Tag Archives: Motive

Bad Blood, Wynonna Earp

Bad Blood welcomes new blood for Season 2 of the City original series

From a media release:

With cameras now rolling on eight all-new 60-minute episodes of the critically acclaimed original drama Bad Blood, City announced today Season 2 casting for the series’ highly anticipated return this fall. Star Kim Coates reprises his role as Canada’s favourite multifaceted mobster, Declan Gardiner, helming a dynamic new ensemble cast, featuring Louis Ferreira (Breaking Bad, S.W.A.T), Anna Hopkins (Shadow Hunters), and Melanie Scrofano (Wynonna Earp).

Season 2 picks up five years after Rizzuto’s death and his former right-hand man, Declan Gardiner (Coates), is the reigning king of the Montreal drug trade – that is, until a new breed of mafiosos arrive from Europe to wage war in an attempt to wrestle the city from his grasp. Declan comes up against rivals, both old and new, who want to start dealing more dangerous substances; meanwhile, the Organized Crime Task Force gets ready to take everyone down with the help of a confidential informant. Although he prefers to work alone, Declan soon realizes that, in order to remain on top, he’ll need to enlist some help.

Ready to go to war with Declan are his enemies, Hamilton’s Cosoleto brothers, Domenic (Ferreira) and Enzo (Daniel Kash,In Contempt, The Strain), and their sons, Luca (Franco Lo Presti, Letterkenny, Schitt’s Creek) and Nats (Dylan Taylor, Rogue, Covert Affairs).

On the opposite side of the law is a Senior Agent in the Organized Crime Task Force, Nellie Bullock (Lisa Berry, 19-2, Supernatural), who is working her confidential informant, Nats’s wife, Valentina Cosoleto (Scrofano). But things turn explosive when Declan refuses an offer to partner with the imported power duo and sultry Langana twin siblings, Teresa (Hopkins) and Christian (newcomer Gianni Falcone). Left with no other choice, Declan looks to partner with an unlikely ally, Rose Sunwind (Sharon Taylor, Bellevue, Ghost Wars), and feels obliged to take a friend from his past, Reggie Ross (Ryan McDonald, Fringe), under his wing.

Bad Blood is produced in partnership with New Metric Media and Sphère Média Plus, in association with distributors DHX Media and Skyvision, and with the financial participation of confirmed partners, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, the Independent Production Fund, and the Canada Media Fund. Executive producers are Mark Montefiore (Letterkenny, What Would Sal Do) for New Metric Media and Josée Vallée (19-2, This Life) for Sphère Média Plus. Michael Konyves (Barney’s Version, Last Knights), who received a CSA nomination for Best Writing, Drama or Limited Series, returns as showrunner. Kim Coates also serves as producer and received a CSA nomination for Best Lead Actor, Drama or Limited Series, for his role in Season 1. Paula J. Smith (Blood and Water, The Beaverton) is Supervising Producer. Directors include Jeff Renfroe (Cardinal, Rogue) and Molly McGlynn (Mary Goes Round, Working Moms).

Filming is taking place in both Sudbury and Montreal, and surrounding areas. Additional broadcast details will be announced at a later date.

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Industry News

The WGC announces new president, council

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From a media release:

The Writers Guild of Canada is pleased to announce that showrunner Dennis Heaton is the WGC’s new president, elected by WGC council to serve the 2,200 members of the Guild from May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2020. Dennis is an award-winning screenwriter based in Vancouver; currently showrunner of the upcoming Netflix show, The Order.

“We’re very excited to work with Dennis,” says WGC Executive Director Maureen Parker. “His showrunning experience will hold us in good stead as we go into Independent Production Agreement bargaining within the next year.”

Dennis has been a member of the WGC since 2001 and has served on the Guild’s council since 2012. He was showrunner of the internationally renowned police procedural Motive (CTV/ABC seasons one and two), and has written for The Listener and Blood Ties, among other shows.

“It’s great to be the new WGC president,” says Heaton. “I’m looking forward to building on the Guild’s past successes, as well as facing the challenges ahead.”

In addition to electing a new president, the Guild also has a new council, responsible for setting policies and overseeing Guild activities. The 2018-20 WGC council is made up of experienced screenwriter members from across the country: Vice President Andrew Wreggitt (Mayerthorpe), Treasurer Mark Ellis (X Company), Marsha Greene (Mary Kills People), Alex Levine (Orphan Black), Anne-Marie Perrotta (Max & Ruby), and Michael Amo (Pure).

The WGC’s new council, along with Executive Director Maureen Parker, is ready to move ahead in a time of industry flux, and to continue the Guild’s ongoing work on behalf of Canadian screenwriters.

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Featured, Travelers

Preview: Travelers closes in on Season 2 finale with “Update” and “21C”

With just one more week until Travelers‘ Season 2 finale, Showcase has gifted fans with back-to-back episodes this Monday and next. Yup, that’s four jam-packed instalments in just 14 days. Clearly, we all made it onto Santa’s “nice” list!

And while we’re thankful for so much Travelers, that means things are quickly coming to a close and there is still a lot to cover story-wise. How will Philip continue to be helpful to the team now that his knowledge is no longer valid? What will happen to Grace? Is Kat going to be OK? Will Marcy seek out the memories she lost when Grace reset her?

Here’s what Showcase has revealed about Monday’s first episode, “Update,” written by Pat Smith and directed by Amanda Tapping:

Philip’s timeline receives an update with some unwanted side effects, Trevor makes a disturbing discovery about his host’s past, and MacLaren deals with the return of a traveler he thought had gone away for good.

Here’s what the network says about the second instalment, “21C,” written by Brad Wright and directed by Will Waring:

While MacLaren, Carly, Trevor, and Philip work with another traveler team to protect a child important to the future, Marcy takes measures to remember her past life – but uncovers more than she bargained for.

