"Identity Theft" film option

From the Tuesday, September 5, 2006, edition of Variety, the Hollywood trade paper:

Snoot plans grand 'Theft'
A new 'Identity' for Calder

By Pamela McClintock

Keith Calder's frosh financing and production company, Snoot Entertainment, has bought the film rights to Robert J. Sawyer's acclaimed futuristic novella "Identity Theft."

Story revolves around a private eye working on Mars who is hired to find a beautiful woman's missing husband. Calder will produce with Snoot's Jessica Wu.

Project marks the first live-action feature for Snoot, which is in production on the CGI animated pic "Terra," voiced by Evan Rachel Wood, Brian Cox, David Cross, James Garner, Danny Glover, Rosanna Arquette, Ron Perlman and Danny Trejo.

Snoot intends to turn out two to three live-action pics a year and one animated pic every two years. Films, each costing up to $30 million, will be aimed at a broad aud.

Calder said Snoot is backed by a combination of private financing and outside equity investors.

In a move to make animated pics at a reduced cost, Snoot has teamed with visual effects company MeniThings. The two partners are in the process of creating a vfx studio for films, television, commercials and musicvids.

Other projects in development at Snoot include racially charged mystery "The Bone Orchard," thriller "Leave" and horror comedy "After Midnight."

Calder, who previously worked at Spyglass Entertainment and for Jeremy Thomas' London-based Recorded Pictures Co., also is a founding partner of Occupant Films. Calder launched Occupant with Felipe Marino and Joe Neurauter. Production company is debuting "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" at the Toronto Film Festival.