‘We literally had to hop, skip and jump across the country,’ says producer Virginia Thompson of the havoc unstable provincial funding mechanisms played during the four-year effort to bring The Incredible Story Studio to the small screen. The launch is slotted for January on tvontario, wic and scn.

A Regina shoot recently wrapped on the 13-part, live-action tween series produced by Regina-based Minds Eyes Pictures, but the program originated with Thompson and Verite Films partner Robert de Lint in Ontario.

After wrapping up a long-running stint working on Epitome Pictures’ Degrassi series, Thompson and de Lint formed their own company with an eye to tap into their experience producing children’s programming.

Assessing the kids’ market, Thompson noticed a lack of dramatic shows and decided this was the gap a new series should fill. ‘Most of the programs were issue-oriented as opposed to imagination-based and we wanted to find a way to represent kids’ imagination dramatically,’ she says.

The idea crystallized to create a story studio, reminiscent of the old Hollywood studio system, but one where kids could send in their own fictional tales. The stories would then be adapted into 10-minute dramas narrated by the authors themselves. A kid version of a movie mogul/studio boss hosts the series and profiles the young author via a slide show.

‘The whole point is to put the kid authors front and center of the show,’ explains Thompson.

To convince broadcasters that stories written by kids could be successfully dramatized, the producers went in search of a pilot script. With the cooperation of teachers, they put together a story writing and editing workshop, incorporated into grades six to eight classrooms throughout Ontario. From among the student submissions, a story was chosen for adaptation.

The strategy worked. tvo plunked down development money and the producers toured 25 schools across the province to put together six half-hour scripts.

Coming up with the $3.1 million in production financing proved a more difficult task. Additional broadcast windows were necessary to piece together the budget and the first-time indie producers did not have established relationships with broadcasters. To make matters worse, the Ontario Film Development Corporation was cash-strapped so provincial incentives could not be relied on as a piece of the puzzle.

Thompson set out to land a coproducer in another province and found her partner at the 1995 Banff Television Festival where she first pitched Minds Eye’s Kevin DeWalt.

A deal with wic-owned itv ensued and the series was put into development at Minds Eye’s Alberta office. To ensure content was delivered from both Ontario and Alberta, over 3,000 additional stories were collected from 35 Alberta schools. But financing relied on access to Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation funds, and when the agency was shut down in March ’96, the Incredible Story Studio went with it.

Production was moved to Saskatchewan, where Saskfilm and Saskatchewan Job Start/ Future Skills funding was triggered and an scn licence picked up. Another 1,500 stories were collected, this time from Saskatchewan.

To take advantage of the ctcpf regional bonus, Verite Films had to pull out as Ontario coproducer, making the project a complete Minds Eye production. The final funding scenario also included monies from Telefilm, the Independent Production Fund and Shaw Children’s Programming Initiative.

Needless to say, Thompson definitely has no shortage of story material, estimating more than 6,000 stories have been collected over the past four years.

The tales chosen cover a range of themes: parents, friendship and young love, imaginative sci-fi scenarios and quirky, humorous tales such as The Great Casserole Adventure and Hugo and the Haunted Cheese.

Another 22 eps are already in development and Thompson is looking to nab a national broadcaster for the second round. Over the last few months, Thompson has moved Verite to Saskatchewan and it is now registered as a bona fide indigenous company. Additional orders of The Incredible Story Studio will be coproduced between the two companies.

Evergreen Releasing is distributing internationally. After an initial introduction to the foreign marketplace, DeWalt reports 27 countries have expressed interest in viewing the property once post-production is complete. Broadcasters in Spain, Germany and New Zealand are in discussions to pick up the series in franchise format.

Ontario and Alberta’s loss was Saskatchewan’s gain, with 84 local crew members working on the series and a number of emerging directors from the province offered on-the-job training. De Lint is the primary writer and director on the series, with Minds Eye’s president creative affairs Rob King also sharing these duties. Edgar Lyall is story editor.

From an open casting call of 800 kids from across Saskatchewan, a repertory company of 50 performers was formed and workshopped by Degrassi Street cocreator Kit Hood. Keeping with the old Hollywood system where actors were attached to their studio, the kids reappear as different characters in each episode.

But for the final episode a new actor came on board, none other than Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who makes his dramatic tv debut in a cameo in the tale of a boy who goes to comic lengths to save the prime minister from a mad scientist’s evil plot.

‘It’s kind of sad,’ says Thompson of having to pack up her Ontario production company. ‘We were trained in Toronto and benefited from Ontario filmmaking programs but to be indie producers, at least in kids’ programming, we just couldn’t stay here.’