INCREDIBLE WIN FOR A SERIES THAT CELEBRATES KID'S CREATIVITY

October 31, 2000

[REGINA, SK CANADA]- "The Canadian television industry has given kid's creativity and imagination it's highest honour," said Incredible Story Studio's co-creator and producer Virginia Thompson after learning the series won Best Children's or Youth Program at last night's 15th Annual Gemini Awards.

In its fourth season, the Saskatchewan-made series is a truly international production with stories and principal photography conducted in Canada and around the world.

As the series world-wide popularity grows, so does its roster of international child authors. Incredible Story Studio now features stories written by kids living in Canada, the U.K., France, Martinque and Taiwan. Each half-hour episode is hosted by the Studio Boss, the kid movie mogul with mega moxie and features two kids' stories adapted into 10 minute, live action TV dramas.
The series, known as "the one-of-a-kind show where kids' stories from around the globe are made into MOVIES!" is now seen in over 300 million homes world-wide. Incredible Story Studio is broadcast on YTV in Canada, the Disney Channel in the U.K., France, Germany and the Middle East, Discovery Kids in the U.S. and Latin America, Nickelodeon in Australia, SABC in South Africa, CETV in China, KEBS in Korea, NHK in Japan, Noga in Israel, TnaG and TG4 in Ireland and Singapore Cable Vision.

"This is a remarkable story. In many ways, a Cinderella story.

We've always known it was a terrific concept - the support of our partners, our broadcasters and our viewing audiences proved that. Now, Incredible Story Studio finally got the glass slipper and won the prince's heart," says Executive Producer Kevin DeWalt.

Virginia Thompson and Robert de Lint are series creators, Kevin DeWalt is Executive Producer, Virginia Thompson and Rob King are producers, Rob de Lint is co-producer. King and de Lint, among others, also write and direct episodes of the series.

Virginia Thompson and Robert de Lint founded Vérité Films in 1994 to develop Incredible Story Studio. They developed the series by pitching the concept of "kids telling their own stories on TV" to over 6000 school kids across Canada, producing the series pilot, and writing the scripts for the first six episodes of the series. Vérité Films entered into a co-production with Minds Eye Entertainment to produce the series and have been living and working in Regina, Saskatchewan for the past four years.

Established in 1986, Minds Eye Entertainment is a fully integrated production, post-production and distribution entity with offices in Canada and the U.S. As Western Canada's largest independent film and television production company, Minds Eye Entertainment has been instrumental in contributing to the country's thriving motion picture industry. Its award-winning feature films, television series, shorts and documentaries have been sold in more than 100 countries.

Incredible Story Studio is produced with the financial participation of the Canadian Television Fund Equity Investment Program, the Canadian Television Fund License Fee Program, YTV, SCN, Minds Eye International, The Shaw Cable Children's Programming Initiative, The Shaw Cable Television Broadcast Fund, Independent Production Fund, The Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit, Government of Canada - Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program, and Saskatchewan Post Secondary Education & Skills Training. SaskFILM has provided development assistance. Incredible Story Studio is distributed internationally by Minds Eye International.

The series web site (www.storystudio.com), visited by thousands of kids around the world every week, was a contender for the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Most Popular Web Site.