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Front Page, Industry News
Two shots in the arm for B.C. TV industry
Thursday November 06th 2008B.C.’s sagging TV series industry received a boost with the announcement of two new Canadian series that will soon begin shooting in Vancouver.
The series will not be financed by U.S. producers seeking to take advantage of a weaker Canadian dollar, but have been commissioned by CTV and Canwest Broadcasting.
The announcement was expected to help invigorate a B.C. industry in which TV series production this year dropped to just over half of what it was in 2007.
Vancouver’s Omni Film Productions will produce one-hour episodes for the series Defying Gravity.
“We envision this as a very successful multi-year run,” Omni’s Canadian executive producer, Brian Hamilton, said in an interview Tuesday.
“This represents an enormous boost to the B.C. production industry at a time when drama production on the West Coast is slow,” Hamilton said.
“This is a key priority series for CTV [and] we absolutely see this as a sign there will more to come.”
The studio describes Defying Gravity as a “sexy, provocative relationship drama set in the very near future against the background of our solar system, in which eight astronauts from five countries (four women and four men) undertake a mysterious six-year international space mission covering eight billion miles.”
The program, a joint production by CTV, Omni and Fox Television Studios, is a Canadian/U.S. co-venture produced by creator and writer/producer James Parriott (Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty) and Michael Edelstein (Desperate Housewives). It will be shown in Canada on CTV and the Space channel, on BBC in the U.K. and on ProSieben in Germany.
It features Ron Livingston (Band of Brothers, Office Space) and production begins on 13 episodes in Vancouver in mid-January.
The Canwest program is a one-hour pilot for the police drama Shattered, a Force Four Films Ltd./Blueprint Film and Television Ltd. production to be shot in Vancouver.
Shattered will be directed by Bobby Roth (Prison Break) and the cast includes Callum Keith Rennie (Californication, Battlestar Gallactica, Hard Core Logo) as the series lead, and Kyle Logan.
Tara Ellis, vice-president of drama content for Canwest Broadcasting, said in an interview that if the pilot is successful, it may become a regular series.
“It’s a police drama with a twist,” Ellis said.
She said production starts next week, but Canwest did not know when it will air in 2009. The program will appear on either Global or Showcase.
Hamilton said Defying Gravity is the first of a series of projects “that involves a strong Canadian broadcaster that anchors [its] financing structure with international partners.”
Hamilton said the set for the program is under construction. It will employ about 200 crew and cast members and “millions and millions of dollars.”
The number of television series shooting in B.C. is down to eight, compared with 14 at this time in 2007.
Source: Vancouver Sun
Front Page, Industry News
Two shots in the arm for B.C. TV industry
Thursday November 06th 2008B.C.’s sagging TV series industry received a boost with the announcement of two new Canadian series that will soon begin shooting in Vancouver.
The series will not be financed by U.S. producers seeking to take advantage of a weaker Canadian dollar, but have been commissioned by CTV and Canwest Broadcasting.
The announcement was expected to help invigorate a B.C. industry in which TV series production this year dropped to just over half of what it was in 2007.
Vancouver’s Omni Film Productions will produce one-hour episodes for the series Defying Gravity.
“We envision this as a very successful multi-year run,” Omni’s Canadian executive producer, Brian Hamilton, said in an interview Tuesday.
“This represents an enormous boost to the B.C. production industry at a time when drama production on the West Coast is slow,” Hamilton said.
“This is a key priority series for CTV [and] we absolutely see this as a sign there will more to come.”
The studio describes Defying Gravity as a “sexy, provocative relationship drama set in the very near future against the background of our solar system, in which eight astronauts from five countries (four women and four men) undertake a mysterious six-year international space mission covering eight billion miles.”
The program, a joint production by CTV, Omni and Fox Television Studios, is a Canadian/U.S. co-venture produced by creator and writer/producer James Parriott (Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty) and Michael Edelstein (Desperate Housewives). It will be shown in Canada on CTV and the Space channel, on BBC in the U.K. and on ProSieben in Germany.
It features Ron Livingston (Band of Brothers, Office Space) and production begins on 13 episodes in Vancouver in mid-January.
The Canwest program is a one-hour pilot for the police drama Shattered, a Force Four Films Ltd./Blueprint Film and Television Ltd. production to be shot in Vancouver.
Shattered will be directed by Bobby Roth (Prison Break) and the cast includes Callum Keith Rennie (Californication, Battlestar Gallactica, Hard Core Logo) as the series lead, and Kyle Logan.
Tara Ellis, vice-president of drama content for Canwest Broadcasting, said in an interview that if the pilot is successful, it may become a regular series.
“It’s a police drama with a twist,” Ellis said.
She said production starts next week, but Canwest did not know when it will air in 2009. The program will appear on either Global or Showcase.
Hamilton said Defying Gravity is the first of a series of projects “that involves a strong Canadian broadcaster that anchors [its] financing structure with international partners.”
Hamilton said the set for the program is under construction. It will employ about 200 crew and cast members and “millions and millions of dollars.”
The number of television series shooting in B.C. is down to eight, compared with 14 at this time in 2007.
Source: Vancouver Sun
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Front Page, Industry News
Two shots in the arm for B.C. TV industry
Thursday November 06th 2008B.C.’s sagging TV series industry received a boost with the announcement of two new Canadian series that will soon begin shooting in Vancouver.
The series will not be financed by U.S. producers seeking to take advantage of a weaker Canadian dollar, but have been commissioned by CTV and Canwest Broadcasting.
The announcement was expected to help invigorate a B.C. industry in which TV series production this year dropped to just over half of what it was in 2007.
Vancouver’s Omni Film Productions will produce one-hour episodes for the series Defying Gravity.
“We envision this as a very successful multi-year run,” Omni’s Canadian executive producer, Brian Hamilton, said in an interview Tuesday.
“This represents an enormous boost to the B.C. production industry at a time when drama production on the West Coast is slow,” Hamilton said.
“This is a key priority series for CTV [and] we absolutely see this as a sign there will more to come.”
The studio describes Defying Gravity as a “sexy, provocative relationship drama set in the very near future against the background of our solar system, in which eight astronauts from five countries (four women and four men) undertake a mysterious six-year international space mission covering eight billion miles.”
The program, a joint production by CTV, Omni and Fox Television Studios, is a Canadian/U.S. co-venture produced by creator and writer/producer James Parriott (Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty) and Michael Edelstein (Desperate Housewives). It will be shown in Canada on CTV and the Space channel, on BBC in the U.K. and on ProSieben in Germany.
It features Ron Livingston (Band of Brothers, Office Space) and production begins on 13 episodes in Vancouver in mid-January.
The Canwest program is a one-hour pilot for the police drama Shattered, a Force Four Films Ltd./Blueprint Film and Television Ltd. production to be shot in Vancouver.
Shattered will be directed by Bobby Roth (Prison Break) and the cast includes Callum Keith Rennie (Californication, Battlestar Gallactica, Hard Core Logo) as the series lead, and Kyle Logan.
Tara Ellis, vice-president of drama content for Canwest Broadcasting, said in an interview that if the pilot is successful, it may become a regular series.
“It’s a police drama with a twist,” Ellis said.
She said production starts next week, but Canwest did not know when it will air in 2009. The program will appear on either Global or Showcase.
Hamilton said Defying Gravity is the first of a series of projects “that involves a strong Canadian broadcaster that anchors [its] financing structure with international partners.”
Hamilton said the set for the program is under construction. It will employ about 200 crew and cast members and “millions and millions of dollars.”
The number of television series shooting in B.C. is down to eight, compared with 14 at this time in 2007.
Source: Vancouver Sun
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