and CVC Productions, Forbes hopes to have the film ready for this year’s festival circuit. Irene Spavafora and Jim Fairhart are producing.