VANCOUVER — The producers of Search & Rescue, a West Coast action-drama based on the lives of four members of the Coast Guard, is hoping to lure viewers away from the U.S. competition when it airs on Global in March.

Vincenzo Natali’s science fiction thriller Splice will go to camera in Toronto on Dec. 3 with Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody on board to star.

Comedy Central has picked up 10 old episodes of Kenny vs. Spenny and wants 10new ones, to be produced with help from South Park creators and fans of the show Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

E! has pulled back the curtain on a new 4 x 60 doc series, and is set to air Tribute Bands this month on Sundays, starting Oct. 21. The short-run series by exec producers Allison Grace (From the Ground Up with Debbie Travis) and Michelle Métivier (Final 24) of Good Company Pictures looks at less-than-famous groups that make a living, sort of, aping the acts of Rush, Queen, The Police and The Tragically Hip. It is fronted by Toronto musician and Rock Star: INXS also-ran Suzie McNeil.

Principal photography is underway in Edmonton on Tom Green’s latest flick, Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale. Produced by local prodco Panacea Entertainment, the sci-fi action/comedy is looking to make a bigger splash than other Canadian projects have in this genre.

Screenwriter Simon Barry has come home to Canada. After a decade in L.A., the B.C. native has flown the lucrative Hollywood coop and is back in Vancouver, at work on deals with Universal Studios and DreamWorks.

Intelligent Creatures is about to triple in size. The post company behind VFX in Hollywood titles such as The Game Plan and Hairspray is moving from a 3,000-square-foot space to a 10,000-square-foot studio in Toronto’s Beach area at the end of October.

In a sound decision, Imprint Music has tripled its recording capacity with the launch of Pork Pie Studios, providing full audio record and mix solutions for the film, television and advertising industries.

A group of industry vets has opened a new kid on the post-production block in Toronto, and they’ve got brand-new British toys.

HALIFAX — Egg Films, an East Coast television, radio and print production house, has launched a full-service post-production facility in Halifax called Hatch Post.

VANCOUVER — Getting a best visual effects Gemini nom for Stargate: Atlantis has turned VFX supervisor Mark Savela into a believer.

‘Avid has a bullet-proof software that has paid for my mortgage,’ says veteran editor Peter Hordylan, regarding the company that created the first commercially available digital nonlinear editing system.