Tag Archives: Slasher

Industry News

First Generation Films developing Essex County for CBC

From a media release:

First Generation Films (FGF) announced today it has optioned Jeff Lemire’s critically acclaimed and best-selling graphic novel ESSEX COUNTY to adapt into a scripted television series. Writer Aaron Martin has been signed to pen the pilot script and showrun the series currently in development with the CBC.

Based on award-winning cartoonist Jeff Lemire’s much-loved graphic novel trilogy, published by Top Shelf Productions, this series intricately weaves the genealogy of a family’s origins across generations. The novel is an intimate study of an eccentric community and a tender meditation on family, memory, grief, secrets, and reconciliation.

Ted Adams, Chris Staros, Jeff Lemire and Aaron Martin will Executive Produce along with Christina Piovesan of First Generation Films.

ESSEX COUNTY has won multiple literary awards including the American Library Association’s Alex Award, the Doug Wright Award, and the Joe Shuster Award.

New York Times bestselling author Jeff Lemire is currently writing Marvel Entertainment’s “The Extraordinary X-Men”, as his original graphic novel series “Descender” is being adapted into a major motion film by Sony Pictures.

Award-winning screenwriter Aaron Martin’s previous credits include CTV’s “Degrassi: The Next Generation”, CBC’s “Being Erica”, CTV’s “Killjoys” and most recently Super Channel’s Slasher”.

Today’s news comes less than three months after FGF announced the launch of the television division.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail
Featured, Slasher

Dean McDermott gets back to basics with Slasher

Dean McDermott wears his family on his sleeve. Literally.

The Toronto native’s entire right arm is a story in tattoo ink, from the top of his shoulder and the McDermott family crest to the tiger representing himself and brightly-coloured fish standing in for wife Tori and each of their four children. The ink is a constant reminder of where he came from and who he is: father, protector and husband.

But McDermott is an actor too, and he’s returning to those roots in Super Channel’s horror series Slasher. Set to debut in 2016 on Canada’s pay cable station and Chiller in the U.S., Aaron Martin’s twist on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None stars McDermott as Iain Vaughn, police chief of Waterbury, a small town where bad things are happening. How bad? How about grisly murders every few days and a mounting list of suspects?

“I’m starting over again and I’m going to show you stuff that I think will blow you away.”

“I read a lot of scripts and some of them are hard to get through,” McDermott says during a break in filming on location in Parry Sound, Ont. “This was just a page-turner. I just couldn’t put it down. It’s so funny having someone like Aaron, who worked on Degrassi, create this. I thought, ‘Wow, this guy can really write.” Though McDermott and Slasher‘s production company, Shaftesbury, want to keep much of the show’s secrets hidden until the debut, we can reveal the series’ killer cast. As previously announced, Merlin‘s Katie McGrath stars as Sarah Bennett, who returns to her childhood home years after her parents were murdered. Upon her arrival, copycat killings begin and everyone is a suspect … or a casualty. Among them are Katie’s husband Dylan (Brandon Jay McLaren), her grandmother Brenda Merritt (Wendy Crewson), and family friend Cam Henry (Steve Byers). Co-stars include Mary Walsh, Enuka Okuma, Erin Karpluk, Christopher Jacot, Jefferson Brown, Mark Ghanimé and Rainbow Sun Francks.

Slasher represents an important step in McDermott’s career, a return to acting that has rejuvenated him creatively. After regular roles in Due South, Power Play, Tracker and 1-800-Missing, and guest gigs on Kojak, NCIS, CSI, Without a Trace and The Closer, McDermott became more known for opening up his private life via Tori & Dean: Storibook Weddings, Tori & Dean: Inn Love and True Tori. He’s in the midst of Slasher‘s eight episodes, but McDermott sent out tapes in hopes of landing roles in CTV’s Saving Hope and Discovery’s first scripted series, Frontier; being on set has gotten him pumped for more varied roles.

“I’ve gotten my life in order and I realized that I am an actor,” he says, sitting forward. “That’s what I want to do and it’s what I’ll always do. I’m starting over again and I’m going to show you stuff that I think will blow you away.”

Slasher will air in 2016 on Super Channel.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail