Canadian broadcasting giant Bell Media has acquired a minority stake in Montreal-based indie Sphere Media, the production firm behind shows including Sort Of and Transplant. Financial terms of the deal, which closed in late March, have not been disclosed. Sphere Media produces both English and French language content across TV, film and animation, and also […]
Canadian producer/distributor Sphere Media is bringing its English language children’s factual, scripted and animation units under one Kids and Family banner, to be headed by Marlo Miazga, currently president, unscripted and documentaries. Miazga will also continue in her role overseeing all other non-scripted output. The expansion of Miazga’s remit follows the announcement that Sphere Animation […]
FilmRise adds Urban Home titles New York-based streamer and producer FilmRise has acquired the North American AVOD and FAST rights to more than 60 titles from Urban Home Entertainment. The deal gives FilmRise rights for its apps and FAST channels in the US and Canada and includes films and series such as Comedy Central’s Laffapalooza, […]
Oble takes ‘Aller Simple’ rights French producer and distributor Oble has acquired international rights to Canadian drama Aller Simple (aka No Return). The 6 x 60-minute psychological thriller from Sphere Media debuted on Noovo earlier this year, following the story of six strangers; a former policeman, an art–dealer, a retired teacher, a marketing director, a […]
Wildbrain takes Carmen Sandiego global WildBrain has acquired exclusive linear broadcast distribution rights to Carmen Sandiego. The deal with HarperCollins Productions will see WildBrain selling seasons one to four of the series. It was originally produced for Netflix by HarperCollins and WildBrain’s animation studio in Vancouver. WildBrain has already secured deals for all four seasons of […]
Great Pacific Media, the Canadian factual and scripted label owned by Thunderbird Entertainment, has inked an exclusive multi-year partnership with former Sphere Media producer Sean Connolly’s new outfit Original Content Lab. The agreement will see Connolly’s Toronto-based firm developing unscripted primetime and children’s series for the global market, that Great Pacific Media will produce. The […]
Netflix has hired Tara Woodbury from Toronto’s Sphère Média as its first Canadian content exec. Woodbury will oversee development and commissioning of local scripted series in both English- and French-language, as well as building relationships with Canadian writers, directors and producers. She will also identify new talent from the country and starts her new role […]
Canadian producer BGM Inc has rejigged its senior ranks by appointing a former Corus Entertainment exec as its director of content, with president Marlo Miazga taking on an additional role at owner Sphere Media. Andrea Griffith takes up the newly created content role at BGM with a remit to oversee the company’s day-to-day creative, operational and team activities, reporting […]
Canadian prodco Sphère Média has hired Tara Woodbury as its English-language head of development. Sphère Média is best known as the producer of French and English-language cop drama 19-2, which is on CTV and Bravo in Canada, and distributed internationally by Content Television. Woodbury will be based in Toronto and work across development and strategy, […]
Viceland’s Canadian feed has ordered its first scripted series. Nirvanna the Band the Show will comprise one of six new series from Canada that the network, which Vice operates locally with Rogers Media, has commissioned. The others are 16-part doc series Cyberwar, skateboard ten-partner Abandoned, eight-part Dead Set on Life, Indigenous community-themed RISE, and millennials-focused […]
