Maple, Anagram make multi-year deal

Slate includes horror films 'Thaw', 'Awake'

By JENNIE PUNTER

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TORONTO -- Maple Pictures, Canada's second-largest film distribution company, inked a multi-year output deal with Anagram Pictures, Maple co-presidents Laurie May and Brad Pelman said Monday.

The deal comes after Anagram tapped into Canadian federal agency Telefilm's Slate Development Pilot Program, providing credit to develop at least three market-driven features over three years.

Successful applicants must partner with an established distribution company.

Anagram's slate includes eco-thriller "The Thaw," in which an ancient parasite threatens humankind, shooting this spring; and "sombie" pic "Falling Awake," about a drug that eliminates the need for sleep, shooting this fall.

Anagram was co-founded in 1997 by Vancouver filmmakers Trent Carlson and Andrew Currie, whose 2007 retro-zombie comedy "Fido" was released in the U.S. through Lionsgate.

Currie is scripting the comedy "The Truth About Lying," about a family of compulsive liars. Production is slated for late 2008.