Tag Archives: Blue Ant Media

Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Saloon Media announces start of production on Hotel Paranormal Season 2

From a media release:

Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company, announced today ahead of the Realscreen Summit 2021 that it has started production on Season 2 of Hotel Paranormal (10×60’). As part of this announcement, Saloon Media also confirms that Emmy® Award winner and Oscar®-nominated actor, Dan Aykroyd, will return as narrator, joining production efforts in Toronto, Canada this spring. The 10-part documentary series provides dramatic recreations and paranormal expert insights during its bone-chilling tales of paranormal encounters at 4-star hotels, highway motels and inns around the world. Originally commissioned by T+E in Canada, the second installment of this series is available for licensing, in the U.S. and globally, by Blue Ant International.

Filming for Season 2 will take place across Ontario, Canada, under strict, new COVID-19 provincial guidelines, with a delivery date of summer 2021. No stranger to keeping production going during a pandemic, Saloon Media had completed one in-person narration with Dan Aykroyd for Hotel Paranormal, Season 1, when Canada went into lockdown last March. Saloon Media moved forward by recording the remaining narration virtually. Aykroyd recorded in a remote studio in Ontario, Canada, with Executive Producer Michael Kot and Series Producer Sarah Zammit directing via video call.

Hotel Paranormal is produced by Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company. Michael Kot and Betty Orr serve as Executive Producers. Sarah Zammit is the Series Producer. Dave Tebby and Simone Stock are Directors and Josh Pelham is the Director of Photography.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Cottage Life revisits extreme storms with The Weather Files: Total Impact

January 2020 marked a historic day in Newfoundland weather history. A blizzard event with 140km/hr winds was quickly dubbed “Snowmaggendon,” when it dropped 76 inches of snow on the province. That, and more, are revisited in Season 2 of The Weather Files: Total Impact.

Returning Monday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Cottage Life, the events highlighted in The Weather Files: Total Impact are truly fascinating and terrifying. Told through the eyes of survivors, scientific experts and first responders, it brings harrowing true human stories to wild weather.

Monday’s first instalment of eight episodes digs deep into the blizzard that pummeled Newfoundland early last year. What began as a southern winter storm tracking northward from the U.S. slammed into the colder North Atlantic air, triggering a true monster. Original footage shot on cellphones shows the devastation, as wind and snow paralyzed the region with feet of the white stuff. Though snow is a way of life in this part of the country, they weren’t prepared for this much.

Not just a recap accented by shaky cell footage, The Weather Files: Total Impact focuses on the human stories on Monday, like a young mother-to-be who went into labour as the blizzard was kicking in, and the Wall family, whose son, Josh, ventured out into the gloom. Pair that with experts describing the hows and whys of blizzards—and an analysis of snow, its benefits as well as dangers—and this Saloon Media project is compelling stuff.

The Weather Files: Total Impact, airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Cottage Life.

Image courtesy of Blue Ant Media.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Saloon Media signs on to co-produce World’s Most Scenic River Journeys with Argonon’s BriteSpark East

From a media release:

Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Studios company, announces today that it is joining BriteSpark East, part of the Argonon Group, to produce a stunning new documentary series, World’s Most Scenic River Journeys (6 x 60’; HD), taking audiences on explorations of some of the world’s most important and beautiful rivers across Europe and North America. The series will be narrated by Golden Globe-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). As part of the partnership, Saloon Media will produce episodes featuring rivers in North America while BriteSpark East will cover the rivers in Europe, allowing completion of the series during travel restrictions due to COVID-19. The series is an original commission for Channel 5 in the UK and will also air on Blue Ant Media’s Smithsonian Channel Canada. Global distributor, Blue Ant International will oversee all international licensing outside of the UK and Canada.

World’s Most Scenic River Journeys embarks on a series of unique journeys across spectacular waterways into hidden worlds of landscapes, local characters and surprising stories. Each episode explores one river, travelling from source to finish. Some are iconic, others lesser known, but all the rivers feature spectacular scenery and reveal surprising details about the countries they run through. Audiences meet people who live and work along the riverbank and share inside stories about its history, culture, wildlife and folklore.

