From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Link: Women Behind Canadian TV: Carol Hay
“The great thing about writing period drama is that you can tackle issues, get into stories and dig around, make a social comment or a societal observation that wouldn’t work in a contemporary setting.” Continue reading.
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Link: Women Behind Canadian TV: Julie Puckrin
“I’ve been lucky to work in rooms that were not only gender-balanced, but in some cases, the women actually outnumbered the men! For many years, shows said ‘we need a woman in the room’, but in my career, I’ve never been the only woman.” Continue reading.
From a media release:
Cinespace Film Studios (Cinespace) today announced the signing of a multi-year lease with Netflix to expand its film and television production presence inside Marine Terminal 51 and the Cruise Ship Terminal, owned by PortsToronto and under long-term lease to Cinespace. The news comes the morning Netflix announced the creation of its Toronto production hub, expanding its production presence in Canada.
Netflix’s new production hub in Toronto will take advantage of the area’s globally-renowned and award-winning film production infrastructure, which includes deep pools of creative talent, technicians, suppliers and filming locations. Toronto’s overall film and television production volumes have reached $2 billion in recent years and have resulted in tens of thousands of jobs both directly and indirectly.
In addition to Toronto’s Netflix activity, Northern Ontario has also benefitted from several Netflix productions, demonstrating that film and television volumes rely on Ontario’s overall competitiveness as a film jurisdiction.
For Mayor Tory, the creation of a Netflix production hub in Toronto is a major milestone in his years of lobbying the Hollywood studios and digital platforms to send more business to Toronto, as well as his continuous urging of City agencies to audit their inventories for large sites that could be leased to the film industry.
About Cinespace Film Studios:
Cinespace Film Studios – a 30 years-running family business – is the largest private owner, operator and developer of studios for film, TV and digital media production in North America, with over 2 million square feet of space on over 100 acres in both Toronto and Chicago. Through direct advisory relationships with local government and through meaningful partnerships and internship programs with institutions – including York University in Toronto and DePaul University in Chicago – Cinespace is a market leader in infrastructure development for the screen-based industries.
From a media release:
Today, Netflix announced it is creating a dedicated production hub in Toronto, choosing two studio spaces in Toronto that expand its production presence in Canada.
At Cinespace Studios, Netflix will lease four sound stages, along with office space and support space totaling approximately 164,000 square feet.
At Pinewood Toronto Studios, Netflix will also lease four sound stages and adjacent office space comprising a total footprint of approximately 84,580 square feet.
In total, both sites will support upcoming Netflix series and films, including the horror anthology series Guillermo del Toro Presents Ten After Midnight, the film Let It Snow and others, which will provide production jobs for up to 1,850 Canadians per year. The new spaces add to Netflix’s existing physical production footprint in Canada, which already includes a lease of British Columbia’s Martini Film Studios, as well as production sites Netflix sets up across Canada on a production-by-production basis.
Netflix has produced many series and films in Canada starting in 2012 with horror series Hemlock Grove (Toronto), and including the Emmy Award-winning A Series of Unfortunate Events (Vancouver), Lost in Space (Vancouver), The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Vancouver) and films 1922 (Vancouver), The Package (multiple locations in British Columbia), Game Over Man (Vancouver), Christmas Inheritance (Northern Ontario), Death Note (Vancouver), How It Ends (Winnipeg), Hold the Dark (Calgary and Kananaskis Country), The Holiday Calendar (Northern Ontario), In The Tall Grass (multiple locations in Ontario, and Calgary), In the Shadow of the Moon (Toronto), Polar (Toronto), Always Be My Maybe (Vancouver), Good Sam (Montreal), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (Ottawa) and The Christmas Chronicles (Toronto). Current series filming in Canada include V-Wars (Northern Ontario) and October Faction (Toronto), along with an untitled film starring Sam Worthington, directed by Brad Anderson (Winnipeg), and an untitled film to be directed by Patrice Laliberté in Quebec.
In addition, Netflix has partnered with Canadian production partners to co-produce series for global audiences including Anne with an E (CBC), Travelers (Showcase), Frontier (Discovery Canada) and limited series Alias Grace (CBC). In 2017, Netflix committed to investing $500 million in content production in Canada over the next five years and is currently on track to exceed that investment.
About Netflix
Netflix is the world’s leading internet entertainment service with 139 million memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Link: Women Behind Canadian TV: Anusree Roy
“In my experience change is coming to both mediums. It’s been a slow process, but it’s coming. Finally diverse stories are being demanded and put on the same platform as non-diverse stories, which has been such an exciting change.” Continue reading.
