With affairs of state providing an ominous backdrop, Alberta’s producers have managed to keep themselves to the task at hand, and, following a year of series and international successes, are gearing up for more of the same.

Edmonton’s Great North Productions is looking at a year to top a very busy 1995, in terms of both production and distribution. Great North president Andy Thomson says 1995 showed a 53% increase in hours of production and a 43% increase in dollar volume over 1994. This year, Thomson says the company is looking at about 50 hours of programming, up from last year’s 32 hours, and total projected budgets are $25-$30 million, about double last year’s $14 million.

Thomson says scripts are currently being developed for a second season of Jake and the Kid, coproduced with Toronto’s Nelvana, with word of renewal expected from CanWest Global this month and financing decisions from Telefilm Canada in April.

The company also has a full complement of productions slated for delivery to Discovery Channel and has been actively pursuing international coproduction partners.

Twenty-six episodes of Acorn The Nature Nut will go into production in April, and to accommodate the double order of episodes, about a quarter of the shows will be filmed in warmer climes outside of Alberta. Budgeted at about $60,000 per episode, or around $1.6 million, the series is funded by Discovery Channel, cfrn-tv Edmonton and the Cable Production Fund, and Great North is petitioning the involvement of the Alberta Motion Picture Development Corporation and Telefilm.

Cotter’s Wilderness, another Discovery nature project coproduced with Stan Thomas Productions in Saskatoon, is scheduled to start shooting in the spring.

The Rat Among Us, a one-hour documentary for Discovery, chronicles the relationship between humans and the vilified rodent. The project, budgeted at about $500,000, is financed by Discovery and a number of international partners including France’s Canal Plus, zdf, Germany and orf, Austria. The project is a coproduction with Austria’s Interspot Films, and the impetus for a Canada/Austria coproduction treaty.

Toothwalkers, a one-hour documentary about Arctic walruses, is also being produced for Discovery, with the participation of Canal Plus.

A 13-part series for Life Network, Railway Adventures, is set to begin shooting in May. Budgeted at just under $1 million, the series looks at the impact of railways on the growth of Canada.

Great North has also struck up an Irish partnership on a pair of tv projects.

The Rose of Calgary, an mow about the Rose of Tralee contest in Ireland, is being developed with the cbc and Ireland’s rte. The film is budgeted at about $1.5 million and will be shot in Calgary and Tralee, Ireland.

Voyage of the Naparima is a four-hour miniseries about Irish emigration to Canada following the potato famine in the mid-1800s and is being produced by Great North and Fand Productions of Ireland for rte and ctv. Thomson says the project is still about a million dollars shy of its $8 million budget.

Speaking of potatoes, a hot one is being handled with Stranger in the House, a one-hour doc dealing with the issue of children and tv violence. Thomson says the proposal for the show has been sent out to broadcasters around the world and is garnering enthusiasm.

‘Our concern is to make sure this film is seen by as many people as possible,’ says Thomson. ‘I’d rather find ways of negotiating with broadcasters to work together rather than take the first broadcast licence that comes along.’

Great North is also currently shooting the Matchless Six, a one-hour doc for the cbc about the women Olympians of 1928, and, with the nfb North West Center, To Serve and Protect, a doc for ctv on policing.

Like many producers, Thomson attributes the company’s success of late to an increased field of international coproduction partners.

‘As well as an increased number of broadcasters, a certain percentage of our growth is due to our continued presence on the international scene,’ says Thomson. ‘We started going to mip in 1991 and have since seen the growth and development of relationships; The Rat Among Us and the two Irish coproductions are a direct result of our presence in the international marketplace.’

Great North Releasing was established in 1991 and retooled in 1993 to exclusively distribute documentary programs. Thomson says the distribution arm did $1.3 million in sales of Canadian docs to the international market in 1995, with forecasts of $2 million this year.

‘It’s great to have a successful business, but it’s also a lot of money we’re digging up around the world and bringing back to Canadian producers,’ says Thomson. ‘The growth is exponential because every time you make a sale that becomes a relationship you can build on forever.’

Alberta producer Arvi Liimatainen has also been reaping the benefits of being a producer sans frontiers. ‘I find myself making regular trips to l.a. and pursuing European partners for each project because there isn’t enough money in any one place, particularly Canada, to fund projects,’ he says.

