‘The Caucasian skull that we found clearly indicates we’re in the right spot. We’re going to find that ship.’

Halifax-based Eco-Nova MultiMedia producer John Davis is referring to artifacts found on the site believed to be near the shipwreck of the doomed Franklin expedition to the North Pole.

Davis and fellow Eco-Nova producer Rick Haupt, who is also directing the 13 one-hour Oceans of Mystery series for Discovery Canada, were in the Arctic last summer searching for the doomed vessel. Though they didn’t find the ship, their search is documented as part of a two-hour Oceans of Mystery special airing Feb. 22 on Discovery.

Haupt, Davis and producer John Wesley Chisholm are also excited that the shipwreck series has been bought by Discovery International as 26 half-hours. ‘We’ve got over $1 million on presales on this show,’ says Davis, who expects Oceans of Mystery to run in Europe, South Africa, South America, New Zealand and Australia, but is still waiting to hear on a u.s. broadcast.

Having just added another in-house edit suite, Eco-Nova is currently in production on an episode examining Puerto Rico and the Spanish American war vessel the Antonio Lopez. ‘It’s a great shipwreck,’ says Davis. ‘It was a Spanish vessel delivering armaments to San Juan to protect it from the imperialistic Yankee forces.’

Oceans of Mystery is budgeted at $1.6 million.

On the development side, Eco-Nova is gearing up to shoot a one-hour documentary on local poet Alden Nowlan, with Barry Cameron’s Fredericton-based Cinefile Productions coproducing. Writer Brian Gunn has penned the script for the doc, which has financing in place from the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation and Vision tv’s Atlantic development office.

Davis says they are waiting to hear from Film nb before beginning the shoot next summer.

Getting back to the nautical theme, Eco-Nova is developing six one-hours of Great Sea Battles with Toronto’s Canamedia Productions for History Television. Spanning sea battles from Roman times to wwii, Davis is hoping to get production underway by the summer. Though History has not yet granted a licence, the nsfdc has already committed to funding.

Finally, Eco-Nova is in discussions with an unnamed British producer and distributor on its in-house-developed live-action kids’ show Sea Rangers.

‘We envision it to be a show where the kids are operating a submersible oceangoing vessel, dealing with ecological and biological safety issues and saving the planet,’ says Davis. ‘The Sea Rangers will be around oil spills, shipwrecks and dealing with each other socially.’

Davis says the licensing and merchandising plans for the show include an electronic magazine and cd-roms that will allow children to express and act on their environmental concerns for the planet.

– Full slate at Phare Est

With 10 years and over 20 films under its belt, Moncton’s Productions Phare Est has another varied slate of productions ready to go.

First up is a half-hour drama for the cbc titled The Shed Next Door. Written and directed by Renee Blanchar, with Phare Est’s Cecile Chevrier producing, the $400,000 budgeted short will be partly financed with $250,000 from the cbc and $50,000 from Film nb.

Scheduled to shoot in Memramcook, n.b., in March, The Shed Next Door is the first of three half-hour dramas for the cbc being executive produced by Mobius Film and Television’s Roman Bittman, former head of the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation.

The other two half-hours Bittman will oversee are The Dance, written by Wayne Curtis, directed by Ken Furlong, and produced by Cinefile Productions’ Barry Cameron, and Paradise Siding from Atlantic Mediaworks producer Bob Miller.

Chevrier is also developing a French-language kids’ anthology series with science fiction undertones for 10- to 14-year-olds. Titled La Lune Nous Raconte, the show is the brainchild of writer/directors Chris Leblanc and Paul Bosse. Chevrier is producing.

The first of nine half-hours are expected to shoot in August. tfo is the broadcaster on the $100,000 per episode series, which is being shot on video. Additional development funds came from Telefilm Canada, Film nb and newcomer to the New Brunswick development financing scene Fundy Communications, whose new ‘network’ will enjoy a second window.

Chevrier is particularly excited about the one-hour documentary The Tip Of The Iceberg/La Point de l’Iceberg, which will shoot across Canada in May and June.

Written and directed by Blanchar, the doc takes a look at contemporary Canadian society through the eyes of Generation x. The project was originally developed through tfo as a French-language project, but Chevrier says it quickly became obvious the production deserved an English-language version as well.

With the National Film Board kicking in 20% of the $600,000 doc shot on Betacam, Chevrier has secured funding from tfo, Telefilm and Film nb and is looking for an English-track broadcaster.

Phare Est is also developing a feature with Blanchar titled The Arrangement, about four women who find themselves together after the death of a mutual former lover. Also in development is La Vraie Vie (The Real Life), based on the novel by New Brunswick writer France Daigle. Daigle is cowriting the script with Jean-Marc Lariviere, who is slated to direct.

– Torrential’s One Last Shot

Still giddy from the three Gemini nominations for their half-hour drama Nan’s Taxi, Halifax’s Torrential Pictures principals Mike Clattenburg, Brian Heighton and Jonathan Torrens have just wrapped their latest short.

Shot on evenings and weekends over the last few months, One Last Shot was directed, produced and shot by Clattenburg, with Torrens and Heighton serving as exec producers.

Examining the life of a 20-something university student who really just wants to work in a pet store full-time, the self-financed film promises colorful language, and according to Clattenburg, ‘a bunch of crazy scenes based on the actors’ improvisations.’

The film stars John Paul Tremblay, John Dunsworth and Robb Wells and includes cameos from Lex Gigeroff, Heighton, Torrens and sister Jackie Torrens.

The shoot was helped out with $1,000 worth of services from William F. White, won by the filmmakers at the Atlantic Film Festival two years ago for their first short, Liquor Store. Clattenburg is hoping to post the film over the next five months in Toronto, where he is directing sketches on Jonathan Torrens’ cbc show Jonovision.

Sound will be done at Toronto’s Casablanca Sound Services, due in part to a $7,000 services grant, also won at the aff for Liquor Store. With the language and subject matter a bit on the coarse side for television, One Last Shot should premier at this year’s aff.

With three shorts under their belt, Torrens feels Torrential is ready to take the next logical step up to features. ‘One Last Shot will represent the pinnacle of Torrential Pictures’ film history,’ says Torrens. ‘It’s not only a story for all humanity, as Mike says, but it’s also really cool.’

Feature scripts include the Torrens/Clattenburg-penned comedy The Green Bastard and Timm Hannebohm’s action thriller The Fish Wife, both solid screenplays with the only problem being a lack of financing.

‘We’re open to receiving large amounts of cash for any of these projects,’ says Torrens, adding: ‘The other option is registering as a charitable organization and hitting the phones. Something like the Torrential Kids Camp.’

– Montgomery to head up Baton development office

Former Atlantic Film Festival artistic director Johanna Lunn Montgomery has been appointed Baton’s head of independent production for Atlantic Canada.

Though she declines to disclose how much licence money she has to work with, Montgomery expects the office will initially be looking to grant licences for ‘socially relevant’ documentaries and for half-hour dramas to run on Baton’s Storytellers series.

Montgomery was at the aff for five years where she was instrumental in developing the industry series Different Takes and expanding the International Perspectives program.

Prior to the aff, Montgomery founded the Screen Scenes children’s film and television festival. She currently chairs the Linda Joy Media Arts Society, an organization that gives more than $100,000 in awards to emerging film and video makers in the region.