Tag Archives: Featured

Amazing Race Canada, Featured

CTV orders Season 11 of Canada’s #1 summer series The Amazing Race Canada

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From a media release:

On the heels of last night’s milestone tenth season finale of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, CTV announced today that Canada’s favourite summertime adventure series has been renewed for Season 11. Hosted by Olympic gold medallist Jon Montgomery, THE AMAZING RACE CANADA is set to welcome a new group of racers to the starting line when it returns in 2025, with casting details to be announced at a later date.

“Since its debut in 2013, THE AMAZING RACE CANADA has become a beloved family viewing summer tradition,” said Justin Stockman, Vice-President, Content Development & Programming, Bell Media. “The series has captivated audiences across the country with exhilarating challenges, breathtaking scenery, and fierce competition – pushing the boundaries of reality competition year after year. We look forward to working with our partners at Insight Productions to once again showcase the best that Canada has to offer during Season 11.”

Customized and wholly integrated brand partnership opportunities for THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, including video, digital, social, radio, and OOH platforms with first in class data opportunities, are currently available for the upcoming season.

With final data of the full complete season to be reported, Season 10 of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA was the overall #1 summer series (P2+ and A25-54), with a current season average of 1.3 million viewers. The series also closed out its tenth consecutive year as Canada’s most-watched summer series among Adults 25-54. To date, THE AMAZING RACE CANADA has amassed a total of 42 Canadian Screen Award nominations and 27 wins.

Previous seasons of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA are available for streaming on CTV.ca, the CTV app, and Crave. An encore presentation of THE AMAZING RACE CANADA Season 10 finale airs Saturday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app, and at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CTV2, with the full season available to stream on Crave beginning Friday, Sept. 13.

THE AMAZING RACE CANADA is produced by Insight Productions Ltd. (a Boat Rocker Company) in association with CTV. John Brunton is Executive Producer and Mark Lysakowski is Executive Producer and Showrunner.

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Featured, Industry News

New Metric Media and Encore form a strategic partnership to co-develop and co-produce bilingual content

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From a media release:

Award-winning studios New Metric Media and Encore have entered a groundbreaking partnership to co-develop and co-produce bilingual content across both scripted and unscripted programming. Under the pact, both companies will also explore adapting each other’s content for their respective English and French-speaking markets.

“We’re thrilled to build on our relationship with Encore,” said Mark Montefiore (above left), Founder and CEO, New Metric Media. “This is an important and innovative collaboration focused on highlighting one of the most unique aspects of our beautiful country, our cultural and language diversity. On a personal note, this is a critical stepping stone in my life-long commitment to being able to order a poutine entirely in French.”

“We are very proud of this partnership. We are confident that this strong alliance will enable broadcasters to feature unique and distinctive content projects, as they will be developed and produced with the perspectives of both cultures, in at least two languages, and with the unified strength of NMM and Encore. We are currently identifying specific projects that will benefit from this collaboration. Attachez vos tuques avec de la broche !” added Julie Provençal (above right), President of Encore.

The partnership comes on the heels of the announcement of their upcoming untitled, rom-com heist series, which follows a Quebecois family and an Anglo-Ontarian family reluctantly coming together despite their differences for an unforgettable wedding weekend. The project, based on a concept created by Montefiore, has recently attached new writers including Andrew DeAngelis (Children Ruin Everything, The Lake) and Erika Soucy (Les Perles, Léo), further bolstering the creative team.

This unique collaboration between New Metric Media and Encore signals a significant step in bilingual storytelling, strengthening the bridge between languages in entertainment.

About New Metric Media
Based in Toronto, New Metric Media is an award-winning independent entertainment studio specializing in building comedy brands across TV production, live entertainment, distribution, merchandising and licensing. Recipient of Playback’s 2022 Production Company of the Year award and the Banff World Media Festival’s 2018 Innovative Producer Award, the company’s slate of programming includes the hit Crave/Hulu original comedy Letterkenny, the Crave/Hulu Letterkenny spinoff series Shoresy, the CTV/CW half-hour comedy series Children Ruin Everything and the half-hour Crave comedy series Bria Mack Gets A Life.

