TV & Film News – CCMA and Bell Media announce new broadcast partnership

The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) and Bell Media have announced a new broadcast and content partnership, which sees the awards show leave Global TV. Under the partnership, CTV becomes the exclusive broadcaster of the 41st Annual CCMA Awards, live on Sept. 16, with the first round of performers announced including Dean Brody, Carly Pearce, The Reklaws, and emerging artist Josh Ross. The partnership will include multi-platform coverage and content featured across broadcast, radio, digital, and social media properties including, CTV Your Morning, ETALK, The Social, Bell’s iHeartRadio Canada stations, including Pure Country, as well as MuchMusic. As part of the content partnership, Pure Country will launch a National Flyaway Contest which will send listeners to Country Music Week where Pure Country will also present “The Legends Show.” Read more here.

Global has announced more network premieres joining its summer schedule, including Season 5 of competition series Tough As Nails, airing in a two-hour premiere on July 2, and the return of Big Brother for a milestone 25th season, with a special 90-minute premiere on Aug. 2. Also joining the lineup is new Dick Wolf docuseries LA Fire & Rescue, which premiered June 21, and new fan-based competition series Superfan on August 9.

Bell Media, Jessie Films and PaNik Fictions are working on adapting the BON COP, BAD COP feature films into an original series. Patrick Huard is heading up a team of writers which includes Éric K. Boulianne, Suzie Bouchard, Benoît Chartier and Sébastien Ravary. Huard and Colm Feore are reprising their respective roles in this scripted series, which is currently under development. Inspired directly from the BON COP, BAD COP films, the eight one-hour episodes will follow the adventures of Martin Ward (Feore) and David Bouchard (Huard), who once again join forces, this time, teamed with a new generation of cops just as unorthodox as they are.

CaribbeanTales Media Group founder and CEO Frances-Anne Solomon’s award-winning film: “Hero — The Extraordinary Life Of Mr. Ulric Cross” is airing on BBC Two in the UK this week and will continue to be available for online streaming on the BBC Two Player. The film is also available to stream on Amazon Prime in the U.S. and UK, and Cineplex Canada. Documenting the life of the Trinidadian diplomat, who is recognized as the most-decorated West Indian of WWII, the film stars Trinidad’s Nickolai Salcedo in the title role, supported by Peter Williams (Stargate SG1), among others.

Pluto TV in Canada is streaming all six Mission: Impossible movies free all summer long on two new dedicated FAST (free, ad-supported television) channels, Mission: Impossible Movies and More Mission: Impossible Movies, featuring the first six films while also hosting a Mission: Impossible channel featuring the original TV series. The programming stunt is running now through Aug. 15. Since launching in Canada last December, Pluto TV says it has grown viewing time by 74%, with time-spent having more than doubled. It says total minutes viewed on kids content has increased three-fold since launch with hit shows like Max & Ruby and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Disney+ has put a hold on original commissions in Canada until at least the end of the year, Variety reports. The streamer, which launched in Canada in November 2019, has yet to commission any Canadian content but last year hired former Telefilm exec Stephanie Azam as Director of Content for Canada. Variety speculates that Bill C-11 could be factoring in to Disney’s decision as the full policy implications of the Online Streaming Act are fully hammered out, in addition to internal layoffs amounting to 7,000 employees.

Blink49 Studios has announced a partnership with North American literary management company Transatlantic, to develop and produce original content for the international marketplace. The agreement gives Blink49 access to Transatlantic’s roster of book authors and IP to develop and produce original projects using Blink49’s studio, production and distribution infrastructure. Blink49 and Transatlantic will serve as co-producers on all projects developed and produced through the deal. Blink49 will serve as lead studio and have first-look international distribution rights, alongside Fifth Season. Blink49 Studios entered into a similar joint venture agreement with Vanguarde Artists Management last year. 

BrawlStars made its debut earlier this year on Bell Fibe TV with producers telling Broadcast Dialogue it’s grown to become one of the channel’s most-watched series. Featuring a cast and crew of Toronto and Durham-based filmmakers and celebrities, the show was created by and stars Benjamin Blais (The Ninth, Murdoch Mysteries, Two Deaths of Henry Baker), John Fleming (Murdoch Mysteries, Frankie Drake) and Jeff Hanson (ActionCAN Films), in addition to Olympic medalist Elvis Stojko, Birds of Bellwoods frontman Stephen Joffe (Fargo, Alias Grace, Slasher), improv veteran Kat Letwin (BadDog, Second City), as well as Canadian stunt stalwarts DL MacDonald (Reacher, Letterkenny, What We Do In the Shadows), and Julia Dyan (The Boys, Private Eyes, Awake). In the style of Comedy Central’s “Drunk History,” each episode re-enacts a real-life fight, punched up with movie magic. 

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) has announced the 2023 cohort of the Norman Jewison Film Program, an accelerated professional film program for emerging to mid-level Canadian directors, writers, producers and editors. Eighteen storytellers from across Canada have been selected for the 2023 program, which gets underway on the CFC campus in Toronto on July 10 and runs until Dec. 14. Read more about this year’s cohort here.

The TVO Today Short Doc Contest, celebrating excellence in short documentaries by Ontario filmmakers, has named Riel Flack and her film “They Can’t. So I Must: The Orlando Bowen Story” as the winner of this year’s contest. The film was also named the People’s Choice Award winner after receiving the most online votes during a three-week period. Flack’s film is a portrait of Orlando Bowen, the former CFL player whose career was cut short after a beating by Peel Regional Police in 2004. He is now executive director of One Voice, One Team, a charity he founded to support youth leadership. Flack will receive $3,000 in cash prizing, passes to Hot Docs and the Reel World Film Festival, plus a pitch session with TVO Today Docs. All finalists for the People’s Choice Awards will appear on TVO and the TVO Today Docs YouTube channel.

The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) has opened applications for the 2023 VIFF Amp Music in Film Summit. Taking place during the 42nd Vancouver International Film Festival, Oct. 3-7, VIFF encourages songwriters, composers, music supervisors, music coordinators, sync agents, managers and other music entrepreneurs to apply for the five-day summit that will explore the essential role of music and sound in film, television and new media. Through taking part in Amp, the cohort (both new and alumni) have made connections that brought professional opportunities at production companies including Disney Features, Sony Pictures Television, DreamWorks, Fox, Starz/Lionsgate, Neophonic/HBO and more. Applications close July 30.