Tag Archives: Shaftesbury

Industry News, Murdoch Mysteries

Shaftesbury’s Christina Jennings honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award

From a media release:

Christina Jennings, Chairman and CEO of Shaftesbury, was honoured at the Content Innovation Awards gala last night with its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. Jennings, who founded the multi-platform content company in 1987, has been an industry leader not only in producing original TV and feature film content, but also for creating groundbreaking series for digital and social media platforms, mobile apps and VR experiences.

Shaftesbury’s award-winning television titles have been sold in 120 countries worldwide. One of the company’s best-known series, Murdoch Mysteries, is now in production on its 11th season. The series, Canada’s #1 drama, has been licensed to broadcasters in 110 countries and territories, including the U.S., the U.K., France, China, Australia and the Middle East. The company’s current television slate also includes Frankie Drake Mysteries for CBC and UKTV, and Slasher for Netflix.

As Shaftesbury continues to produce award-winning primetime television series, Jennings’ vision and willingness to explore new technologies, platforms and opportunities has led the company to successfully adapt to and address the rise of digital and changing viewership habits. In 2014, Shaftesbury launched the hugely successful digital series Carmilla on YouTube, a modern spin on the cult gothic vampire novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, fully funded by U by Kotex®. Carmilla has been viewed in 193 countries, translated in over 20 languages by fans and more than half the views across all its content come from outside North America. The Carmilla brand continues to grow – Carmilla the Movie is slated for release this fall, licensing deals are in place for publishing, apparel and accessories, and Shaftesbury is in development on a TV adaptation. The company also recently announced a partnership with Walmart Canada and Interac® for a new branded entertainment series Upstairs Amy.

Outside of Shaftesbury, Jennings serves as Chair of the Canadian Film Centre (CFC), Canada’s premiere training center for content creators. Named to top Canadian newsmagazine Maclean’s Power List of Canada’s 50 Most Powerful People, Jennings’ other recent awards and honors include Playback’s Producer of the Decade, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s prestigious Academy Achievement Award and the Innovative Producer Award at the Banff World Television Festival.

The Content Innovation Awards are presented by Digital TV Europe and TBI (Television Business International).

 

 

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Industry News

Link: ‘The Carmilla Movie’ Sets Streaming, Theatrical Premiere Dates

From Todd Spangler of Variety:

Link: ‘The Carmilla Movie’ Sets Streaming, Theatrical Premiere Dates
“The Carmilla Movie,” based on the lesbian-vampire romance web series that has become a cult favorite, is set to hit the internet — as well as theaters in Canada — next month.

The film will be available to fans who pre-ordered the film from Vimeo’s VHX beginning Oct. 26. Then on Oct. 27, “The Carmilla Movie” will hit subscription VOD service Fullscreen, the exclusive worldwide streaming home for the film. Continue reading.

 

 

 

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Frankie Drake

Rebecca Liddiard, Sharron Matthews and Emmanuel Kabongo join Frankie Drake Mysteries

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From a media release:

Shaftesbury and CBC today revealed additional casting for new one-hour original drama FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES (11 x 60). Starring Lauren Lee Smith (This Life, The Listener, The L Word) and Chantel Riley (Race, The Lion King) and set in 1920s Toronto, the series follows the adventures of Frankie Drake (Smith) and her partner Trudy Clarke (Riley) at Drake Private Detectives, the city’s only all-female detective agency, as they find themselves fighting crime in the age of flyboys, gangsters, rum-runners, and speakeasies. With production underway on location in Toronto and southern Ontario until late October, the series will air Mondays at 9p.m. ET (9:30 NT) on CBC and stream at cbc.ca/watch beginning November 6, and make its UK debut on Alibi (UKTV) in early 2018.

Joining the cast are Rebecca Liddiard (Alias Grace, Houdini & Doyle, Slasher 2: Guilty Party) as police morality officer Mary Shaw, Sharron Matthews (Mean Girls, Odd Squad) as morgue attendant Flo, and Emmanuel Kabongo (21 Thunder, Teenagers) as boxer Moses Page. Guest stars include Lucas Bryant (Haven, Shoot the Messenger), Wendy Crewson (Saving Hope, Slasher, Revenge), Laurence Fox (Inspector Lewis), Grace Lynn Kung (Carmilla The Movie, Mary Kills People), Steve Lund (Reign, Bitten), Charlotte Sullivan (Chicago Fire, Rookie Blue), and Laura Vandervoort (Bitten, Smallville).

Set in 1920s Toronto, FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES follows the city’s only female private detectives as they take on the cases the police don’t want to touch. In a time of change and hopefulness, their gender is their biggest advantage as they defy expectations and rebel against convention. The Drake Private Detectives take on cases that explore every cross-section of Toronto, from gospel church choirs, bathing beauties and the early cinema scene, to the homes and private parties of the city’s elite. Frankie and Trudy’s fearless sense of adventure gets them into all kinds of trouble, but they always manage to find a way out. They are new detectives for a new world – but is the world ready for them?

Created by Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci, who also serve as executive producers, FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES is executive produced by Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, and Cal Coons, who is also showrunner, and produced by Jonathan Hackett. The series is written by Hay, Ricci, Coons, Andrew Burrows-Trotman, John Callaghan, Ian Carpenter, and Adrianna Maggs and directed by Leslie Hope, Norma Bailey, Eleanor Lindo, Ruba Nadda, Peter Stebbings, and Sudz Sutherland.

A CBC original series, FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES is developed and produced by Shaftesbury in association with CBC and UKTV, with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit, the Cogeco Program Development Fund, and the Bell Fund. Content Media is the global distributor of the series.

 

 

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Murdoch Mysteries

Production begins on Season 11 of Murdoch Mysteries

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From a media release:

Number-one Canadian drama Murdoch Mysteries has begun production on Season 11. After celebrating the long-running series’ 150th episode in the season 10 finale, filming is now underway on 18 new one-hour episodes. The most-watched Canadian scripted television series in Canada with an average of 1.3 million viewers per week* on CBC, the ever-popular homegrown hit series will continue to delve into murder, mystery, and Canadian history in a powerhouse eleventh season. The series will film on location in Ontario until December 2017 and premiere on CBC this fall, followed by international rollout in early 2018.

The twist-filled season 10 finale saw the futures of Detective Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) and the heroes of Station House No. 4 in jeopardy amidst a corruption investigation gone awry. Season 11 will pick up with the aftermath of the finale’s events that left the lives of Murdoch’s beloved Dr. Julia Ogden (Hélène Joy), Inspector Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) and Constables George Crabtree (Jonny Harris), Henry Higgins (Lachlan Murdoch), and Slugger Jackson (Kristian Bruun) at stake and their fates unknown. Can Murdoch rely on Rebecca James (Mouna Traoré) or Detective Watts (Daniel Maslany) to help crack the case? Will Brackenreid make it out alive and home to his wife Margaret (Arwen Humphreys)? Season 11 storylines will feature a number of Canadian and international historical figures including physician William Osler and Helen Keller, the return of artist Tom Thomson, President Theodore Roosevelt, and Alexander Graham Bell and feature a roster of new guest stars including Tamzin Outhwaite (Eastenders, New Tricks), Colin Mochrie (Whose Line is it Anyway?), and Elise Bauman (Carmilla, Below Her Mouth), as well as returning guest stars including Peter Keleghan (Workin’ Moms) and David Hewlett (Incorporated, Stargate: Atlantis).

“We’re proud to continue bringing the adventures of Detective Murdoch to viewers at home and around the world week after week. Coming off of a formidable tenth season during which we celebrated big award wins, 150 episodes and the expansion of the brand into new realms including an escape room game in Toronto, we are now looking ahead to a thrilling season 11 and beyond,” said Christina Jennings, Executive Producer, Murdoch Mysteries / Chairman & CEO, Shaftesbury.

Season 11 episodes will be directed by showrunner Peter Mitchell, Megan Follows, Leslie Hope, Gary Harvey, Sherren Lee, Eleanor Lindo, Laurie Lynd, Don McCutcheon, and Alison Reid. Mitchell also writes episodes this season, along with Paul Aitken, Graham Clegg, Noelle Girard, Natalia Guled, Simon McNabb, Mary Pedersen, Robert Rotenberg, Lori Spring, Dan Trotta, and Maureen Jennings, author of the Detective Murdoch series of novels

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Industry News

Cameras roll on Carmilla the Movie based on groundbreaking digital series

From a media release:

Shaftesbury’s international runaway hit web series Carmilla has begun principal photography on feature-length film Carmilla The Movie (working title). Series stars Elise Bauman and 2017 Canadian Screen Awards Fan’s Choice Award-winner Natasha Negovanlis return for the supernatural spin-off film, and are joined by Dominique Provost-Chalkley (Wynonna Earp, Murdoch Mysteries), Grace Lynn Kung (Mary Kills People, The Strain), and Cara Gee (The Expanse, Inhuman Condition) as well as returning Carmilla cast Annie Briggs (Luvvie, Murdoch Mysteries), Kaitlyn Alexander (Couple-ish, Full Out), Nicole Stamp (The Handmaid’s Tale, First Round Down), and Matt O’Connor (Murdoch Mysteries, Ozion). Carmilla The Movie is currently filming on location in Toronto and is slated for a Fall 2017 release.

It has been five years since Laura (Bauman) and Carmilla (Negovanlis) vanquished the apocalypse and Carmilla became a bonafide mortal human. They have settled in to a cozy apartment in downtown Toronto; Laura continues to hone her journalism skills while Carmilla adjusts to a non-vampire lifestyle. Their domestic bliss is suddenly ruptured when Carmilla begins to show signs of “re-vamping” – from a fondness for bloody treats to accidental biting – while Laura has started having bizarre, ghostly dreams. The couple must now enlist their old friends from Silas University to uncover the unknown supernatural threat and save humanity – including Carmilla’s.

Produced by Shaftesbury’s digital studio Smokebomb Entertainment and its branded entertainment agency shift2, in partnership with executive producer U by Kotex®, the Carmilla digital series (108 x 5 minutes) is a scripted transmedia series that puts a modern spin on the cult classic gothic vampire novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Meshing the vlog format aesthetic with scripted storytelling, Carmilla follows the adventures of university student Laura Hollis (Bauman) whose world is turned upside down after a vampire, Carmilla Karnstein (Negovanlis), moves into her dorm room. Carmilla has engaged and inspired fans around the world – the series has been viewed in 193 countries and translated in over 20 languages by fans. Available on YouTube channel KindaTV, the largest scripted YouTube channel for millennials in Canada, and subscription video service Fullscreen, the series has generated over 69 million views and 233 million minutes of watch time across all three seasons since its launch in 2014.Carmilla has been recognized with numerous national and international honours and awards including the Streamy Awards, the Webby Awards, the Shorty Awards, and the Canadian Screen Awards, including a 2017 Fan’s Choice Awards for Negovanlis.

Carmilla The Movie is produced by Shaftesbury with the financial participation of Telefilm Canada, the Canada Media Fund, Fullscreen, and Hollywood Suite. Carmilla The Movie is directed by Spencer Maybee (Carmilla, Letterkenny ORIDG DIDG); story by Alejandro Alcoba (Degrassi: The Next Generation, The Next Step), screenplay by Alcoba and Jordan Hall (Carmilla, Run Dry). The movie is based on Carmilla the digital series, written by Hall, and co-created by Hall, Jay Bennett, and Steph Ouaknine. Carmilla The Movie is executive produced by Christina Jennings and Scott Garvie, produced by Bennett, Ouaknine, and Melanie Windle.

Image courtesy of Amy Wilson.

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