Tag Archives: Crave

Crave and New Metric Media ink exclusive overall content deal with Jared Keeso for all new series and to expand the world of Letterkenny

From a media release:

Following the record-breaking success of LETTERKENNY and SHORESY, Crave, and award-winning producer New Metric Media, announced today a new, multi-year creative partnership that expands the world of LETTERKENNY. The deal encompasses 49 new episodes for Crave, including LETTERKENNY spin-offs, and the development of all-new series with multi-hyphenate talent, Jared Keeso.  In addition to the content commitment, the companies continue to collaborate on existing and new ancillary brand extensions, including merchandise and live productions.

“We are thrilled to extend the legacy of Jared Keeso through this creative pact with our partners at New Metric Media,” said Justin Stockman, Vice President, Content Development & Programming, Bell Media. “LETTERKENNY and SHORESY are consistently among the most-watched series on Crave, which is a testament to Jared’s creative vision, and keen ability to create groundbreaking, culturally relevant content. This deal marks a starting point of what’s sure to be another defining era in comedy.”

“We are excited to break new comedic ground on this landmark pact with creative powerhouse Jared Keeso and our content partners at Crave,” commented Mark Montefiore, Founder and CEO, New Metric Media. “This deal exponentially builds our 360-degree comedy ecosystem strategy for many years to come.”

As Crave’s first-ever original series, LETTERKENNY premiered in 2016 as a breakout hit, and quickly solidified a loyal fanbase. Since then, it has delivered 81 episodes and eight specials, amassed 12 Canadian Screen Awards, international critical acclaim, and an exclusive first window U.S. streaming partnership with Hulu for both LETTERKENNY and its official spinoff SHORESY, which was recently renewed for a third season for a total of 18 episodes.

Beyond the small screen, the Canadian phenomenon has expanded its reach with highly sought-after merchandise including Funko POPs, Letterkennyopoly, the popular Puppers Golden Lager, as well as live productions including the sold-out Letterkenny Live! North American tour, and the recent live standup comedy shows, Letterkenny Presents. The series is based on the internet sensation Letterkenny Problems, a five-part series of shorts, which to date has garnered more than 21 million views.

New Metric Media handles the international distribution for LETTERKENNY and SHORESY and has licensed it in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Germany, and Scandinavia. For any new projects to come out of this comprehensive pact, Bell Media is the distributor, while New Metric Media is the exclusive sales agent.

The deal was negotiated by: Bell Media’s Carlyn Klebuc, Dianne Vernon, and Justin Stockman; New Metric Media’s Mark Montefiore and Jayme Alter (Dentons LLC); and Jared Keeso’s representatives Trina Allen (Play Management), Gordon Gilbertson (Gilbertson Entertainment), and Jeffrey Hynick (Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer).

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Crave announces new short-form original comedy series, My Dead Mom

From a media release:

Crave announced today, the new, six-part short-form comedy series, MY DEAD MOM. From LoCo Motion Pictures, creator Wendy Litner, and executive producer Lauren Corber, the Crave Original series is currently in production in Toronto, and stars Megan Follows (ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, REIGN) and Lauren Collins (DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION, SLIP).

Emmy wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail after her mother died, she was just really busy. But three years on now, her grief is catching up with her. As she questions her lipstick and life choices, her dead mother, Fern, pops into her life to voice her opinions and tell her red really isn’t her colour. Even death hasn’t stopped Fern from being fabulous. Emmy is trying to live her best life, but how do you let go of something that is so present? With sharp wit and aching tenderness, MY DEAD MOM explores the complicated nature of grief through mothers and daughters, and death.

Rounding out the cast for MY DEAD MOM are Rainbow Sun Francks (HIGH FIDELITY), David Reale (THE BOYS), Daniel Maslany (MURDOCH MYSTERIES), Daniel Kash (SLASHER), and guest star Matt Murray (IN THE DARK).

MY DEAD MOM is produced by LoCo Motion Pictures, in association with Bell Media, with the participation of Independent Production Fund, Ontario Creates, and the Bell Fund. The series is distributed internationally by Blue Ant Media. Wendy Litner (HOW TO BUY A BABY) is creator and executive producer, alongside executive producer Lauren Corber (DETENTION ADVENTURE) of LoCo Motion Pictures. Chandler Levack directs (I Like Movies), Palmer Baranek is supervising producer, and co-producer is Moe Rai.

