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Industry News, Orphan Black, The Lake

Amazon Prime Video begins production on the first scripted Canadian Amazon original comedy series – The Lake

From a media release:

Amazon Prime Video today announced the start of production of the first scripted Canadian Amazon Original series, The Lake. Set in cottage country, the 30-minute episodic comedy will film in northern Ontario from August to September. The Lake stars Jordan Gavaris (Orphan Black), Julia Stiles (Hustlers, The Bourne Identity) and Madison Shamoun (#blackAF, Black-ish). The series will launch in 2022 and be available exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

The Lake centres on the quintessential Canadian cottage experience, and one man’s attempt to recreate his childhood memories in an effort to re-connect with his biological daughter. Produced by AMAZE and filmed in northern Ontario, the series taps into the family bonding, relaxing in nature and the peacefulness of cottage country then turns it on its head, with petty rivalry, strained relationships, day drinking, and mosquito-ravaged sunburns.

In The Lake, Justin (Jordan Gavaris) returns from living abroad after a break-up with his long-term partner, in the hope of reconnecting with the biological daughter that he gave up for adoption in his teens. His plans to create new memories with his city-loving daughter Billie (Madison Shamoun) at the idyllic lake from his childhood go awry when he finds out his father left the family cottage to his “picture-perfect” stepsister, Maisy-May (Julia Stiles). Additional cast include Jon Dore (Funny As Hell, Humour Resources), Carolyn Scott (Pushing Tin, Goosebumps), Natalie Lisinka (Orphan Black, The Expanse), Travis Nelson (Tucker and Dale vs Evil) and Declan Whaley (Criminal Minds).

The Lake is produced by AMAZE, with Michael Souther and Teza Lawrence serving as executive producers for AMAZE (Carter, Call Me Fitz), and is written and executive produced by Julian Doucet (Killjoys, St Nickel). The Lake comes from Amazon Studios and is part of Prime Video’s continued investment in Canada. The Lake is the fourth announced Canadian Amazon Original series following the revival of the sketch comedy The Kids in the Hall, docu-series All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs, and comedy-variety series LOL: Last One Laughing Canada. Since 2015, Amazon Studios has filmed 24 Amazon Original series and films in Canada, including The Man in the High Castle and Upload in Vancouver, The Boys and The Expanse in Toronto, Tales from the Loop in Winnipeg, as well as parts of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and The Voyeurs in Montreal.

The Lake will join the thousands of TV shows and movies from Hollywood and worldwide in the Prime Video catalog including award-winning and critically acclaimed Amazon Originals like The Tomorrow War, The Underground Railroad, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, The Boys, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, and Emmy and Golden Globe award winners Fleabag and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, all on Prime Video, which is available at no extra cost for Amazon Prime members.

Prime members will be able to watch all episodes of The Lake anywhere and anytime on the Prime Video app for smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Fire tablets, Apple TV and stream online.

Image courtesy of Peter Stranks.

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Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Rezolution Pictures announces greenlight for second season of GESPE’GEWA’GI: The Last Land on APTN

From a media release:

Rezolution Pictures is very proud to announce that APTN has greenlit the second season of GESPE’GEWA’GI: The Last Land for a 10-part, half-hour episode series. Pre-production is scheduled to begin in August and shooting commences in Fall 2021, continuing into Summer 2022 in the Mi’gmaq communities of Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

GESPE’GEWA’GI: The Last Land, Season 2, is a documentary series about the Indigenous men and women of Mi’gmagi who work for Indigenous-run commercial fisheries Following larger-than-life characters, we experience the fun and excitement of their lives on and off the water. We also get an inside perspective on how First Nations commercial fishing industries — that were born out of violence and defiance — grew to be a key economic and cultural support for the communities.

The subject is quite topical as two events have been in the news in the last year: The conflicts between Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaq and non-Indigenous commercial fishers and the British Columbia Court of Appeal’s upholding of parts of a lower court ruling that Canada’s regulation and management of regular commercial fisheries unjustifiably infringed on the First Nations fishers’ rights to harvest and sell fish.

The first season of the documentary series about the Mi’gmaq fishers of Listuguj, Que., who make their living on the nearby waters harvesting salmon, crab, lobster and shrimp, was first broadcast in Winter 2021 and the entire season is re-running on APTN now as well as on APTN lumi.

