LORD Have Mercy, a television show created by Bermudian Vanz Chapman, hits Canadian screens next week.

The month appears to be one long celebration for the Toronto-based film critic. Reel Blak: Guess Who's Comin' to Tha Movies?, the first in a series of books penned by Mr. Chapman, was released just this week.

"Yeah, I am excited," he said. "But it's always up to the audience. With both the book and the television series, they've been seen by my friends and by (those involved in producing them) and of course, they're going to be encouraging and positive but you never really know with anything until it's been seen by the public.

"However, all indications so far are that they are both going to do well."

Mr. Chapman (pictured) received a bachelor of arts degree from Hampton University in Virginia and then moved to England, where he studied film-making at the famed London International Film School. It was on his return to Bermuda that he began writing scripts while working as a substitute teacher at the Berkeley Institute.

He enrolled in the master's of fine arts programme in film at Howard University in Washington, DC, and it was while there he achieved his first major success, winning the university's Paul Robeson Award for his short film, In America.

In 1993, the film enthusiast moved to Toronto to take advantage of its growing film industry. The move enabled him to work on several feature films and music videos and receive much needed on-set experience and, in 1997, he was accepted as writer-in-residence at the Canadian Film Centre.

"I think I always did want to be a writer, I did English Literature in university," he said at the time. "When I left university I was thinking about trying it out in Los Angeles, but immigration-wise it was easier to come to Toronto, where I was born. And the sign was that there was going to be a boom in movie and television production in Canada. I came here right before that started which was a big help."

Reel Blak, said Mr. Chapman yesterday, is a collection of reviews and essays on urban and black films in the United States. It's the first in a series, the author said. The next will look at black sexuality and film.

Gutter Press, a small house dedicated to the discovery and promotion of new authors, is publishing the series of books in conjunction with Word magazine.

"Reel Blak is a two-fisted statement on the status of black film," said a spokesperson from Gutter Press. "Consisting of insightful film reviews and essays, Reel Blak gives an overview of black urban cinema before, during and after the hip-hop era.

"The book also contains the no-holds-barred opinions of an urban think-tank - an exciting and eclectic group of film lovers with unique voices and perspectives on life and art."

Mr. Chapman created and produced Lord Have Mercy with Frances-Anne Solomon. He describes it as a cross between the British sitcoms Bless Me Father and Desmond. Set in a Jamaican storefront church, the primary source of the show's humour is the ongoing friction between the ambitious, but inept, youth pastor, Gooding and his pragmatic, easy-going father-in-law Pastor Stevens.

Their lives are further complicated by the offbeat array of eccentrics and misfits who congregate at the church. As to his plans for the future, Mr. Chapman is hoping to continue moving ahead. At the moment, he's working on developing a couple of television shows and is also doing a radio show related to Reel Blak, at Ryerson University.

q Lord Have Mercy airs on Canada's Vision TV - channel 60 in Toronto - at 9 p.m. on February 11, 12 and 13. Four episodes of the series air each night.