Tag Archives: Cameron Pictures

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is a killer homegrown addition to the storied franchise

It was about time that the Law & Order franchise headed north of the border. With four international versions airing around the world, Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent debuts Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern on Citytv.

You may have seen the massive billboards in Toronto, the teasers on Citytv, the cast appearances at a recent Toronto Maple Leafs tilt and the social media posts. Rogers/Citytv is expecting big things from Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. Judging from the first episode I screened, the show will deliver.

Starring  Aden Young (Rectify, The Disappearance) as Detective Sergeant Henry Graff, Kathleen Munroe (Chicago Med, Call Me Fitz) as Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman, Karen Robinson (Schitt’s Creek, Pretty Hard Cases) as Inspector Vivienne Holness and K.C. Collins (Pretty Hard Cases, Shoot the Messenger) as Deputy Crown Attorney Theo Forrester, the first episode of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent hits the ground running and never looks back. Mixing the wry humour of the Law & Order franchise with crimes and a killer guest cast, I can’t believe it’s taken this long for a Canadian take to air.

We spoke to executive producer Amy Cameron about how the series came about, “being Canadian,” and how the iconic “dun-dun” can and can’t be used.

Walk me through the process of how Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent came to be.
Amy Cameron: Well, it came through Erin Haskett at Lark Productions. Erin has Lark Productions, which is based in Vancouver. Universal Studio Group are minority shareholders and they hold the format license for Law & Order. They’re always looking for different places to bring Law & Order and what would make sense and what’s the right fit.

I think this conversation started a couple of years ago now with Erin and Rogers about whether or not they could do a Law & Order Canada. And when push came to shove, ultimately people felt that Law & Order Toronto was the sort of city where they wanted to have this start in Canada rather than Vancouver. They’re a Vancouver production company.

I used to be an exec on a project of Erin’s when I was at CBC, but other than that, we hadn’t worked together, but we are friends and enjoy each other’s company and similarly think about the industry. Last Christmas, she came to us and said, just after Christmas, ‘Would you guys be willing to take something on with me and produce it in Toronto and be our co-producer on the show?’ Sure.

Aden Young and Kathleen Munroe

And then it turned out it was Law & Order, which honestly, I spent the winter and the spring kind of feeling like it was all a bit of a surreal joke. I’m not actually checking out studio space for Law & Order Toronto. I’m not actually looking at crew for Law & Order. I mean, I was such a super fan

Tassie [Cameron] ended up writing a pilot that was presented and that was accepted, and we found out that it was green-lit on a Thursday. I should look at the dates, but it was the Thursday, a Thursday night, we found out that we were going to go ahead and it was announced to the world on the Monday.

Were still reeling with the information that we were green-lit, and we were going to produce Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent when the rest of the world found out too. That was the end of May, the beginning of June, and we started filming at the end of August. So it was insanely quick to turn around, locking down a studio space, getting our key creatives in place, having our designer design a set, and finding directors. The casting process was so wild, how do you define what’s Canadian? There’s the idea of trying to define how Canada is different from the U.S. What is Canadian versus what is American? No one thing can, there’s no one way to answer that question. It feels like it’s a million little decisions,

We wanted to make sure that this version of Law & Order was imbued with Canadian creatives, Canadian decisions, very much embedded in the Canadian culture and mindset and way of doing and creating. It was pretty wild. We were on the road for the first two weeks because our sets weren’t ready. It was wild. So much fun though. No time to stop and second-guess things. You’re just going.

This being a Dick Wolf creation, is there kind of a checklist that you had to meet? Did he see episodes and have to approve anything?
AC: With the format agreement, you have access to Wolf executives for consultation purposes. We had a wonderful conversation with their post-producer, and we were able to sort of dig into, ‘OK, how do you do this? What’s this with those location cards, with the use of dun-dun? It was so incredibly valuable to have someone just say it out loud, which is the dun-dun sound is never used as an exclamation mark on a scene or music. If you have a score going, you can never count on the dun-dun as the thing that takes you. It’s a small nuance, but it’s its own entity, and it’s not meant for emphasis.

There are certain guidelines, when it came to writing the scripts. For Criminal Intent, you’re aiming for about 10% of the episode from the criminal’s perspective. It is much more an intellectual pursuit of a criminal rather than a physical one.

But for the most part, Wolf and Dick Wolf were hands-off. That said, he did watch the first episode, and he really liked it. The feedback we got was the Canadians did good work.