Liimatainen’s The Legend of Ruby Silver, filmed in Alberta last fall, secured a $3.5 million licence agreement from abc, and Liimatainen says when it aired on the network in January, it scored an audience of over six million.

‘Ruby Silver was 90% financed by a distribution licence from abc,’ says Liimatainen. ‘It took a long time to get, but in the end the rewards that accrue from a property that is market-financed are substantial. When the potential of those kind of numbers is in front of you, the amount of money you can raise against that size audience is quite substantial.’

Doug MacLeod, a principal in Calgary’s Alberta Filmworks and Bradshaw MacLeod and Associates, was responsible for last year’s festival darling, The Song Spinner. In December, they wrapped the fourth season of North of 60, coproduced with Toronto-based Alliance Communications. Season three of the series received 11 Gemini nominations and MacLeod says there is general optimism about renewal.

The Song Spinner, made with director Randy Bradshaw and presold to Showtime in the u.s., has been wildly successful on the festival circuit and with critics, winning two Cableace awards.

MacLeod reports another three projects in the final draft stage, most from Western Canadian writers, which are being read by ‘various people outside of Canada who can pay large advances.’

‘It’s the conventional list of u.s. end users of high-quality family product,’ says MacLeod. ‘There is clearly a market for this kind of product, u.s. and foreign, and we’re developing product consistent with the needs of those end users – unique, high-quality, non-violent programs with good stories.’

MacLeod says projects are being developed with crossover theatrical potential in some markets, in that users paying advances can sell the property as a tv or a theatrical release when it is taken into foreign markets.

Edmonton-based WDC Entertainment’s Glynis Whiting says the company has just finished The Sterilization of Leilani Muir, a doc which tells of the confrontation of the titular character with Alberta’s sterilization laws, and the history of eugenics. The company is also waiting to hear from broadcasters on a second season of the comedy series Nobody’s Business, produced for WIC Western International Communications last year.

Karvonen Films, also of Edmonton, finished shooting phase one of the second season of the 13-part series Wild Encounters. Phase two of the $500,000 series is set to begin in April with broadcasters across the country, including cfcf-tv Montreal and b.c.’s Knowledge Network, and the ampdc, Telefilm and the cpf on board.

Edmonton-based Polar Bear Productions will be going into production this spring with Fish on the Fly, a 26-part series on fly fishing. Polar producer Rob Bremness says the pilot raised interest from u.s. syndicators at natpe and he is making final decisions about Canadian broadcasters and production partners for the $500,000 series.

Dale Phillips of Edmonton’s Black Spring Pictures and Selwyn Jacob are awaiting confirmation on National Film Board financing for Sleeping Car Porters, a documentary look at the lives and working conditions of black train porters. The project, budgeted at just under $300,000, is being produced with the participation of Telefilm, tvontario, cfcf, cfcn Calgary, scn Saskatchewan, the Knowledge Network as well as cn, cp and VIA Rail and the federal ministry of multiculturalism and citizenship (Heritage Canada).

Principal photography was just completed on Born Hutterite, executive produced by Phillips and Graydon McCrea of the nfb in Edmonton. The film examines the lives of Hutterites in the u.s. and Canada and two people who rejected the group’s lifestyle. It will be delivered in April to broadcasters tvo, cfcf, cfcn, Knowledge, scn and cky Winnipeg.

Edmonton’s Tohaventa Holdings, which is planning a follow-up to A Midsummer Night’s Ice Dream called 3 Musketeers on Ice, also has two multimedia projects in production.

Dig It! is an educational cd-rom and Net-distributed unit that deals with paleontology for grade-school students. The project has a budget of about $500,000 and is being produced with Alberta’s Royal Tyrrell Museum, Edmonton Public Schools, Blackstone multimedia developers and Edu Pro distributors.

Inclusion is a Net-based project produced for the Alberta Association for Community Living designed to help teachers with special-needs students and to foster the assimilation of disabled people into the community.

Tohaventa’s Geoffrey LeBoutillier and writer Conni Massing, whose credits include North of 60 and Jake and the Kid, are also working on a script for a tv movie.