Featuring some of the larger-than-life characters from Season One and introducing some new brave, funny, and robust fishers, biologists, Elders and community members, Season Two will be anchored in Listuguj but also travel to other Indigenous fisheries in Mi’kmaq territory, such as Gesgapegiag, Que., Eel River Bar, N.B., and Sipekne’katik, N.S. It will continue to showcase life on the water, the science and conservation efforts being put forward, and the history, culture, and community of the Mi’gmagi.

GESPE’GEWA’GI: The Last Land is co-executive produced by Ernest Webb (Cree) and Greg Lawrence, produced by Lisa M. Roth. Season 2 combines the directing talent of Ernest Webb, Greg Lawrence, and Courtney Montour (Mohawk). In season 2, Heather Condo (Mi’gmaq) returns as Director Trainee and April Maloney (Mi’kmaq) comes on board as director of photography trainee, with the support of the ISO-Netflix Indigenous Production Apprenticeship Program.

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Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Jesse Fawcett launches independent production company, Fireworks Media Group

From a media release:

Prolific award-winning television producer Jesse Fawcett has launched Fireworks Media Group, a North American-based production company to develop and produce premium unscripted and scripted content.

Fawcett is well known in the entertainment business as a co-founding partner of global content company Essential Media Group where he helmed North American operations until the company was successfully sold to Kew Media in 2018. In 2020, Fawcett and Greg Quail re-acquired the assets of Essential from Kew and relaunched as EQ Media Group. Now, Fawcett is poised to inaugurate his own venture, Fireworks Media Group, together with a cross-border team of veteran production professionals.

Under the new banner, the company is producing the new original series Pamela Anderson’s Home Reno Project (working title) for HGTV Canada with iconic Baywatch star Pamela Anderson returning to her Canadian roots to rebuild the family home of her dreams. The series is executive produced by Brandon Lee, Fawcett and Firework’s new President of Canada, Robert Hardy. Corus Studios will distribute the series internationally. Pamela Anderson is represented by Chris Smith at ICM Partners. Fireworks Media Group has also secured an exclusive first-look scripted development deal with social media sensation Kris Collins, who has amassed over 32 million followers and 1.4 billion likes.

In addition, Fireworks Media Group is currently in production on sophomore seasons of the real estate unscripted series Selling the Big Easy for HGTV in the US as well as Corus Studios’ Big Timber which airs on HISTORY in Canada and Netflix in the US and internationally. A top performer on HISTORY and Netflix, Big Timber. follows the high-stakes work of logger and sawmill owner Kevin Wenstob as he and his crew go to extremes to keep the family sawmill, and their way of life, alive.

Some of the other successful shows completed during Fawcett’s tenure at EQ Media Group include No Demo Reno which recently launched on HGTV as the #1 cable premiere in the Thursday 8-9pm timeslot, multi-season hit series Restored airing on Discovery+, the paranormal reality series Ghost Loop for Travel Channel and 165 episodes of Texas Flip N’ Move, perennial #1 series on DIY Network.

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Industry News, The North Water

CBC/Radio-Canada and Super Channel partner with the BBC on UK/Canada co-production The North Water, from See-Saw Films and Rhombus Media

From a media release:

CBC/Radio-Canada and Super Channel are partnering with the BBC to bring five-part Arctic nautical adventure THE NORTH WATER to Canadian audiences across the country. Commissioned by the BBC and CBC/Radio-Canada in association with Super Channel, THE NORTH WATER is a UK/Canada treaty co-production from Canada’s Rhombus Media and the UK’s See-Saw Films. Based on the critically acclaimed, best-selling novel by Ian McGuire, the immersive drama is adapted and directed by Andrew Haigh (45 Years, Looking) and stars BAFTA-winner Jack O’Connell (Unbroken, Godless), Golden Globe®-winning actor Colin Farrell (In Bruges, True Detective), and SAG Award-winner Stephen Graham (Line of Duty, Boardwalk Empire), together with an incredible ensemble cast that includes renowned Inuit actor Natar Ungalaaq (Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner).

THE NORTH WATER will make its first Canadian debut on Super Channel Fuse on Sunday, September 19 at 9 p.m. ET with each episode available on Super Channel On Demand the day following its weekly linear broadcast, followed by wide release on CBC TV, CBC Gem, ICI TÉLÉ and ICI TOU.TV in fall 2022. Super Channel is available via most cable providers across the country, as well as Amazon Prime Video channels and the Apple TV app. THE NORTH WATER will premiere in the UK on BBC Two this fall, and is streaming on AMC+ in the U.S. this summer.