Karen Robinson

The cast is so strong. Aden Young, Kathleen Munroe, Karen Robinson and K.C. Collins really hit the ground running and are wonderful. Was there chemistry with the cast right away?
AC: The only character that Tassie wrote with the actor in mind was Holness, Karen’s character. We had worked with Karen, and we knew that she would be able to bring it, that she would be able to bring in that humanity and humour when needed.

Working with K.C. on Pretty Hard Cases, we knew how strong an actor he was and really loved working with him again. Aden and Kathleen have worked together in the past. They get along very well.

Rogers and Citytv couldn’t have given you a better time slot on Thursday. You’re right after the mothership. Are you cautiously optimistic for a second season?
AC: We don’t know about the second season, but I feel we have done everything we can to get a second season. If this season is the only season that we get to share with fans, I would be disappointed. And yet I’m incredibly proud. I’m so proud of our crew, they knocked it out of the park. The sets are spectacular. Oleg Savytski is our production designer. Unbelievable. The performances from our actors, the commitment of the writers to cracking the formula, cracking the format, just even our post team, the editors, and the attention to detail in terms of the edit and understanding that … I don’t think there’s anything else we could have done. It is up to Canadian audiences to show up if they want a second season.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. Eastern on Citytv.

Featured cast image courtesy of Steve Wilkie. Images courtesy of Rogers Media.

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Link: “The episodes are based on real crime headlines”: Meet the showrunner behind the new Law & Order Toronto

From Courtney Shea of Toronto Life:

Link: “The episodes are based on real crime headlines”: Meet the showrunner behind the new Law & Order Toronto
“Contrary to popular belief, we have a lot of material to work with. There are also some things about the Canadian system that are different, and it’s interesting to look at those nuances. In the court scenes, for example, our background players are in legal robes. You would never see that in the US version.” Continue reading.

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Casting announced for Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent coming to Citytv Spring 2024

From a media release:

Lark Productions and Cameron Pictures Inc., in association with Citytv, announce casting for the highly-anticipated crime drama Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. The Canadian iteration of the longest-running scripted drama brand in TV history features an all-Canadian ensemble cast that includes Aden Young (Rectify, Black Robe) as Detective Sergeant Henry Graff, Kathleen Munroe (City on Fire, Patriot) as Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman, Karen Robinson (Schitt’s Creek, Echoes) as Inspector Vivienne Holness, K.C. Collins (The Cleaning Lady, White Dog) as Deputy Crown Attorney Theo Forrester, Nicola Correia-Damude (Shadowhunters, Resident Alien) as Forensic Pathologist Dr. Lucy Da Silva, and Araya Mengesha (Nobody, Anne with an E) as tech expert Mark Yohannes.

A psychological thriller wrapped in a criminal investigation, the Canadian adaptation follows two elite detectives from the Specialized Criminal Investigations unit as they investigate high-profile crimes and homicides in metro Toronto. Production on the 10 one-hour original episodes is underway in Toronto and is slated to air on Citytv in Spring 2024.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, based on the classic series created by Dick Wolf for Universal Television, follows the Criminal Intent format the international brand is known for, showcasing original Canadian stories written, produced by and starring Canadians.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is produced by Lark Productions and Cameron Pictures Inc. in association with Citytv and distributed by Universal Television. Tassie Cameron (Pretty Hard Cases, Mary Kills People, Rookie Blue) is the series Showrunner. Tassie, Erin Haskett, Amy Cameron, David Valleau, Alex Patrick and Holly Dale serve as Executive Producers. Tex Antonucci and Jillian Locke are Co-Executive Producers, Wanda Chaffey is Producer and Caledonia Brown is Co-Producer.

Award-winning filmmaker Holly Dale (Transplant, Mary Kills People, Law & Order SVU) directs the premiere episode, episode 103, and the finale. Additional directors tapped for this season are Peter Stebbings (102), David Wellington (104), Sudz Sutherland (105), Rachel Leiterman (106), Winnifred Jong (107), Sharon Lewis (108), and David Straiton (109).

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is produced under the jurisdiction of ACTRA and the WGC in Canada.

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Citytv announces greenlight of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent from Lark Productions and Cameron Pictures Inc.

From a media release:

Citytv today announces the all-new, one-hour crime drama Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, an adaptation of the legendary Law & Order brand, slated to air on Citytv in Spring 2024. Produced by Lark Productions and Cameron Pictures Inc., in association with Citytv, Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent consists of 10 one-hour episodes, with production taking place this fall in Toronto. Based on the classic series created by Dick Wolf for Universal Television, Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent will showcase original Canadian stories written and produced by, and starring Canadians. As a psychological thriller wrapped in a criminal investigation, Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent follows an elite squad of detectives who investigate high-profile crime and corruption in metro Toronto.

