Everything about Kim’s Convenience, eh?

Thunderbird Entertainment reaches distribution deal with Encore Airlines for Kim’s Convenience

From a media release:

Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc. (TSXV:TBRD) (“Thunderbird” or the “Company”), a global multiplatform entertainment company, is pleased to announce it has reached a distribution deal with Encore Inflight Limited for the first two seasons of the Company’s scripted series Kim’s Convenience. The deal will see the Canadian Screen Award-winning series available for in-flight viewing on major world airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Emirates, SilkAir, Scoot, Royal Brunei Airways, Thai Airways, Qantas, and Qatar Airways. The deal will also include season three when available.

Kim’s Convenience is the comedic, heartfelt story of the Kims, a Korean-Canadian family who runs a convenience store amidst the energetic landscape of downtown Toronto. It follows two generations of the family, as they deal with customers, each other and the evolving world around them. The award-winning series stars Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Appa, Jean Yoon as Umma, Simu Liu as Jung, Andrea Bang as Janet, and Andrew Phung as Kimchee.

This high-profile partnership follows other major distribution deals for the award-winning Canadian series. In January, Yoon & Company acquired the series for distribution on cable TV in Japan and Korea, on top of the ongoing partnerships with Netflix for global streaming rights, and with Amazon for VOD rights in the United States and United Kingdom.

Season three of Kim’s Convenience premiered in Canada on CBC Television on January 8, 2019, and a fourth season begins shooting this spring. The series is based on the award-winning play by Ins Choi, who co-created the series with Kevin White. The series is produced by Ivan Fecan, who is also the executive producer along with Choi and White, and Thunderbird’s Executive Chair of the Board.

About Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc.
Thunderbird Entertainment Group is a Vancouver-based global multiplatform entertainment company with offices in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Toronto, Ottawa and London. Thunderbird creates award-winning scripted, unscripted and animated programming for the world’s leading digital platforms, as well as Canadian and International broadcasters. Thunderbird’s vision is to produce high quality, socially responsible content that makes the world a better place.  The Company develops, produces and distributes animated, factual and scripted content through its various divisions, including Atomic Cartoons, Great Pacific Television, Thunderbird Productions and Thunderbird Releasing Limited.

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CBC announces first round of renewals for the 2019-20 season

From a media release:

As Canadian Screen Week kicks off and CBC celebrates 236 nominations at the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards, the national public broadcaster is confirming an initial round of original scripted and unscripted renewals for the upcoming 2019-20 season on CBC and the CBC Gem streaming service. To date, 17 titles across drama, comedy, factual, arts and documentary programming have been confirmed to return, with additional renewals across all genres and content areas to be announced later this spring.

Returning series for 2019-20 confirmed to date are as follows:

  • ANNE WITH AN E (Season 3, 10×60, Northwood Entertainment)*
  • BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW (Season 4, 10×30, Frantic Films)*
  • BURDEN OF TRUTH (Season 3, 8×60, ICF Films, Entertainment One and Eagle Vision)
  • CBC ARTS: EXHIBITIONISTS (Season 5, 26×30, CBC Arts)
  • CBC DOCS POV (Season 5, 18×60)
  • CORONER (Season 2, 8×60, Muse Entertainment, Back Alley Films and Cineflix Studios)
  • THE DETECTIVES (Season 3, 8×60, WAM Media GRP Inc.)
  • DRAGONS’ DEN (Season 14, 10×60, CBC)*
  • FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES (Season 3, 10×60, Shaftesbury)
  • THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW (Season 3, 9×60, Proper Television)*
  • HEARTLAND (Season 13, 10×60, Seven24 Films and Dynamo Films)
  • IN THE MAKING (Season 2, 8×30, White Pine Pictures)
  • KIM’S CONVENIENCE (Season 4, 13×30, Thunderbird Entertainment)*
  • MURDOCH MYSTERIES (Season 13, 18×60, Shaftesbury)
  • THE NATURE OF THINGS (Season 59, 18×60)
  • SCHITT’S CREEK (Season 6, final season – 14×30, Not A Real Company Productions Inc.)*
  • STILL STANDING (Season 5, 13×30, Frantic Films)*

*Previously announced as returning

CBC is celebrating 236 nominations at the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards, a new record for the national public broadcaster. ANNE WITH AN E and SCHITT’S CREEK each received 15 nominations – the most for any scripted series this year. THE NATURE OF THINGS was honoured with 21 nominations and CBC DOCS POV received seven. Other returning titles that were nominated include: BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW (5), FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES (5), THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW (5), MURDOCH MYSTERIES (5), STILL STANDING (4), IN THE MAKING (3), THE DETECTIVES (2), BURDEN OF TRUTH (1) and DRAGONS’ DEN (1).

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Links: Kim’s Convenience, Season 3

From Melissa Hank of O.Canada:

Link: Kim’s Convenience star Paul Sun-Hyung Lee talks Appa’s slow transformation
“I always love it when my character suffers because it’s funny and there’s growth. When you first meet him, he’s kind of stuck in his ways. He says horribly racist and insensitive things, but it’s never done out of a sense of malice. In his world, this is how he sees it. He’s just ignorant.” Continue reading.

From Captain John K. Kirk of Pop Mythology:

Link: Kim’s Convenience returns for Season 3; highlights Toronto culture and diversity
“There’s the family, but there’s also customers and in Season Two, the Syrian refugee family that we’re able to meet. We get to bring nuances to this show that touch on the real world that other shows don’t get the opportunity to show.” Continue reading.

From Charles Trupunski of Brief Take:

Link: Interview: Kim’s Convenience’s Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jean Yoon, Simu Liu and Andrew Phung
“What’s exciting about Season 3 is that the characters are all really established, so the writers are switching things up, like “what happens when you put Appa and Jung together, what happens when you put Kimchee and Umma together? What happens when Janet gets another roommate? The writing is taking us somewhere a little deeper–in terms of communication, in terms of family, boundaries, and the kinds of power struggles that happen between friends, and also between married couples.” Continue reading. 

From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:

Link: Kim’s Convenience cast on those evolving family dynamics
“I am hyped that people love it. I’m hyped that people watch it. I’m hyped that people talk about it. I cannot wait for them to see this season that I’m incredibly proud of and find so funny. I can’t wait to do many more seasons, hopefully.” Continue reading.

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