World’s Most Scenic River Journeys is executive produced by Tom Porter at BriteSpark, with Series Producer, Helen White. Steve Gamester is Executive Producer and Producer at Saloon Media. Overseeing the series for Channel 5 is Commissioning Editor, Daniel Pearl, and overseeing the series for Smithsonian Channel Canada is Sam Linton, Head of Original Content, Blue Ant Media.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: T+E’s Paranormal Night Shift tells tales of job site bumps in the night

I can always count on the fine folks at Blue Ant Media to come through with spooky new Halloween programming. Following on the heels of Hotel Paranormal, Scariest Night of My Life and Paranormal Survivor is a brand-new Canadian original.

Paranormal Night Shift, bowing Saturday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on T+E, tracks down tales of folks working late at night when they have otherworldly experiences. Produced by Bristow Global Media, the first of 13 upcoming instalments introduces viewers to Tim, a late-night radio DJ and producer working in the American Midwest. It was only his first night when Tim experiences weird things like giggles, thumps on the studio door, footsteps above him and visions of a child in the shadows. Then things get really scary.

Then it’s Heather’s turn. Heather, who was the former owner of The Looking Glass in Toronto, had heard the rumours the property was haunted but dismissed them. Heather picked up on a strange vibe almost right away and was in the building just after 2 a.m. when the heating and cooling system started knocking. Footsteps followed and Heather investigated. What greeted her drove Heather out of the business.

Featuring first-hand accounts, paranormal expert interviews and dramatic recreations, my only complaint isn’t the shaky camera work, fake security camera footage or jump-scare audio cuts on Paranormal Night Shift. Those are part of the haunted documentary genre, so I expect them. No, it’s the narrator’s faux whisper. Every time he spoke, I was pulled out of the story. It’s a shame the producers didn’t just have him speak normally because it really is distracting.

Paranormal Night Shift airs as part of T+E’s Creep Week lineup, that includes fellow new series My Paranormal Nightmare: Be Very Afraid and Paranormal Captured, along with marathons of Paranormal Caught on Camera, Haunted Hospitals and Hotel Paranormal.

Paranormal Night Shift airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on T+E.

Image courtesy of Blue Ant Media.Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Canada's Drag Race

Canada’s Drag Race premieres Thursday, July 2, only on Crave

From a media release:

As Canada prepares to honour one of the world’s most iconic queens on Victoria Day, Crave announces the cast of its majestic inaugural season of CANADA’S DRAG RACE. Season 1 of the Crave Original Series promises to have viewers clutching their royal pearls as 12 of the fiercest queens in the land showcase their Canadian Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent to compete to become Canada’s First Drag Superstar, and win the $100,000 grand prize.

Crave also announced today that in celebration of Canada Day, the herstorical first season premieres Thursday, July 2 only on Crave. New episodes roll out weekly, Thursday nights on Crave’s TV channel, Crave.ca, and the Crave app.

With Snatch Game, Rumail, the reading challenge, puppets, makeovers, and gag-worthy untucked sessions, CANADA’S DRAG RACE serves up fan-favourites from RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE, but with a dash of maple-flavoured Canadian realness. Each episode tests the queens’ talents, and challenges them to master singing, dancing, acting, impersonation, costume making, and improvisation. One competitor sashays away at the end of each episode, until the last queen standing is announced the inaugural winner. Throughout this journey, the queens share their personal struggles and successes, highlighting their individuality.

As previously announced, presiding over each of the 10 episodes is a panel of expert judges – Brooke Lynn Hytes, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, and Stacey McKenzie – while ETALK Senior Correspondent Traci Melchor is Canada’s very first Squirrel Friend, making appearances throughout the season and adding her trademark fabulousness to the werkroom, challenges, and the main stage. Weekly celebrity guest hosts also join the panel, and will be announced in the coming weeks.

As previously announced, Crave and OUTtv formed an unprecedented partnership that extends the reach of international television phenomenon, RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE in Canada. This partnership includes the new Crave Original Series, CANADA’S DRAG RACE, the first-ever Canadian adaptation of the show, and all past seasons of RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE, currently available on Crave.

In association with Crave, CANADA’S DRAG RACE is produced by Blue Ant Studios. Executive producers for World of Wonder are Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, and Tom Campbell. RuPaul serves as Executive Producer. Executive producers for Blue Ant Studios are Michael Kot, Laura Michalchyshyn, Mike Bickerton, and Betty Orr.Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail