Shaftesbury Films
Shaftesbury Films is a film, television and digital media production company founded by Christina Jennings in 1987. It is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Background
[edit]Shaftesbury is a creator and producer of original content for television and digital platforms. Shaftesbury's slate includes 18 seasons of Murdoch Mysteries for CBC, UKTV, and ITV STUDIOS Global Entertainment; detective drama Frankie Drake for CBC; Houdini & Doyle for Sony Pictures Television, Corus Entertainment, ITV, and Fox; thriller series Slasher for NBCUniversal's Chiller and now available on Netflix; and CBC Kids series The Moblees. Shaftesbury's digital arm, Smokebomb Entertainment, produces original digital, convergent, and branded entertainment projects including the YouTube series and upcoming movie Carmilla; mystery series V Morgan Is Dead; fashion comedy series MsLabelled, produced in partnership with Shaw Media and Tetley Tea; supernatural drama Inhuman Condition; and the Slasher VR app for iOS, Android, and Oculus Rift. In June 2014, Shaftesbury partnered with Youth Culture to launch shift2, a branded entertainment agency.[1] In 2013, the company signed a first look deal with ABC.[2]
Productions
[edit]Productions include Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures for HBO Canada, based on the Giller-prize winning book by Dr. Vincent Lam; five seasons of The Listener for CTV and Fox International Channels; and now in season ten of Murdoch Mysteries for Citytv/CBC and UKTV's Alibi. Shaftesbury also produced a variety of award-winning programming, including the global hit series Life with Derek and the movie follow-up to the series, Vacation with Derek. Shaftesbury's newest series, Good Dog, is a half-hour comedy created, written and directed by Ken Finkleman that premiered on HBO Canada in 2011.
Divisions
[edit]Shaftesbury's divisions include Smokebomb Entertainment, the company's digital media division responsible for the development and production of original online series and companion web experiences for Shaftesbury's slate of properties; Shaftesbury Kids, their division responsible for several children's TV shows and movies; and Shaftesbury Sales Company, which manages international sales and distribution for the company's content.[1][3]
Television
[edit]The company's television series projects have included:
- 11 Cameras
- Aaron Stone
- The Atwood Stories
- Backpackers
- Baxter
- Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
- Connor Undercover
- Dark Oracle (co-produced with Cookie Jar Entertainment)
- Dead Still
- Fool Canada
- Frankie Drake Mysteries
- From Spain with Love with Annie Sibonney
- Good Dog
- Good God
- Houdini & Doyle
- Hudson & Rex
- The Jane Show
- Life with Derek
- The Listener
- Mischief City
- The Moblees
- Murdoch Mysteries
- Overruled!
- ReGenesis
- Ruby and the Well
- Screech Owls
- The Shields Stories
- SisterS (co-produced with Peer Pressure Productions)
- Slasher
- The Sounds
- Splashlings
Film
[edit]Television films produced by Shaftesbury have included:
- External Affairs, an adaptation of Timothy Findley's play The Stillborn Lover
- Diverted
- In the Dark
- Michael Ignatieff's novel Scar Tissue
- Hemingway vs. Callaghan, an adaptation of Morley Callaghan's That Summer in Paris
- Except the Dying, Poor Tom Is Cold and Under the Dragon's Tail, the first three novels in Maureen Jennings' Murdoch Mysteries franchise which was later adapted by the company into a weekly series
- Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story, a dramatization of the murder trial of Evelyn Dick
- Terry, a biopic of Terry Fox
- six Joanne Kilbourn mysteries, based on the novels by Gail Bowen
- Eight Days To Live
- In God's Country
- Mount Pleasant
- The Good Times Are Killing Me
- Skyrunners
- Me and Luke
- The Summit
- Sleep Murder
- She Drives Me Crazy
- The Robber Bride
- Lay Them Straight
Cinema films have included:
- Swann, based on the novel by Carol Shields,
- Conquest
- Painted Angels
- Camilla
- Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity
- People Hold On
- An American Dream: The Education of William Bowman
Digital films, produced by digital arm Smokebomb Entertainment, include:
Digital
[edit]The company's digital series projects, produced by digital arm Smokebomb Entertainment, have included:
- Backpackers
- Carmilla
- Emerald Code
- Houdini & Doyle: World of Wonders
- Inhuman Condition[5]
- MsLabelled
- Murdoch Mysteries: The Curse of the Lost Pharaohs
- Murdoch Mysteries: The Murdoch Effect
- Murdoch Mysteries: Nightmare on Queen Street
- State of Syn
- Unlikely Heroes
The company's digital arm also oversees KindaTV, the company's distribution channel through YouTube hosted by Natasha Negovanlis.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Home Page". SHAFTESBURY.
- ^ Marechal, A. J. (2013-02-12). "Shaftesbury signs first-look deal with ABC". Variety. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
- ^ Bailey, Patricia. "Decade In Review: Christina Jennings is Playback's Producer of the Decade". playbackonline.ca. Playback. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
- ^ Pinto, Jordan. "Smokebomb goes Darken". Playback Online. Brunico Communications Ltd. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ Cummins, Julianna. "IPF invests nearly $2M across 17 web series". Playback Online. Brunico Communications Ltd. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
External links
[edit]- Shaftesbury Films
- Shaftesbury Films About Us
- Shaftesbury Films at imdb
- Shaftesbury Films Inc. archives at the University of Toronto Media Commons
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