After receiving 83 Canadian Screen Awards nominations for original dramas Monday, Bell Media announced today its current roster of drama projects in development for its conventional networks and specialty channels. Associated with the projects are a long list of established writers and producers including Ilana Frank (SAVING HOPE, ROOKIE BLUE), Paul Haggis (Crash), Bill Mustos and Anne Marie La Traverse (FLASHPOINT), Salvatore Stabile (REVENGE), Katie Ford (Miss Congeniality, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES), Steve Blackman (PRIVATE PRACTICE, BONES), Robert. C Cooper (STARGATE SG-1, STARGATE ATLANTIS), and Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern (FLASHPOINT). Once again, Bell Media has engaged some of the most respected production companies in the country, including eOne, Shaftesbury, Omnifilm Entertainment, Thunderbird Films, LARK Productions, Darius Films, Don Carmody Productions, Prospero Pictures, Sienna Films, and Whizbang Films. “We’re proud to be in a position to work with some of the best and most seasoned creative talent in the business, respected not only in Canada but all over the world,” said Corrie Coe, Senior Vice-President, Independent Production, Bell Media. “We look forward to continuing to work with them to develop these extraordinary projects, and we are excited to add even more to our development slate in the spring.”
The diverse list of projects includes those from Canadian authors Giles Blunt and Robert Rotenberg; several short-order series including one about a cop who uncovers the truth behind the murders of nine Native women in a small northern Canadian town; an episodic thriller set in a post-privacy world where deep-cover agents deal with the consequences of today’s corporate decisions; a supernatural drama about clever young recruits who find themselves face-to-face with the unexpected at The Institute of Unpopular Science; a light police procedural about two unlikely partners stationed in the evidence room of a metropolitan police station; a crime procedural about a family of thieves who reunite to help a government agency solve crimes; and an epic historical drama series about the struggle in China for power and control of the lucrative opium trade during the late 19th Century.
In total, Bell Media’s Independent Production team currently has 29 drama projects in development for conventional networks and specialty channels, joining the 20 comedy projects already announced for potential new pilots and/or series. Factual development projects will be announced at a later date.
Bell Media’s current drama development slate features 29 projects (working titles):
AKA
A serialized drama about a woman with the perfect life – and a dark secret that could change everything.
Attached:
• Thunderbird Films
• Paul Mullie and Joeseph Mallozzi (STARGATE SG-1)
APEX
An elite police squad fights the growing criminal world of military-grade human bio-mods.
Attached:
• Chris Roberts (ORPHAN BLACK)
CARDINAL MYSTERIES
A short-order, ongoing series based on the novels by Giles Blunt. In the quiet Canadian town of Algonquin Bay a body is found in an abandoned mine shaft. As two untrusting partners work to gather evidence, they realize it may be the work of a serial murderer.
Attached:
• Giles Blunt (Forty Words for Sorrow)
• Allan Magee – Story Editor (TRAILER PARK BOYS)
COPOUT
A light police procedural about two unlikely partners stationed in the evidence room of a metropolitan police station.
Attached:
• Darius Films
• Thomas Michael (Running Mates)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SOCIETY
A brilliant criminology professor works with her students to solve deadly crimes.
Attached:
• Sienna Films
• Salvatore Stabile (REVENGE)
DEADLINE
An investigative journalist employs some unorthodox methods as she reports on the evolving criminal world around her.
Attached:
• Omnifilm Entertainment
• Suzette Couture (STAY WITH ME)
ECHOES
Serialized series in which Earth becomes the battlefield for two warring extraterrestrial species, and humanity struggles to survive.
Attached:
• Don Carmody Productions
• Carl Binder (STARGATE UNIVERSE)
HAUNTED
A young woman reluctantly takes on the role of ghost hunter after a failed experiment accidentally opens a portal to the spirit realm.
Attached:
• Peter Mohan (THE LISTENER)
ICE
After losing all her money in a divorce, a suburban woman turns to diamond theft.
Attached:
• Incendo
• Katie Ford (Miss Congeniality)
LORDS OF OPIUM
An epic, one-hour historical drama series about the struggle in China for power and control of the lucrative opium trade during the late 19th Century.