Set in the UK and the ice floes of the Arctic in the late 1850s, the series tells the story of Patrick Sumner (O’Connell), a disgraced ex-army surgeon who signs up as the ship’s doctor on a whaling expedition to the Arctic. But the ferocity of the elements is matched by the violence of his crew mates, including Drax (Farrell), a harpooner and distinctly brutal force of nature. As the true purpose of the expedition becomes clear, confrontation between the two men erupts, taking them on a journey far from solid ground and way beyond the safe moorings of civilization.

THE NORTH WATER was filmed primarily in Budapest and on the frozen seas north of the Svalbard Archipelago. The cast and production team sailed as far as 81 degrees north to film sequences in the pack ice, which is believed to be the furthest north a scripted drama series has ever filmed. While plans to shoot in Nunavut had to be curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a smaller local unit in Iqaluit stepped in to properly represent and authentically capture the vastness of the Canadian Arctic.

In July 2019, the BBC and CBC/Radio-Canada announced a commitment to collaborate across a range of different areas.

A BBC and CBC/Radio-Canada original series in association with Super Channel, THE NORTH WATER is produced by See-Saw Films and Rhombus Media and distributed internationally by BBC Studios.

Executive producers on the series are Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman for See-Saw Films, Niv Fichman for Rhombus Media, Jo McClellan for the BBC and writer/director Andrew Haigh. In addition, Rhombus Media’s Fraser Ash and Kevin Krikst are co-executive producers and Claude Paiement is co-producer on behalf of Montreal’s N63 Films. THE NORTH WATER is produced in association with the Canada Media Fund.

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Children's Programming, Industry News

Headspinner Productions has begun production on re-imagining of classic Canadian TV series Hilarious House of Frightenstein entitled Happy House of Frightenstein!

From a media release:

Headspinner Productions announces they have started production on the preschool animated series HAPPY HOUSE OF FRIGHTENSTEIN based on the beloved characters from the 1971 Canadian Classic series Hilarious House of Frightenstein. Timed with the 50th anniversary of the original series, 10 x 3 minute episodes will launch this fall for Halloween on the marbleKids YouTube channel, with the Canadian linear broadcast announcement to follow.

Headspinner principals Michelle Melanson (The Next Step, Fangbone!) and Ken Cuperus (Hudson and Rex, The Stanley Dynamic) will produce the series alongside creative partner Sandy Jobin-Bevans (Just Like Mom and Dad, The Parker-Andersons/Amelia Parker). Also on board as executive producer is original series producer and actor, Mitch Markowitz. Writers on the series include Diana Moore, Nisha Khan, Jan Caruana and Kara Harun. Original Art Design by Aaron Hong and Animation Services by Keyframe Digital Studios in St. Catharines, Ontario. Happy House of Frightenstein follows the misadventures of COUNT JR., WOLFIE, IGGY, AND GRIZ – the beloved characters from the original Hilarious House of Frightenstein, reimagined as wee children of the night – as they play, laugh, and grow together in the Happy House of Frightenstein, a giant castle-like play structure located in the charmingly spooky backyard of the iconic Castle Frightenstein.

The series was made possible with funding from the Canada Media Fund and the Shaw Rocket Fund through the CMF-SRF Kids Digital Animated Series program and support from marbleKids YouTube Channel and Distribution360, who will handle global distribution.

130 x 60 min episodes of Hilarious House of Frightenstein were produced in 1971 by brothers Riff and Mitch Markowitz in Hamilton, Ontario. It went on to be one of the longest running children’s shows in history, airing on CHCH, YTV, Showcase, Space and Drive In Classics in Canada alone. It currently airs on CRAVE in Canada. It also aired throughout the US and many European countries. Popular character actor, Billy Van, played most of the characters in the original, and legendary horror icon, Vincent Price, was also a major part of the original series.

Where to watch HAPPY HOUSE OF FRIGHTENSTEIN: marbleKids YouTube Channel.

marbleKids is an entertainment channel dedicated to delivering a variety of premium kids content.

Headspinner Productions is a full-service production company based in Toronto, Ontario helmed by award winning creator/writer/producers Ken Cuperus and Michelle Melanson.

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