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Letterkenny returns for a twelfth and final season, December 25 on Crave

From a media release:

After 75 episodes and eight specials, and amassing 12 Canadian Screen Awards, international critical acclaim, a U.S. streaming deal with Hulu, high-profile brand extensions, some beauty celebrity fans, and an official spinoff, Crave’s award-winning original series LETTERKENNY drops its twelfth and final season, on Monday, December 25. The iconic Canadian series is created by, and stars, Jared Keeso, and is produced by New Metric Media in association with Play Fun Games and Crave.

As Crave’s first-ever original series, LETTERKENNY premiered in 2016 as a breakout hit and quickly solidified a loyal fanbase. The series continues to be a top-performer on Crave, and, overall, is the most-streamed Canadian show on the platform for the past several years. The series is based on the internet sensation Letterkenny Problems, a five-part series of shorts, which to date has garnered more than 21 million views.

In Season 12, the small town contends with a comedy night at Modean’s, a country music hit, the Degens’ bad influence, a new nightclub, and an encore at the Ag Hall. And that’s just for starters.

LETTERKENNY is produced by New Metric Media, in association with Play Fun Games and Bell Media, with the participation of Canadian Media Fund, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and the Bell Fund, with the assistance of the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and Ontario Creates. The series is distributed by New Metric Media. Jared Keeso is executive producer, co-writer, star, and creator. Jacob Tierney is executive producer, director, and co-writer. Mark Montefiore is executive producer and Kara Haflidson is producer for New Metric Media.

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It’s a hat trick for Shoresy! Crave confirms its hit original comedy series is returning for a third season

From a media release:

Ahead of its Season 2 finale, Crave confirmed today a Season 3 order for its smash-hit original series, SHORESY. Created by and starring Jared Keeso, and produced by New Metric Media in association with Play Fun Games and Crave, the hockey comedy continues to follow the foul-mouthed, chirp-serving, mother-loving, fan-favourite character, Shoresy (Keeso), and the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs of the Northern Ontario Senior Hockey Organization (The NOSHO). Production on Season 3 begins in Sudbury, Ont. in November.

Returning cast starring alongside Keeso are: Tasya Teles (THE 100) as Nat; Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat (Prey) as Sanguinet; Blair Lamora (Paranormal Nightshift) as Ziigwan; and Keilani Rose (FLIMSY) as Miigwan. From, Blainville, QC, rapper Jonathan-Ismael Diaby stars as Dolo; and former Montréal Canadien, author, and actor Terry Ryan stars as Hitch. Ryan McDonell (THE CROSSING) stars as Michaels, Max Bouffard (LETTERKENNY) is JJ Frankie JJ, and former Kahnawake Condor and MMA fighter Andrew “The Canon” Antsanen returns as Goody. Legendary all-time tough guy Jon “Nasty” Mirasty, former ‘Canes centre Brandon Nolan, and three time Stanley Cup winner, Jordan Nolan star as Jim, Jim, and Jim, respectively, with Listowel’s Keegan Long as Liam, and North Bay’s Bourke Cazabon as Cory.

Developed by Bell Media for Crave, SHORESY is produced by New Metric Media, in partnership with Play Fun Games in association with Bell Media, with the participation of Canadian Media Fund, the Bell Fund, OMDC Tax Credits, and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, and is distributed by WildBrain, New Metric Media is the exclusive sales agent. Jared Keeso is executive producer, writer, star, and creator. Kaniehtiio Horn is producer. Mark Montefiore and Kara Haflidson are Executive Producers for New Metric Media.

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Carolyn Taylor scores a perfect 10 with Crave’s I Have Nothing

The last project I saw Carolyn Taylor in was Baroness Von Sketch Show. The five-season sketch series for CBC featured Taylor and fellow executive producers/performers Jennifer Whalen, Aurora Browne and Meredith MacNeill playing outrageous characters.

Now Taylor is back in I Have Nothing playing just one: herself.

Available for streaming on Crave, I Have Nothing follows Taylor on a quest to choreograph the perfect, full-length pairs figure skating routine to Whitney Houston’s 1992 iconic hit song, “I Have Nothing.” What first started as a bit of a lark quickly turned into something a lot more daunting and real once legendary figure skater and choreographer Sandra Bezic signed on to not only help Taylor craft the routine but elicited David Pelletier, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Kurt Browning, Paul Martini and Barbara Underhill to help out.

We spoke to Taylor about how I Have Nothing Came about and its journey to TV.

This did kind of start as a lark and then it got serious, right? Once Sandra said, ‘OK, I’m going to connect you with people, figure skaters, and my reputation is on the line.’ So is the realization that we saw on screen legitimately the realization where it dawns on you, ‘Am I really going to do this?’
Carolyn Taylor: Yeah, when she says, this is no longer a joke. Now knowing, of course, it’s still a comedy docuseries, we’re still leaning into funny stuff and having those moments. When I’m working with those skaters, I’m legit doing my best. I’m doing my best, but I’m not, and I am leaning into my own foibles at the same time. It’s real, but it’s not a mockumentary.

Obviously, whenever there’s an Olympics in Canada, I have that certain amount of pride. It was so cool for you to actually tell your personal story about your feelings for Katerina Witt. Unlike on Baroness Von Sketch, for instance, where you were playing characters, this is really you talking about your feelings at the time.
CT: There is such a vulnerability to that because as a comedian and actor, there’s a critical distance and you’re summarizing what you see and you’re observing and you’re assuming characters. But then to sort of strip that away and lean into it and take the piss out of yourself, but at the same time just be yourself, but then sometimes lean into the more absurd parts of your own personality. It was the biggest challenge. It was a huge challenge. It was hard, and it was fun. [Executive producer and director] Zach Russell and I, we would just talk, we were constantly having existential talks about the nature of reality and what are dreams and what is fantasy and what is time and what is it to have something and what is it to have nothing. I think as you get deeper into the series, it keeps tilting and tilting reality, but yet it’s actually happening. It’s happening, but we’re leaning into some quirks and weird shit too.

Sandra Bezic, Carolyn Taylor and Kurt Browning

This is a unique idea to pitch to production companies. How did you pitch it to Julie Bristow at Catalyst?
CT: Well, there was an immediate connection. A friend of mine had worked with Julie and said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to pitch Julie. She just started a new production company.’ And so I met with her, and I wasn’t even sure I was even going to pitch this. It was just like, ‘Hey, let’s chat.’ She’s like, ‘Anything you’re thinking of?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I do have this obsession, this skating routine. I’d like to turn it into a series.’ And she was like, ‘I was obsessed with Katerina too. I was a skater.’ And she got it. And she understands the queer sensibility behind it. She also has connections in the skating world, and she is someone who puts trust in the people she collaborates with. So she and Vibika Bianchi at Catalyst are amazing. They said, ‘We want you to see your vision through, we want to help.’ And they really did have the connections and resources and the niche interest in this very niche project.

And then the same thing kind of happened with Bell and Crave. We talked to a few networks, but it was Bell who understood it. They understood that they didn’t understand parts, and we had to talk it through, and they were, but I am so grateful that they got behind it and said, yeah, this is our kind of weird, and we want to try it and we trust and let’s go for it. So they were great.

And was it Sandra Bezic who opened that door to Kristi Yamaguchi and other high-profile figure skaters? It’s one thing to pitch networks and production companies, but what about getting those names on board?
CT: That was definitely Sandra. Those are all people she’s choreographed, people she’s worked with over the years on Stars On Ice, the Olympics, other competitions, et cetera, and they all know each other. They all like each other. So anything celebrating their sport and their cohort of skaters and Sandra and that world… I mean, they were skeptical. I think some of them were like, ‘What is this?’ Everyone was like that. But we also encouraged them. We said, ‘You’ve got doubts. Lay ’em out.’ So they really played in the world, but the things they’re saying are true. But it was pretty amazing that everyone got on board.

Let’s get a little bit into the writing. My initial question was about the writing and whether you were the sole writer, but it sounds as though there was a lot of improv.
CT: It was unscripted. It was Zack and I working on the beat sheets. We wrote beats and we had a couple of people consult his story editors who came in. Alison Johnson was a story editor on the project throughout. So she was on set and would have ideas, and we collaborated at the end of the day and tried to figure out what the next day and what was going to happen. It really was chaos and control coming together because you couldn’t know.

What do you want viewers to experience when they watch I Have Nothing?
CT: I want them to feel something. I want them to go on the ride and know that I am opening myself up and saying, ‘If anyone wants to come with me, come and let’s go on this ride together.’ I would hope that they do feel also some joy from it. I was talking to Xtra Magazine about that idea of queer joy and, ‘It’s okay, and we can have queer joy and we can have celebratory moments, and it’s okay if things work out and if there are triumphs.’

I’d be happy if it just generates conversation and questioning why we pursue what we pursue and why we don’t. And the 15-year-old who lives in us and who are we now versus who we were then who did we valorize and what would it mean to meet them?

Season 1 of I Have Nothing is available now on Crave.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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