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Adapting, Featured

AMI original drama Adapting explores disability, adolescence and family dynamics with humour and heart

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From a media release:

AMI, in partnership with Big Time Decent’s Bread & Better Films, is proud to announce Season 1 of the scripted drama Adapting debuts Friday, September 11, at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST on AMI-tv, AMI+ and YouTube.

Filmed in and around Vancouver and the B.C. coast and inspired by the lived experiences of Rachael and Garner Ransom, Adapting (6×30) brings a raw, unfiltered perspective to disability—one rarely seen on Canadian television.

New town. New life. Same problems. Navigating grief, identity and small-town chaos, Adapting is a sharp, irreverent family drama about a widowed father and his twin teenage daughters as they attempt to find love, acceptance and their place in a messy, unpredictable world.

After 16-year-old Lennon Anderson (Threnody Tsai, Percy Jackson and the Olympians) loses her mother, she loses it. When she pushes her wheelchair off the roof of her high school, she’s expelled, forcing her identical twin sister, Lola (Junnicia Lagoutin, The Imperfects), and their widowed father, Mel (Kurt Long, Liv and Maddie), to leave the city behind for a fresh start in their mom’s old town of Halfway Bay.

Lennon has cerebral palsy, but she’s determined not to become “the disabled new girl.” Instead, she sets herself an ambitious goal: experience every messy teenage milestone before life passes her by—friendship, first kisses, heartbreak… maybe even sex. If she has to adapt to a new town, she’s going to do it on her own terms, even if those terms are spectacularly self-destructive.

As Lennon charges headfirst into one disastrous decision after another, she finds herself caught between two very different boys: Joey (Kiefer O’Reilly, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers), the fiercely loyal friend who truly sees her, and Dylan (Brandon McEwan, Alter Boys), the charming rival she never expected to fall for. Torn between them, Lennon is forced to confront a question even more frightening than whether someone will love her: can she believe she’s worthy of being loved in the first place?

“Adapting is exactly the kind of story we want to tell—bold, character-driven and unapologetically human. It tackles disability, grief, first love and family with humour and honesty, while reminding us that everyone is adapting to something,” says Executive Producer Matthew Shewchuk.

“We are very proud to bring viewers a story that doesn’t treat disability as a plot twist, but as just one part of a much bigger, messier and truly universal coming-of-age story,” says Cara Nye, Director, Content Development and Production at AMI. “With the binge-worthy energy of Heated Rivalry and Off Campus, Adapting is the next great addition to the TV drama landscape. Rachael and Garner Ransom and the entire Big Time Decent team have given us something we all need more of: a story that’s honest, raw and most of all, deeply human.”

Adapting is directed by Kyle Rideout. Executive Producers are Matthew Shewchuk, René Brar, Jeffrey Kinnon, LA Smith, Juliana Wimbles and Eve Zhou. Co-Executive Producers are Rachael Ransom and Garner Ransom.

Adapting is written by LA Smith, Juliana Wimbles, Rachael Ransom and Garner Ransom.

Want to learn even more about Adapting? Check out exclusive content on AMI’s YouTube channel.

Adapting airs Fridays at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST on AMI-tv, AMI+ and YouTube. 

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Adapting, Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Big Time Decent Productions announces greenlights, partners with AMI on new and returning slate of originals

From a media release:

Vancouver-based production company Big Time Decent Productions has announced greenlights on a slate of scripted and unscripted content for AMI. Marking the production company’s first scripted series, Adapting (6×30) is a bold new dramedy about navigating high school love while living with cerebral palsy. Underdog Inc. (8×60), a docuseries that follows Dale Kristensen (Backroad Truckers, pictured above), a little person navigating life in a small mountain town in the interior of British Columbia, has been renewed for a second season.

“Building on our successful foundation in unscripted television, we are excited to announce our first scripted series, Adapting,” said Matthew Shewchuk, Founder and Head of Production, Big Time Decent Productions. “We’re especially thrilled to be working with our partners at AMI on this bold new series and to start production on Season 2 of Underdog Inc.”

Between small town scandals, messy love triangles, and a whole lot of bad decisions, Adapting takes a heartwarming and raw look at disability, adolescence, and the minefield of family dynamics—dysfunction and all. Based on the concept by father-daughter writing duo Rachael Ransom and Garner Ransom, the series is inspired by Rachael’s real-life experiences with cerebral palsy, offering a long-overdue, unfiltered look at disability. Executive producers include Matthew Shewchuk, René Brar, Juliana Wimbles, Eve Zhou, and Jeff Kinnon. Bread & Better Films, Big Time Decent’s scripted division, will begin production in the Winter of 2025 throughout the Lower Mainland.

“Adapting brings a perspective we rarely see on screen—it’s sharp, funny, and rooted in lived experience. We’re proud to be producing homegrown content with global ambitions. Canadian stories can travel—and this one’s built to,” said René Brar, Head of Development, Big Time Decent Productions.

Following little person Dale Kristensen as he juggles fatherhood and runs a trucking business on the treacherous backroads of Western Canada, Season 2 of Underdog Inc. will be in production throughout the interior of BC this summer. Season 1 will premiere Friday, July 11th at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on AMI-tv and AMI+.

“Season 1 of Underdog Inc. will strike a real chord with audiences—Dale’s story is equal parts raw, inspiring, and wildly entertaining. We’re excited to dive back into his world for Season 2, where the stakes are higher, the roads are rougher, and Dale’s just getting started,” said Jeff Kinnon, VP of Factual, Big Time Decent Productions.

“AMI is thrilled to partner with Big Time Decent again on Season 2 of Underdog Inc., as well as our groundbreaking new upcoming series, Adapting. Not only are these shows entertaining but they are unlike anything else on Canadian screens thanks to the exceptional talent and creativity of these producers. These are two series you won’t want to miss!” said Cara Nye, Director, Content Development and Production, AMI.

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