New Metric Media is recognized as a leader in 360-degree brand marketing and its success with Letterkenny off-screen extensions, including beer, collectible merchandise and Letterkenny LIVE!, a sold-out North American theatre tour featuring the stars of the series.

About Groupe Encore
Created in Montreal in 2000, Encore is an integrated entertainment group, one of the most prolific production companies in scripted series (comedy and drama), live comedy specials, live plays, and artist management in French Canada.

With nearly 700 hours produced, Encore Television multiplies the production of millionaire and award-winning TV series praised both on the local and global markets. Licensed in more than 100 countries as originals or adaptations, hit series like Les beaux malaises, Bête noire (Dark Soul), Fugueuse (Runaway), Pour Sarah (For Sarah), Léo, Boomerang, La candidate (The Candidate), Lâcher prise (Freefall) are amongst the highest-rated series in Québec.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Todd Talbot debuts new series, Todd Talbot Builds: The Passive House Project, premiering October 8 exclusively on Cottage Life

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From a media release:

Love It or List It Vancouver real estate expert and TV star, Todd Talbot joins Cottage Life with the debut of his new documentary series, Todd Talbot Builds: The Passive House Project (8×30’). The eight-part series provides an intimate look into the highs and lows of Talbot’s construction journey as he and his wife, actor Rabecca Talbot, set out to build a net-zero, passive house A-frame on British Columbia’s picturesque Okanagan Lake just outside Kelowna. The Canadian broadcast premiere of Todd Talbot Builds: The Passive House Project airs Tuesday, October 8 at 8p.m. ET/PT, exclusively on Cottage Life.

In the series, Talbot takes off his Love It or List It realtor hat and reveals to viewers his in-depth knowledge of the construction industry. Talbot takes on the roles of project manager, financier, associate designer, estimator and head of the construction team building this cabin. Architects, engineers and environmental experts join Talbot to build his future home. The series showcases cutting-edge, sustainable building techniques and the science behind constructing homes with a minimal ecological footprint.

Talbot’s passive house made international headlines in the summer of 2023, B.C.’s worst wildfire season on record. The fires forced Todd, Rabecca and their kids to evacuate and halt production of the series. Nearly all the passive house elements were completed, with the exception of the stone wool insulation and non combustible cladding on the underbelly of the structure. When Todd and Rabecca were allowed back to the site a month later to survey the damage, the pile of insulation was the only thing that was not destroyed. From its inspiring inception to its tragic conclusion, the series documents Talbot’s ambitious home project, including how he discovered via CNN that his family’s passive house was lost to the blaze.

“My wife Rabecca and I spent over four years documenting the construction of our family’s A-frame passive house, sharing our insights on sustainable and resilient building practices,” says Todd Talbot. “Our project’s devastating ending inspired us to keep filming so we could emphasize the powerful impact of B.C.’s wildfires. We’re now finally ready to share the ups and downs of our journey with Cottage Life viewers.”

Passive house buildings are widely hailed as the future of home construction, celebrated for their health benefits and energy efficiency. Yet, a lesser-known advantage is their heightened resilience to wildfires. Todd Talbot’s passive house project underscores the urgent need to build sustainable, resilient homes to combat the devastating effects of the climate crisis.

Todd Talbot Builds: The Passive House Project is produced by Infinity Films. Shel Piercy and Todd Talbot serve as Producers, with Piercy directing. Theresa Piercy is the Series Producer, with a team of cinematographers documenting the incredible build over its three-year filming process. Judd Bakken and Robert Lawrenson are the Editors, with original music by Jeff Griffiths and Chris King.

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Featured, The Office Movers

It’s moving day! From Jae and Trey Richards, the new Crave original comedy The Office Movers premieres October 11

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From a media release:

On the heels of Labour Day weekend, Crave announced today that its all-new original comedy series, THE OFFICE MOVERS, is being delivered to audiences beginning Friday, October 11. This first-ever television project from Brampton-born comedy duo Jae and Trey Richards takes viewers behind-the-scenes of a fictional moving company and showcases the hilarious, yet very relatable, struggles of working in a family business. Produced by Counterfeit Pictures in partnership with Crave, the first two episodes of THE OFFICE MOVERS drop on October 11 with two new episodes streaming on subsequent Fridays.

