Tag Archives: YouTube

Auntie Jillian joins CTV’s summer schedule beginning July 25

From a media release:

AUNTIE JILLIAN is coming to CTV. Featuring YouTube ™ and social media personality Jillian Danford (a.k.a. “Auntie Jillian”), her husband Warren, and adult children Myles and Milan, AUNTIE JILLIAN brings Canada’s self-proclaimed first Black family reality show to viewers across the country Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT beginning July 25 on CTV and everywhere CTV content can be found. The six-episode season, airing over three weeks on CTV, centres on the Danford family in their Ajax, Ont. home as Jillian and Warren do their best to raise, entertain, and inspire their millennial and Gen Z kids. It’s not always pretty. It’s not always in control. But it’s always funny.

When cultures collide, hilarity often ensues and in AUNTIE JILLIAN, the Danford family and their extended fun-loving cast of friends encounter clashes and laugh-out-loud moments, keeping audiences excited to see what fun the family will encounter in each episode. Jillian is originally from Trinidad and Warren from Jamaica, and the two do their best to mold, entertain, and inspire their kids by nurturing and celebrating their Caribbean roots and embracing Canadian culture. From their first camping trip, to a Generation X vs. millennial cook-off, and Warren’s first time going for a new chest hair removal technique, AUNTIE JILLIAN keeps viewers wondering what hysterical shenanigans this family will encounter next.

Known by millions as “Auntie Jillian”, Jillian Danford is a YouTube ™, television, and social media personality who creates lifestyle vlogs about her outgoing and hilarious family. Her YouTube channel (@AskAuntieJillian) has more than 13 million views and more than 100,000 subscribers from a culturally diverse and international audience.

Promoting positivity, education, and empowerment, Auntie Jillian is known in the community as a youth advocate and has spoken at school assemblies as well as government programs for youth and anti-violence. Jillian is also a regular contributor on CTV News Channel’s Mind The Gap panel, which pits millennials against boomers on hot button topics.

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Dramatic actors take a comic turn in Hospital Show

I’d been excited to see the web series Hospital Show ever since the project received support from the Independent Production Fund in June of last year. The chance to see dramatic actors like Sara Canning, Adrian Holmes and Jordan Connor in comedic roles got me jazzed.

Now, the wait is over. Hospital Show, created, written, directed, produced and starring Adam Greydon Reid, debuts today on YouTube with the first two episodes—subsequent instalments roll out one per week—on the platform. Charlie (Canning) is a med school dropout turned actor who plays one in a medical drama called Critical Condition. Alongside Charlie are the big-hearted Rich (Holmes), Instagram lover Vince (Connor) and alcoholic Will (Reid).

We spoke to Adam Greydon Reid ahead of Hospital Show‘s debut.

How did the idea for Hospital Show come about in the first place?
Adam Greydon Reid: I’ve been an actor since I was a kid. I started off on, You Can’t Do That On Television. I’ve always wanted to explore the world of actors because I’d been an actor all my life and I actually see it as very non-glamorous. It never felt real to me. I wanted to create a comedy that just felt like a workplace comedy, except these people, who all feel like people you went to high school with. Totally normal human beings who all have problems and foibles and weaknesses, happen to wear white coats for a living and pretend to be doctors.

The next step was, ‘OK, well what kind of set do I want it to be on?’ When you look for a premise, you often try to look for something that’s ironic. I just liked the idea of setting it on a hospital show because here we have these broken, diluted, addicted if lovable people who are pretending to be healers when they need the healing.

How long have you had this idea kicking around?
AGR: Oh, a long time. Over five, at least five or six years, maybe more. I think as a result the characters feel very rich. The world feels very rich. I always thought if I looked at it as sort of the archetype of The Wizard of Oz and Dorothy is Charlie. Charlie is sort stuck in this world that she kind of belongs in, but doesn’t really belong in. She should be a real doctor instead of pretending to be one. The rest of the characters kind of fill out from there. Rich is The Cowardly Lion. And I would be The Scarecrow.

Carol-Ann is really enjoying her amorous activities at the moment. She’s a widow, a mother of two and so I see her kind of like The Tin Man. Looking to find heart, find love again, find something to fill a void that’s inside her. And then, of course, Oz being the all-seeing eye, the showrunner that’s not really there but can see everything. Kind of like the God figure.

Now that you’ve given me this whole Wizard of Oz angle, I totally see it now. Is it supposed to be there for people to pick up? 
AGR: No one will see it. No, no one would see it or figure out. It’s just for me. Just for me and people like you who I can tell, but honestly, they’ll feel it. When you’re dealing with archetypes, it’s completely transmitted on an unconscious level.

Sara Canning, Jordan Connor and Adrian Holmes all star in Hospital Show. How did you land them?
AGR: We all kind of know of each other and sometimes we’ve gotten to work with each other. I actually did not know Sara at all. I think we’d met maybe once, but I knew of her, of course, and I immediately imagined her as Charlie. There aren’t a lot of people that have the right energy to play someone that you believe is that smart. She’s so sharp. And I believe that she could be a doctor.

I knew Adrian from before. I’ve known him from other stuff. I just ended up being at the airport with him. We shared a cab home one day and I said, ‘Hey, you ever thought about doing comedy?’ He said, ‘Yeah, man. I’d love to, I’d love to do comedy.’ That’s the thing about the cast. Sarah, Jordan, Adrian and even Kristin [Lehman]. These are people who have basically made their careers doing dramatic fare. I think the chance of doing a comedy was really appealing to them because they just don’t get the chance to do it.

What kind of a writer are you? Are you the type that needs to have a quiet room to write?
AGR: Well, for this process, I tapped my actors for ideas. I had a general overall kind of thing going already and it had many rough drafts of it, but there were things that I wanted to spice up and I wanted to add to it. So, probably on the fifth draft, I started that once I had my cast together. I was like, ‘So, tell me about some of your experiences.’ And some of Kristin’s experiences are already in the show, they’re just exaggerated. And with Sara, who actually did Remedy. She says, ‘Well, probably one of the weirdest things in that was we had to practice. We really had to do suturing and we had to practice on bananas.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my god, that’s going in. That is for sure going in.’

Hospital Show is available on YouTube now.

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Family Channel Celebrates girl power with the premiere of We Are Savvy, July 1

From a media release:

This summer, Family Channel dives into the world of pop culture with the brand new series We Are Savvy, debuting July 1 at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT. Hosted by three girls who are setting out to empower their generation, the magazine-style show features a variety of segments including inspiring peer profiles, crafty DIYs and interviews with pop culture leaders from the world of music, technology, sports and fashion. Plus, fans will be treated to special appearances by popular celebrities including Bailee Madison (The Fosters, Good Witch), Lennon & Maisy (Nashville), international recording artists Tegan and Sara, Alessia Cara, plus more.

Hosts Tehya, Sarah and Spencer are BIG fans of the internet and while they may differ in just about everything from music tastes to celebrity crushes, the three girls combine their unique talents to create a YouTube-inspired pop culture series that offers tweens a refreshing spin on the world around them. The cheeky (and stylish) magazine-style show is set in each of the hosts’ bedrooms and sews together feature stories with recurring segments. Each episode sees two of the hosts hanging out, while the third hits the road to entertain viewers with a unique look at the coolest venues and most coveted events including ComiCon, LUSH Cosmetics Factory, GoKart World and more. Together, the three girls aspire to create empowering content that caters to an audience who is fluent in “Emoji” and crazy for viral cat videos, but who also has an active life offline.

In the premiere episode, Sarah and Tehya share their Savvy tips for taking the perfect cell phone photos, while Spencer experiences the TIFF Bell Lightbox Digi Playspace Exhibit. Later, the girls play ‘kitten or cat?’ on the weekly Cat Chat segment, and design a DIY jean pocket organizer. The episode also features a special appearance and performance by Nashville stars Lennon and Maisy. Following the series’ Canada Day debut, new episodes will air regularly Fridays at 6:30 p.m. ET.

In addition to the aforementioned celebrity appearances, special guest stars include: Amy Sedaris (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt); Eden Sher (The Middle); Luna Blaise (Fresh Off the Boat); Simon Cadel (Raising Expectations); Sloane Siegel (Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street); Sixx Orange (The Kicks);  Canadian fashion expert Jeanne Beker; Canadian singer/songwriters Shane Harte (Lost & Found Music Studios), Buffy Sainte-Marie and Tyler Shaw; Australian singer Betty Who and classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho.

The girl power continues at Family.ca where kids can take the fun new quiz “What’s Your Savvy Style?” to find out which host they share the most similarities with. The dedicated show page also features more information about the series and its hosts. For a first look at exclusive video content including inventive DIYs and fun interview segments, fans can check out We Are Savvy‘s YouTube page. New episodes of We Are Savvy will also be offered on Family OnDemand and through the Family Channel App as they become available weekly.

Commissioned by DHX Television, and with international distribution handled by DHX Media, Savvy is executive produced by Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen for Banger Films’ kids division, B-Minors (Gaming Show (In My Parents’ Garage), Big Ticket Summer Concert) and is led by series producers Jeni Besworth (Grizzly Cup, Big Ticket) and Adrienne Reid (Fashion Television). Banger Films is an award-winning film and television production company based in Toronto. In its first 10 years, Banger has produced feature documentaries, TV series, live concerts and kids’ programs, which have been broadcast worldwide.

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Creators of Hit Epic Meal Time Make the Jump to CBC

From a media release:

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is pleased to announce that Elebrity, a series by Montreal-based production company NextTime Productions and creators behind thesmash hit YouTube series Epic Meal Time, has been picked up for a development deal with the CBC. This deal was made possible through the inaugural Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop, Canada’s first-ever enhanced pre-development lab for online creators who want to migrate their talents to television and other screens. NextTime Productions will co-develop the series with Toronto-based independent content production company Aircraft Pictures, the official production partner of the program.

Elebrity explores the notion of becoming a celebrity overnight. It follows Herschel Bock, an eternal slacker, as he attempts to navigate his newfound celebrity status in the digital influencer world or risk losing it all to return to his regular life.

Brothers Darren and Harley Morenstein co-founded NextTime Productions in 2011. Since then, the production company has created and produced several web series, three YouTube channels and two cookbooks, and has amassed more than 7 million subscribers. Their flagship show, Epic Meal Time, has grown to be the number one online cooking show in the world.

NextTime Productions was selected for a TVseries deal out of three YouTubers/YouTube teams who participated in the inaugural Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop, including singer/songwriter and comedian Mikey Bustos, and the award-winning web series Convos With My 2-Year-Old, from creator and star Matthew Clarke and fellow star David Milchard. Mikey Bustos and the team behind Convos With My 2-Year-Old are currently pursuing various opportunities to develop their respective TVseries concepts developed through the Workshop with Aircraft Pictures.

The Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop was a five-month part-time program created by CFC Media Lab, in collaboration with the CBC and Aircraft Pictures, which experimented with a novel approach to series creation. From June to November 2015, the Workshop offered the three aforementioned digital creative teams the opportunity to refine their writing, story structure and characterization skills, and gain valuable experience navigating the Canadian entertainment ecosystem under the mentorship of CBC creative executives, the CFC Media Lab and its mentors, and the experts at Aircraft Pictures. The three YouTube teams debuted their individual series concepts at a VIP screening and reception in late November 2015.

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