All posts by Greg David

Prior to becoming a television critic and owner of TV, Eh?, Greg David was a critic for TV Guide Canada, the country's most trusted source for TV news. He has interviewed television actors, actresses and behind-the-scenes folks from hundreds of television series from Canada, the U.S. and internationally. He is a podcaster, public speaker, weekly radio guest and educator, and past member of the Television Critics Association.
Wynonna Earp

Wynonna Earp welcomes Canadian music icon Jann Arden to Purgatory

From a media release:

Pour the whiskey and powder the doughnuts, Purgatory is welcoming another iconic Canadian resident for Season 3. INNERSPACE broke the news last night that multi-platinum, award-winning songstress, Jann Arden, will appear in the upcoming season of WYNONNA EARP as council woman Bunny Loblaw.

Arden joins the cast alongside previously announced Canadian icon Megan Follows, who is set to appear as Wynonna’s (Melanie Scrofano) mother Michelle Earp.

According to showrunner Emily Andras, Arden’s WYNONNA EARP character Bunny Loblaw, is “a force to be reckoned with. She rules the Town Council with an iron fist and a will to match. She knows what’s best for Purgatory and will stop at nothing to enforce her vision of an idyllic community.”

Sounds like Bunny may be a little “insensitive” to our favourite gunslinger. We’ll have to wait and see who gives Wynonna more trouble this season, the town’s Revenants or Regulators.

The multi-dimensional artist should feel right at home as the 12-episode, one-hour, western sci-fi series is currently in production in her hometown of Calgary until May 2018.

WYNONNA EARP Season 3 is slated to return to Space in 2018.

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Featured, Podcast

TV Eh B Cs podcast 80 — Getting the story from Gemma Holdway

Gemma Holdway is a British-Canadian writer. She has worked as a story editor on Syfy/Netflix’s Ghost Wars and Season 2 of CTV’s hit series Cardinal. Together with Cardinal showrunner Sarah Dodd, Gemma is currently developing a one-hour drama for Bell Media and Omnifilm Entertainment. She has previously developed series with Front Street Pictures, Reality Distortion Field and Riverside Entertainment.

Gemma also worked as a script/story coordinator on Ghost Wars, Gracepoint, Killjoys, Power Rangers, High Moon and Poor Richard’s Almanack. She was a 2016 recipient of the Corus Entertainment Writer’s Apprenticeship and is currently enrolled in the National Screen Institute’s Totally Television Program. Gemma’s TV pilots have been shortlisted by the Sundance Episodic Storytelling Lab. Four of her TV movies have been produced. Her shorts have premiered at Edmonton International Film Festival and Whistler Film Festival. She holds a bachelor of journalism and a minor in politics from Ryerson University. Gemma is represented by the Alpern Group.

Listen or download below, or subscribe via iTunes or any other podcast catcher with the TV, eh? podcast feed.

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Industry News

Cedar Island launches at Hot Docs

From a media release:

Cedar Island is a Canadian production company formed by seasoned producers Henrik Meyer and Andrew Williamson to produce meaningful documentaries, feature dramas and digital media projects with a focus on international co-productions.

Bringing together their decades of domestic and international experience, Andrew and Henrik develop, finance and create captivating content for broadcasters, distributors and audiences in Canada and around the world.

“Inspired by our interest in producing ‘content with purpose’, we’ve joined forces to bring engaging, exciting projects to audiences in Canada, Germany and around the world. At a time when story matters more than ever, our slate of projects in production and development, focus on telling original, compelling stories.” – Andrew Williamson

“Building on previous service productions in British Columbia and Alberta for European partners over the past 14 years, we now expand our services to the Yukon where we are scheduled to go into production with a German television production already this summer.” – Henrik Meyer

Cedar Island Films has an active development slate including:

• In development with Knowledge Network for the short doc series Wild and the feature documentary River with director Simon Schneider

• In development with Emmy award winning writer and investigative journalist Kristina Borjesson and TriCoast Worldwide, Los Angeles on The Whistleblowers

• In development with the feature drama Dragonfly Summer with director Marie Clements, a Canadian/German co-pro with Kinderfilm GmbH, Erfurt

Website: www.cedarislandfilms.com

— BIOS:

Andrew Williamson is a seasoned producer and director who executive produced the critically acclaimed doc series Emergency Room: Life & Death at VGH for The Knowledge Network/Discovery and High Moon, a co-venture with Universal Cable Productions and Executive Producer Bryan Fuller. He also produced Gastown Gamble for the OWN Network.

Andrew is producing The Whale and the Raven, a Canadian/German feature documentary with the National Film Board of Canada/ARTE and The Magnitude of All Things with the NFB and TELUS Health Fund.

Andrew is the founder of Crazy8s, elected to the Branch Council of the CMPA – BC Producers Branch and on the Film Advisory Board for Langara University. He volunteers with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project to help educate people about climate change.

Henrik Meyer has produced film and television for over 25 years. His last film as a German producer was Margarethe von Trotta’s Venice-contender Rosenstrasse, and his first production in Canada after immigrating in 2004 was Douglas Coupland’s Everything’s Gone Green, which won Best Picture and Best Screenplay in British Columbia in 2006. Since then, Henrik has produced over 1500 minutes of German television in Canada and co-produced 2013 Berlinale-contender Gold and multi-award winning, Indigenous youth drama Shana – The Wolf’s Music, which is being aired at Canada’s APTN in 2018.

Before moving to Canada and becoming a dual German-Canadian citizen, Henrik was the inaugural head of Letterbox Filmproduktion at Studio Hamburg and produced for all leading German broadcasters as well as Disney, Warner Bros. and the Tele Munich Group. He joined forces with Andrew Williamson on the international feature doc co-pro The Whale and the Raven for the NFB and ARTE.

 

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Discovery’s newest original Canadian series Hellfire Heroes battles through the untamed flames, beginning May 22

From a media release:

In the fierce wilderness of Central Alberta, a uniquely versatile group of firefighters risk their lives to serve and protect the residents of isolated areas of the province. Discovery’s latest original Canadian series HELLFIRE HEROES, airing Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT beginning May 22, follows two rural Alberta fire departments – Lesser Slave Lake Regional Fire Service and Yellowhead County Fire Department – and their teams of brave men and women whose job is to always be prepared for the worst.

From the network that brought viewers the heroes of the highway with HIGHWAY THRU HELL and HEAVY RESCUE: 401, the debut of HELLFIRE HEROES further reinforces Discovery’s success in the prime-time space through uniquely Canadian content that tells the stories of authentic, everyday acts of courage. HIGHWAY THRU HELL and HEAVY RESCUE: 401 made Discovery the most-watched entertainment specialty channel in each show’s timeslot among key demographics (P2+, A18-49, and A25-54).

Living in a rural part of Canada where most residents depend only on themselves and their neighbours, the firefighters of the Lesser Slave Regional Fire Service (led by Chief Jamie Coutts) and the Yellowhead County Fire Department (led by Chief Albert Bahri) serve and protect a combined area spanning more than 30,000 square kilometres.

Fighting fires is only one of the many calls these heroes answer. Featuring stories of strength, fearlessness, and dedication, the HELLFIRE HEROES never know what challenge they’ll face next – battling raging forest fires, industrial accidents, search-and-rescue operations, saving lives on remote highways, freeing people trapped in elevators…even delivering babies. When the call comes in, day or night, these resourceful teams are united in their mission to keep residents safe.

Subscribers can access live streaming of HELLFIRE HEROES through the Discovery GO app and Discovery.ca.

HELLFIRE HEROES is produced by Pixcom Productions in association with Discovery Canada. Producer is Nicola Merola. Senior Supervising Producer is Manu Wiecha. Series Producer is Sharone Ostrovsky.

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