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Thunderbird to bring Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves to television

From a media release:

Thunderbird Entertainment announced today that they have optioned Cherie Dimaline’s award-winning novel, The Marrow Thieves. The book, which won The Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature – Text and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers last year, will be adapted as a limited series for television.

The Marrow Thieves takes place in a not-too-distant future after humanity has nearly destroyed the world through global warming. An even greater evil lurks: the Indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost— the ability to dream. In this dark world, sixteen-year-old Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden — but what they don’t know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves. Despite the bleak future depicted in The Marrow Thieves, it resonates with a message of hope, loyalty and belonging.

“We were thrilled when Thunderbird expressed interest in The Marrow Thieves, but our thrill quickly gave way to the genuine enthusiasm and excitement Alex Raffé brought to our discussions. We could not imagine a better home for the book’s characters and story,” said Marc Côté, publisher of Cormorant Books.

The best-selling book was a CBC Canada Reads selection, has spent eleven weeks on the Globe and Mail bestseller list reaching #1, received starred reviews from Quill & Quire, Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist. The Marrow Thieves was one of the Globe and Mail 100 Best Books of 2017 and is currently shortlisted for the White Pine Award. It was named one of the top ten books by the Ontario Library Association and was named an Honour Book by the American Indian Library Association.

“Because The Marrow Thieves has become an important work for the Indigenous community, it was essential to find a team who could bring this story to life with a commitment to honour its messages and worldview. Thunderbird has made such a commitment and I am happy to be working with them as this project comes to life and gains an even larger audience,” said author Cherie Dimaline.

Linda Saint of The Saint Agency arranged the deal with Thunderbird’s Senior Vice-President Scripted Production Alex Raffé.

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Industry News

Link: Netflix orders sci-fi drama series ‘Another Life’ starring Katee Sackhoff

From Nellie Andreeva of Deadline:

Link: Netflix orders sci-fi drama series ‘Another Life’ starring Katee Sackhoff
Battlestar Galactica alumna Katee Sackhoff is going back to space as the lead of Another Life. Netflix has given a 10-episode order to the sci-fi drama series, from Alias Grace producer Halfire Entertainment.

Created by Aaron Martin (Slasher, Saving Hope, Degrassi: The Next Generation), who also serves as showrunner, Another Life centers on astronaut Niko Breckinridge (Sackhoff) who is focused on searching for alien intelligence. She leads a crew on a mission to explore the genesis of an alien artifact. As Niko and her young crew investigate, they face unimaginable danger on what might very well be a one-way mission. Continue reading. 

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Industry News, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Media Headquarters announces greenlight of daring wilderness expedition series ‘The Brigade’

From a media release:

Media Headquarters announces a greenlight for THE BRIGADE, a groundbreaking new expedition competition series produced for Outdoor Sportsman Group Networks (World Fishing Network, Outdoor Channel and Sportsman Channel). Thrill-seeking and adventure-loving men and women from across the U.S. and Canada are encouraged to apply at thebrigadetv.com for their chance to join the ultimate trek and win prize money up to $1 million. THE BRIGADE is slated to debut in spring 2019.

THE BRIGADE will retrace an epic 2,600-mile fur trade route that links waterways from the coast of Oregon, traversing through two states, four Canadian provinces, two mountain ranges and five river systems before ending at the icy shores of Hudson Bay in Manitoba. Originally called “The York Factory Express,” it’s a thrilling and dangerous paddling odyssey unlike any other. THE BRIGADE must work together to navigate fierce whitewater, portage over mountains, and fish and hunt for sustenance all without fuel or GPS. There are no eliminations. Instead the competition relies on the collective strengths of its cast to hang on against all odds. Those who complete the expedition have the chance to share prize money up to $1 million.

THE BRIGADE is a once-in-a-lifetime expedition. Adventurers who have expedition experience, strong paddling skills, a multitude of outdoor abilities, and also possess willpower, strength and determination, should apply at thebrigadetv.com. Casting is now open through to May 15, 2018.

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Industry News

Cedar Island launches at Hot Docs

From a media release:

Cedar Island is a Canadian production company formed by seasoned producers Henrik Meyer and Andrew Williamson to produce meaningful documentaries, feature dramas and digital media projects with a focus on international co-productions.

Bringing together their decades of domestic and international experience, Andrew and Henrik develop, finance and create captivating content for broadcasters, distributors and audiences in Canada and around the world.

“Inspired by our interest in producing ‘content with purpose’, we’ve joined forces to bring engaging, exciting projects to audiences in Canada, Germany and around the world. At a time when story matters more than ever, our slate of projects in production and development, focus on telling original, compelling stories.” – Andrew Williamson

“Building on previous service productions in British Columbia and Alberta for European partners over the past 14 years, we now expand our services to the Yukon where we are scheduled to go into production with a German television production already this summer.” – Henrik Meyer

Cedar Island Films has an active development slate including:

• In development with Knowledge Network for the short doc series Wild and the feature documentary River with director Simon Schneider

• In development with Emmy award winning writer and investigative journalist Kristina Borjesson and TriCoast Worldwide, Los Angeles on The Whistleblowers

• In development with the feature drama Dragonfly Summer with director Marie Clements, a Canadian/German co-pro with Kinderfilm GmbH, Erfurt

Website: www.cedarislandfilms.com

— BIOS:

Andrew Williamson is a seasoned producer and director who executive produced the critically acclaimed doc series Emergency Room: Life & Death at VGH for The Knowledge Network/Discovery and High Moon, a co-venture with Universal Cable Productions and Executive Producer Bryan Fuller. He also produced Gastown Gamble for the OWN Network.

Andrew is producing The Whale and the Raven, a Canadian/German feature documentary with the National Film Board of Canada/ARTE and The Magnitude of All Things with the NFB and TELUS Health Fund.

Andrew is the founder of Crazy8s, elected to the Branch Council of the CMPA – BC Producers Branch and on the Film Advisory Board for Langara University. He volunteers with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project to help educate people about climate change.

Henrik Meyer has produced film and television for over 25 years. His last film as a German producer was Margarethe von Trotta’s Venice-contender Rosenstrasse, and his first production in Canada after immigrating in 2004 was Douglas Coupland’s Everything’s Gone Green, which won Best Picture and Best Screenplay in British Columbia in 2006. Since then, Henrik has produced over 1500 minutes of German television in Canada and co-produced 2013 Berlinale-contender Gold and multi-award winning, Indigenous youth drama Shana – The Wolf’s Music, which is being aired at Canada’s APTN in 2018.

Before moving to Canada and becoming a dual German-Canadian citizen, Henrik was the inaugural head of Letterbox Filmproduktion at Studio Hamburg and produced for all leading German broadcasters as well as Disney, Warner Bros. and the Tele Munich Group. He joined forces with Andrew Williamson on the international feature doc co-pro The Whale and the Raven for the NFB and ARTE.

 

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