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is produced by Lark Productions and Cameron Pictures Inc. in association with Citytv with distribution by Universal Television.

About Lark Productions
Lark Productions is an award-winning television production company creating and producing exceptional scripted and unscripted content with the best Canadian talent. Lark enjoys a distribution and development deal with Universal International Studios.

Established in Vancouver in 2010, Lark is currently in production on the original crime drama Allegiance for CBC in association with Universal International Studios as well as Farming for Love for Bell Media based on Fremantle’s international hit format Farmer Wants a Wife. Lark’s productions include legal drama Family Law for Corus/ CW Network Entertainment and eOne, spy drama Fortunate Son for CBC in association with Universal International Studios, CSA-nominated Motive (CTV, USA Network), the hit formats The Real Housewives of Toronto and Vancouver (Slice), Paramedics: Life on the Line (Knowledge Network) and Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH (Knowledge Network, Discovery Fit).

About Cameron Pictures Inc.
Cameron Pictures Inc. is an independent Canadian television production company with a focus on scripted content. Based in Toronto, Cameron Pictures is helmed by sisters Amy Cameron, a television executive, writer, and producer, and Tassie Cameron, an award-winning showrunner and executive producer. The company is managed by the Camerons along with executive producer Alex Patrick, who provides expertise in strategy and business & legal affairs. Among Cameron Pictures’ award-winning series are Mary Kills People (Global/Lifetime, co-produced with eOne) about an ER doctor who moonlights as an underground angel of death performing illegal assisted suicide; the comedy Little Dog (CBC, co-produced with Elemental Pictures) about a washed-up boxer trying to reclaim his life; and the comedic buddy cop drama Pretty Hard Cases (CBC/NBCU) starring Meredith MacNeill and Adrienne C. Moore.

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Production now underway on Pretty Hard Cases Season 3

From a media release:

On the heels of its Season 2 launch on Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV), Cameron Pictures, CBC, and Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group, proudly announce the start of production for the critically acclaimed 11-time Canadian Screen Award-nominated, CBC Original comedy-drama series, PRETTY HARD CASES Season 3. Filming continues in and around Toronto for 10 one-hour episodes with season 3 set to air on CBC in winter 2023.

This season, PRETTY HARD CASES finds a miserably demoted Samantha Wazowski (Meredith MacNeill) and a deeply undercover Kelly Duff (Adrienne C. Moore) reuniting to win their way back into the OCE after eight long months apart. Although their professional relationship has never been stronger, Sam and Kelly need to prove they’re worthy of the department’s top cases to the new and exacting Unit Commander, Gloria Ballard, played by world-renowned and award-winning actor Wendy Crewson (Departure, Good Sam). Gloria has high standards, excellent clothes, spiky hair and is intimidating AF. She doesn’t quite throw a “Welcome Back” party in Kelly and Sam’s honour, but our favourite pair of detectresses have each other’s backs as they navigate big changes.

Cast members reprising their roles include Karen Robinson (Schitt’s Creek) as tough, sardonic and newly-promoted Superintendent Edwina Shanks; Al Mukadam (Miss Sloan) as Detective Taai Nazeer, reliable and responsible; the affable heart of the OCE; Daren A. Herbert (Kim’s Convenience) as Detective Sergeant Nathan Greene, as charismatic as he is tech-savvy; Trevor Hayes (The Girlfriend Experience) as Sam’s ex-husband, turned boyfriend, Steve Evans; and Amanda Brugel (The Handmaid’s Tale) As Detective Karina Duff, Kelly’s overachieving half-sister and new mom. Also returning for Season 3 is Homicide Detective duo Tara Swallows, played by Tricia Black (Band Ladies) and Dustin Chase, played by Miguel Rivas (The Beaverton).

Following its broadcast and streaming debut of the first two seasons on CBC and CBC Gem, PRETTY HARD CASES also premiered on Amazon Freevee (formerly known as IMDb TV). Season 3 premieres winter 2023 on CBC.

PRETTY HARD CASES is co-created by Tassie Cameron (Mary Kills People, Ten Days in the Valley, Rookie Blue, The Robber Bride) and Sherry White (Little Dog, Frontier, Ten Days in the Valley, Rookie Blue).

A CBC original series, PRETTY HARD CASES is produced by Cameron Pictures in association with CBC and Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. Cameron and White also serve as Co-Showrunners. Sherry White, Tassie Cameron, Amy Cameron and Alex Patrick are Executive Producers. Wanda Chaffey is Producer.

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