And we’ve some info on both episodes after we watched screeners. Bonus: we’ve got some sweet images to share too!

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Rick Hall returns
Yup, that’s Motive alum Louis Ferreira turning in another stellar performance as the man who wanted to take over running MacLaren’s team. The last time we saw Rick he’d been arrested. I love it when Mac goes head-to-head with someone over loyalty to his squad and we get some great footage between to these two as Rick plots a little payback with help from Luca (Douglas Chapman). What Rick does is shocking, terrible and made me hate him even more.

Philip receives an update
I don’t want to give anything away regarding this scene and what it means going forward, but Amanda Tapping did a beautiful job filming it, the soundtrack is sublime and Reilly Dolman brought a tear to my eye with his performance.

Trevor gets an education
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Kyle (Dylan Playfair) and he shows up to fill in some blanks with regard to what the pair endured while playing on the football team. We love Playfair on Letterkenny, but it’s nice to see him in a meaty dramatic storyline too.

David does a good deed
We love David, and his actions in “Update” and “21C” only further those feelings.

A Continuum star drops by
Oh, Omari Newton, how we’ve missed you! Newton appears in “21C” in a key role linked to Marcy’s past.

Vincent re-appears
It’s been a few weeks since Enrico Colantoni was seen on Travelers; he guests in the second episode on Sunday in a truly “Holy crap!” bunch of moments.

Travelers airs back-to-back episodes this Monday and next at 9 p.m. ET and 10 p.m. ET on Showcase.

Images courtesy of Jeff Weddell for Corus.

 

 

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Industry News, Motive

Award-WinningWriter/Producer Dennis Heaton to Lead Story Room for the 2017 Bell Media Prime Time TV Program

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From a media release:

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and Bell Media are pleased to welcome renowned writer/producer Dennis Heaton as the Executive Producer in Residence of the 2017 Bell Media Prime Time TVProgram, presented in association with ABC Signature Studios. From September to December 2017, Heaton will lead the story room as well as the soon-to-be-announced television writers selected to participate in this year’s program as they work together to develop Heaton’s original series.

Dennis Heaton is an award-winning writer and producer whose work spans multiple genres and formats, from animation to live-action, web series to feature film, half hour comedy to hour-long drama. Heaton is currently executive producing and writing for Ghost Wars, a new horror series for SyFy and Netflix. Heaton recently completed showrunning the internationally renowned police procedural Motive. His additional live-action credits include Call Me Fitz, The Listener, JPod, Blood Ties and the feature film Fido. When not working on live-action projects, Heaton sneaks off to write episodes of animated shows, create web series and write and direct short film projects. Motive and Call Me Fitz have both received multiple Canadian Screen Awards nominations, including Best Drama Series and Best Comedy Series, respectively, which Call Me Fitz won in 2014. Heaton has also been nominated for four Gemini Awards, four WGC Screenwriting Awards (winning for his Yvon of the Yukon animation script, “The Trouble With Mammoths”) and nine Leo Awards (of which he won five). His 2009 web series, My Pal, Satan, won Best Web Series and Best Theme Song at the New York Television Festival. His 2006 short film, Head Shot, premiered in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, won Best Canadian Short Film at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, and went on to play in film festivals around the world. Heaton has multiple projects in development, including Damage Control, a new police procedural with Lark, NBCU and Corus Entertainment, and the feature comedy Larry’s Awesome Kegger, which he hopes will be his directorial debut.

The Bell Media Prime Time TV Program, presented in association with ABC Signature Studios, delivers a real-world story room experience and an intense professional and project development process for six TV writers a year. The program has attracted some of Canada’s most prolific and successful showrunners to lead the story room as Executive Producer in Residence, including Michael MacLennan, Graeme Manson, Avrum Jacobson, Peter Mohan, Shelley Eriksen, Karen Walton and Brad Wright. Alumni of the program have gone on to create their own series and write for hit TV series, including Tara Armstrong, whose is currently in production on Season 2 of her series Mary Kills People (Global TV); Andrew De Angelis, whose first comedy series, What Would Sal Do?, aired on CraveTV in March 2017; Blain Watters, who wrote for Season 1 of Between (Netflix); and Karen Nielsen, who is set to write an episode of the next X-Files revival season. The program also helped develop smash-hit Emmy Award-winning series Orphan Black, which recently saw its series finale, in the 2008 story room, and Travelers, whose second season is set to premiere this Fall on Netflix, began its development during the 2014 Prime Time TV Program.

The 2017 Bell Media Prime Time TV Program participants will be announced in the coming weeks, with the program getting officially underway on September 18, 2017. To learn more about the program, please visit:http://cfccreates.com/programs/15-bell-media-prime-time-tv-program

 

 

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Awards, Featured

Motive, Blood and Water and This Life top Leo Award nominees

CTV’s Motive, Omni’s Blood and Water and CBC’s This Life are among the top vote-getters for the upcoming Leo Awards. The program salutes television and film projects filming in British Columbia.

Motive is up for several awards, including Best Program, Direction, Screenwriting for Dennis Heaton, Sarah Dodd and Julie Puckrin, and Lead Performance Female for star Kristin Lehman. Blood and Water is nominated for Supporting Performance Male for BC Lee and Supporting Performance Female for Elfina Luk. This Life gets the nod in Screenwriting for Rachel Langer and Supporting Performance Female for Lauren Lee Smith.

In the Music, Comedy or Variety Program or Series, Letterkenny receives three nominations for Program and Performance, Kim’s Convenience for Screenwriting and Performance, Crash Gallery for Program and The Beaverton for Performance.

The winners will be announced during a three-day event and gala in Vancouver on May 27 and June 3 and 4.

The full list of nominees is available here.

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