Barna-Alper Productions tries its hand at several drama projects

It’s not just docs and WorkWeek for Barna-Alper Productions. The 15-year-old company, which recruited theatrical director Guy Sprung last year as its new vice-president, is quickly moving into drama mode.

Sprung, who says he started working full-time at Barna-Alper in January, has several projects in active development. The company is developing an mow based on the Diana Kilmury story. Kilmury was the woman trucker who fought to reform the Teamsters union and was part of the group which eventually ousted the corrupt old guard.

b-a is heading to the u.s. with coproduction partner Alliance Communications to pitch to the networks. cbc is also in on the development.

The other mow b-a is hoping to get off the ground is based in part on Shaun Comish’s The Westray Tragedy: A Miner’s Story. Des Walsh, cowriter of The Boys of St. Vincent and one of the hot new talents on the scene, has been approached to write the treatment.

The company also has a series in development with cbc. Ground Zero is set in a mixed youth center in Toronto’s Parkdale area, complete with a food bank, legal services and sports arena. Writers are Don Truckey, Chei Yuen and Drew Hayden Taylor. Sprung says scripts will be delivered in March.

Sprung himself is writing a treatment for a drama about National Film Board founder John Grierson. The project, which he also plans to direct, is titled Grierson and Propaganda and is being funded by the nfb.

Editor Manfred Becker is halfway through editing WorkWeek, b-a’s magazine series focusing on labor. It’s jointly produced by tvontario and CBC Newsworld. Laura Alper and Laszlo Barna are executive producing and Jane Jankovic is senior producer.

The company is also shooting Children for Hire, a documentary coproduction with cbc and the nfb about children in Canada’s labor market. Lyn Wright is directing.

And it’s completing Healing Journey, a Health and Welfare film for Ojibway Tribal Family Services.

Meanwhile, Sprung may direct Water of Life, an mow in development at the cbc with producer Alan Burke. It’s another project written by Walsh. The backdrop is smuggling in Newfoundland, but it’s more a story of people.

Walsh seems somewhat surprised that he is considered a ‘hot’ writer. Catching up with him at the Newfoundland Department of Mines and Energy office, where he spends four months a year writing geology reports, Walsh doesn’t appear to be terribly enthused by the sudden interest in his tv scripts.

‘I’m a poet who writes screenplays to make a living. But I don’t want to be in the position of taking on projects that don’t interest me just to feed myself,’ says Walsh. ‘I’d rather continue editing geological reports rather than be involved in a project that doesn’t really interest me.’

Nevertheless he is hoping that any promo he gets from his script writing will translate into better sales for his books of poetry. To date, he has published four. The good news is that one of his collections of poems may be the basis for a theatrical film. Director John N. Smith is considering developing a feature based on the characters from his book Love and Savagery. Whether this project goes ahead will depend on scheduling, says Walsh. Smith, you see, is Hollywood-bound with his wife, director Cynthia Scott.

In the meantime, Walsh, who has been nominated for a Gemini for his script for The Boys of St. Vincent, is sorting out whether he’ll make it to Toronto for the gala. Apparently he’s not a member in good standing with the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and therefore the acct will not spring for his flight and accommodations. Producer Claudio Luca may do that.

‘Hell, I’m not a member of good standing of this country, never mind the Academy,’ quips Walsh.

Flavor of the month

In the beginning there was Divorce Court. But the daytime strip flavor of the month is The Marriage Counselor.

Empire Entertainment, producers of the revived Divorce Court, will be starting principal photography on 130 episodes of The Marriage Counselor Feb. 28 at the cfto-tv studios.

Producers Jeff Copeland, Alex Nassar and Barry Pearson have hired psychologist Dr. Wendy Ledoux as host and will bring on other doctors and medical professionals to deal with the fictitious problems of fictitious couples.

The Marriage Counselor is being produced for Lifetime Television. Glen-Warren Entertainment holds Canadian distribution rights and Hearst/ABC-Viacom Entertainment will distribute the show outside Canada and the u.s.

The producers are also looking to do another year of Divorce Court, with some format changes.

What’s cooking

CBC’s head of series, Deborah Bernstein, has a number of projects in development. Two series that have been greenlighted in the development stages are Nothing Too Good For A Cowboy and The Alexanders.

Nothing Too Good For A Cowboy, by writer David Barlow for Alliance Communications, is a period piece that’s being developed as a possible replacement for Road to Avonlea.

Jenfilms’ Paul de Silva has also received money to develop some scripts for The Alexanders. The series is a spin-off of Gracie, a half-hour produced for the regional anthology series Inside Stories. Diana Braithwaite is writing.

cbc miniseries head Jim Burt has five movies that he believes will shoot this year, including Frost Fire, an mow by Alliance, and Trial at Fortitude Bay, a multiprovincial coproduction with producer Chris Zimmer and b.c..’s Margit Nance. Credo Group in Manitoba is also looking to get involved but nothing is yet confirmed.

Big Bear, the miniseries by Edmonton’s Great North Productions, has been temporarily delayed. However Sturla Gunnarson has been signed to direct.

– Mike Short is developing an mow for Atlantis Films entitled The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be, based on the Farley Mowat novel of the same name.

– Paragon’s Gary Randall is actively acquiring properties up here to pitch to the u.s. networks. His latest is True Crime, a reality-based mow written by Peter Haynes and Leila Basen.

See you in the comics

This is my last column for two and a-half months. I’m taking a leave from Playback to do research on a book on Canadian animation. So, unless you are an animator, you won’t be getting any more pesky calls from me. Of course, you will be getting pesky calls from Suzanne Wilson. She will be filling in for me. Pamela Cuthbert will be covering news and special reports. Ciao.