Rent boys

New Line shooting Butterfly sequel

Breakdancing doc returns to Toronto

Toronto: Jack Lenz is hoping a new series of shorts will catch on with CBC’s after-school viewers, but is taking his preschooler hit Nanalan’ elsewhere, now that the network has passed on a possible third season. Lenz says he is in the final stages of a deal that will move the Gemini-winning puppet show to PBS.

Bring the Noise

The ABC Family series Beautiful People is back at Downsview Park studio in Toronto, shooting additional episodes for its first season until April.

Boys who like to wear pink have a new role model in Captain Flamingo – a 26 x 30 toon set to debut next month on YTV. The series is a copro by Heroic Film Company, Breakthrough Animation, Atomic Cartoons and PASI Animation, and features the voices of Tabitha St. Germain (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) as the pint-sized hero and Peter Keleghan (The Newsroom) as the booming-voiced narrator. The series is part of YTV’s afterschool block The Zone.

Just after one issue that had Hollywood studios reluctant to shoot in Quebec had apparently been resolved, another obstacle has materialized. A local union battle is underway, with the all-powerful IATSE making a play against the Alliance québécoise des techniciens de l’image et du son to represent Quebec’s behind-the-camera technicians.

Montreal: Not surprisingly, the SODEC 2004/05 annual report reflects the growth and mostly good news that surrounds the Quebec film and TV industry.

When all the numbers were crunched, 2005 turned out to have the biggest market share yet for Quebec-made films at the province’s box office. Domestic product accounted for 18.2% of theatrical receipts in 2005, up from 13.6% in 2004.

Montreal: Producer Nicole Robert of Go Films (Horloge biologique, Sur le seuil) is hoping to continue Quebec’s long history of successful stage-to-screen adaptations with Cheech, the film version of local scribe François Létourneau’s popular theatrical hit.

Montreal: Child’s play is serious business. At least it is to Spectra Animation, the subsidiary of Montreal’s L’Équipe Spectra. The toonco is enjoying the afterglow of a successful 2005 and is looking to grow and go more Canadian in 2006.