Shot in and around Toronto, the six-episode, half-hour comedy follows Everett (Jae) and Eric Saunders (Trey), two brothers reluctantly following in their father’s footsteps in commercial office moving. Everett, the owner of Shazam Moving, is fighting to keep his business afloat against stiff competition. Alongside his brother Eric, and a quirky crew of co-workers, Everett struggles to keep it together to land a big enough contract to be bought out by Zenithon Logistics, a moving industry giant. The Saunders brothers battle each other, their family and their crew as they face the unforgiving nature of the Toronto office moving game to make a last-ditch attempt to cash out and leave moving behind for good.

“We spent 10 years of our lives as part-time movers for our father’s office moving company. We endured long hours of back-breaking work while managing unreliable equipment and vehicles alongside some of the funniest (often inexperienced) co-workers,” said Jae and Trey Richards. “On our most chaotic days our fellow movers would turn to us and say we have to make a TV show out of this job one day. We’re grateful for the opportunity to do just that. Though the office-moving world is niche, we’re certain viewers will find relatability and comedy in this show; much of which is based on true events we experienced at work.”

Joining Jae and Trey on the show are a talented group of Canadian comedians, digital creators, and collaborators, including: Jack Innanen, Lucas Lopez, Noel Miller, Hassan Phills, Jesse Sebastiani, and WatswithAndy. Tyco, one of Jae and Trey’s most iconic characters, also makes a cameo appearance throughout the series.

THE OFFICE MOVERS is created by Jae and Trey Richards, and produced by Counterfeit Pictures in partnership with Crave. Directed by Sebastian Cluer, Dan Bennett, Shane Corkery and Anton Leo of Counterfeit Pictures executive produce, along with Showrunner Clara Altimas, and Jae & Trey.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Métis/Cree filmmaker Barbara Todd Hager to adapt award-winning book “On Savage Shores” by UK author Caroline Dodds Pennock

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From a media release:

Indigenous-owned production company Acimow Media has optioned the award-winning book On Savage Shores (Knopf) by the UK author and historian Caroline Dodds Pennock (pictured above right).

In On Savage Shores, Pennock brings to light the stories of countless Indigenous people from the Americas—Aztec, Maya, Totonacs, Inuit, Iroquois, and others—who were taken to Europe against their will as slaves, household servants, performers, translators, and religious converts following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 and continuing until the early 20th century. Many of the abducted Indigenous people died in Europe, while some survived but were permanently removed from their families, communities, and cultural traditions. In some rare cases, Indigenous abductees would marry in Europe and become powerful members of their new communities.

Acimow Media is developing Pennock’s book into a three-part docu-drama series called On Distant Shores, which will focus on the stories of three explorers and the Indigenous people they abducted: Christopher Columbus and Diego; Jacque Cartier and Taignoagny and Domagaya; and Sir Walter Raleigh and Wanchese and Manteo. Each episode of the series will focus on the histories that took place in these European countries—Spain, France, and England.

“I am thrilled to be working with Barbara Hager to bring these important and often overlooked Indigenous histories to a wider audience,” said Pennock. “The lives of Native travellers—diplomats, explorers, ‘curiosities’, enslaved people and many others—so rarely form part of the popular imagination. Acimow Media, an Indigenous-owned and focused production company, is the perfect partner to change that, and to communicate how and why these histories matter.”

In addition to her writing career, Pennock is also a senior lecturer in international history at the University of Sheffield. She has appeared on history series for the BBC, Netflix, and the Science Channel, and has written for BBC History Magazine, History Today, and Scientific American.

“When I first read Caroline Dodds Pennock’s book that recounts dozens of real-life stories of Indigenous people who were taken to Europe after 1492, I knew I wanted to make a documentary series about this important post-contact history,” said Hager (pictured above left). “Dr. Pennock’s brilliant book brings to life the harrowing and heartbreaking experiences of Indigenous people from every part of the Americas who were taken from their families and communities, against their will, by such celebrated explorers as Christopher Columbus, Walter Raliegh, Jacques Cartier, and others.”

Métis/Cree producer Barbara Todd Hager is a Canadian filmmaker who has directed four documentary series and five one-off documentaries to her credit, including the award-winning docu-drama series, 1491: The Untold Story of the Americas Before Columbus (APTN, ZDFE) based on the best-selling book 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann.

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