REGRETFULLY, MYTHQUEST MUST CONSIDER A MOVE

December 20, 2000

REGINA, SK- Producers of MythQuest, a 13-part one-hour dramatic youth series currently shooting in Regina, may have to look elsewhere to house production of its remaining eight episodes.

After working on the project for three years, Minds Eye Entertainment is very proud to have been able to bring this project to Regina, filming the first five episodes in the city between October 31 and December 19. MythQuest's producers and broadcasters (Showcase, CBC and PBS) are extremely pleased with the results: the series has tremendous production value and has already received glowing reviews from focus test audiences. The prime time international television series targets the "tween" audience of nine to 13 year olds and utilizes the latest in CGI technology.

MythQuest is a co-production between Minds Eyes Pictures of Canada and TiMe Produktions of Germany, in association with David Braun Productions of the USA.

The production lost its makeshift sound studio, the former SIAST building located at 221 Winnipeg Street North, when the property was sold weeks ago to accommodate the new Staples call centre. Minds Eye Entertainment applauds the Staples call centre, as it shares the philosophy of generating economic benefit for the city and offering employment to several hundred local residents.

Unfortunately for MythQuest however, it meant that the production would have to vacate the building by the end of December. With assistance from Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation and RREDA, alternative space was sought. As a result, MythQuest moved its production to three smaller buildings, scattered in various locations in the city's industrial district, which are, regrettably, unsuitable to the needs of this highly specialized production..

Increased costs and logistical challenges have prompted the producers to consider a move out of Regina to an environment more conducive to the needs of the production.

"We are seriously considering moving out of the province to complete the last 8 episodes. And if there is a move, it will be for financial and logistical reasons only. A sound stage in the city would have kept the production here," says MythQuest Executive Producer Kevin DeWalt, CEO of Minds Eye Entertainment.

A state of the art sound stage complex is proposed for Regina, which would ensure productions like MythQuest have a permanent facility suited to the needs of the motion picture industry. Saskatchewan is presently the only western province without a sound stage facility. A feasibility study, commissioned by the Regina Regional Economic Development Association (RREDA) and conducted by Economics Research Associates of Los Angeles, indicates that with such a facility the province's current prediction of $80 million in annual production is well-founded: without a sound stage, the level of activity could be substantially reduced to $30 to $40 million.

Discussion with the federal and provincial governments are currently underway regarding the proposed sound stage complex. Unfortunately for this production, the need for a soundstage space is immediate. Consequently, it is expected that the project will have to be relocated to another province in order to complete the current cycle and deliver on schedule to its broadcasters.

"As a Regina-based production company, Minds Eye Entertainment has had the privilege, over the past 15 years, to work with a group of locally based creative people that we believe to be among the best in Canada. In the event that the project is moved, we will make our utmost efforts to keep as many Saskatchewan people employed on the project as we possibly can. The high quality of the first five episodes filmed in Regina is due in large measure to their contribution," says DeWalt.

"Our out-of-province partners have noted the outstanding level of effort and cooperation which has been made to accommodate this production, and want us to communicate that the relocation is only occurring because of the lack of soundstage space," he continues.

On behalf of MythQuest Productions, TiMe Produktions and David Braun Productions, Minds Eye Entertainment extends sincere thanks to everyone who helped with this ambitious undertaking, the largest television series ever filmed in Saskatchewan. The quality of the work will undoubtedly bring other projects to the province in the near future.

If the production moves, it will retain its same partners and be set up as an interprovincial co-production.

MythQuest is an hour-long family drama television series featuring two teen characters, Alex Bellows and his wheelchair bound sister Cleo. They have discovered a wondrous, heart-pounding secret that could unravel the cosmic struggle between good and evil, in doing so, reveal what it truly takes to be a hero. Like a magic looking glass, a computer screen becomes a gateway to the kingdom of myths: a gateway into which their own father, a celebrated archeologist, disappeared. Now on a quest to find him, Alex and Cleo must test their own heroism as they cross into a cyberworld of mythic imagination.

Fantastic stories like the Greek Theseus and the Minotaur or the Egyptian Isis and Osiris, or the Aztec Quetzalcoatl are rendered with modern, state-of-the-art computer graphics and blended with contemporary characters in an episode format. Given the number of myths in existence and the audience's thirst for the contemporary interpretation of these age-old stories, the possibilities for MythQuest are endless.