Attached:
• Darius Films
• Paul Haggis – Executive Producer (Crash)
MIGHTY QUINNS
A family of con artists reunite to help a government agency solve crimes, but old habits die hard.
Attached:
• LARK Productions
• Steve Blackman (PRIVATE PRACTICE)
MODIFIED
A detective and his beleaguered partner spearhead the gene squad.
Attached:
• Entertainment One (eOne)
• Jeremy Boxen (LOST GIRL)
MORTAL COIL
Set in Alberta, a coroner not only performs autopsies, but also investigates the murders.
Attached:
• Pier 21 Films
• Andrew Wreggitt (BOREALIS)
OLD CITY HALL
Based on the books by Robert Rotenberg and set within the halls of the criminal courts.
Attached:
• Shaftesbury Films
• Robert Rotenberg (Old City Hall)
• Samantha Corbin – Creative Consultant (LIE TO ME)
SALAMANDER
A detective uncovers a mysterious shadow society whose members are being targeted in this serialized series. Based on a Belgian series.
Attached:
• AdlibFilm
• Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern (FLASHPOINT)
SIEGE OF KEBEC
Set in New France in the early 1600s, this is history told with a mythic edge.
Attached:
• Prospero Pictures
• Chris Lavis and Maciek Szcerbowski (Madame Tutli-Putli)
• Andrew Wreggitt (BOREALIS)
SEX, LIES & HANDWRITING
An artist and handwriting expert is hired by police to solve cases using her unique abilities.
Attached:
• Sea To Sky Entertainment, Lionsgate, Tandem Communications
• Nancy Miller and Annie Brunner (SAVING GRACE)
SMOKE & MIRRORS
An illusionist returns home to Niagara Falls and uses his extraordinary skills as a private detective.
Attached:
• Adam Barken (FLASHPOINT)
• Emily Andras (LOST GIRL)
SOUL HUNTER
After literally making a deal with the Devil, a young woman must capture 100 escaped souls and return them to Hell in order to get her life back.
Attached:
• Thunderbird Films
• Robert C. Cooper (STARGATE SG-1)
SPARROW
An episodic thriller set in a post-privacy world where deep cover agents deal with the consequences of today’s corporate decisions.
Attached:
• Brian McKeown (HUMAN CARGO)
STRAIN
When an estranged brother and sister inherit their mother’s sci-fi-writing empire, they learn the truth behind some surprising lies.
Attached:
• Pier 21 Films
• David Hewlett (STARGATE SG-1), Kate Hewlett (INSECURITY), and Craig Wallace (TODD & THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL)
THE INSTITUTE
Four young recruits find themselves face-to-face with the unexpected at The Institute of Unpopular Science.
Attached:
• Craig Wallace (TODD & THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL)
THE INVESTIGATION
A short-order ongoing series about a cop who uncovers the truth behind the murders of nine Native women in a small northern town.
Attached:
• Sarrazin Couture Entertainment
• Suzette Couture (STAY WITH ME)
THIRD EYE
A short-order ongoing series about a wrongfully discharged cop.
Attached:
• Whizbang Films
• Anne Wheeler (THE HORSES OF MCBRIDE)
TRANQUILITY
A troubled ex-cop is brought to the moon colony Tranquility as the new sheriff.
Attached:
• Double Nickel Entertainment
• Sonar Entertainment
• Mark Verheiden (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA)
UNCOMMON YOUTH
A four-part mini-series set in Italy and the United States and based on the kidnapping of J. Paul Getty III, the grandson of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty.
Attached:
• Sea To Sky Entertainment
• Stephen Tolkin (PERCEPTION)
UNRAVEL
A police drama.
Attached:
• ICF Films
• Aubrey Nealon (FLASHPOINT)
UNTITLED ANNE MARIE LA TRAVERSE PROJECT
Attached:
• Anne Marie La Traverse (FLASHPOINT)
UNTITLED BILL MUSTOS PROJECT
Attached:
• Bill Mustos (FLASHPOINT)
