Bell Media Announces 29 Drama Projects in Development

- Attached talent includes Ilana Frank (SAVING HOPE), Paul Haggis (Crash), Bill Mustos and Anne Marie La Traverse (FLASHPOINT), Salvatore Stabile (REVENGE), Katie Ford (Miss Congeniality), Steve Blackman (PRIVATE PRACTICE), Robert C. Cooper (STARGATE SG-1), and Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern (FLASHPOINT) -

- Production companies working with Bell Media include eOne, Shaftesbury, Omnifilm Entertainment, Thunderbird Films, LARK Productions, Darius Films, Don Carmody Productions, Prospero Pictures, Sienna Films, and Whizbang Films -

- Overall, Bell Media currently has 71 new original projects in development -

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TORONTO, Jan. 15, 2014 /CNW/ - 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 19^th 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 19^th 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)

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About Bell Media Independent Production
Bell Media has commissioned some of Canada's most-watched and most-acclaimed original programming, working with the best Canadian independent producers in the country. Hit CTV series include ratings success stories SAVING HOPE, THE LISTENER, MOTIVE, the #1 new Canadian scripted series of the 2012/13 season, and THE AMAZING RACE CANADA, the record-breaking, Canadian-produced complementary version of the hit international series. Coming in 2014 on CTV are hit international format MASTERCHEF CANADA and multi-cam office comedy SPUN OUT. Among the scripted series on Bell Media pay and specialty channels are the two-time Emmy®-nominated hit DEGRASSI, the recently renewed ORPHAN BLACK, and upcoming dramas BITTEN, 19-2, SENSITIVE SKIN, and KILLJOYS. Bell Media specialty channels are also home to reality series such as BRAVE NEW GIRLS, game shows MATCH GAME and POP QUIZ, and factual series HIGHWAY THRU HELL and CANADA'S WORST DRIVER, among others. In 2013, Bell Media ordered 24 original Canadian series and currently has 74 projects in various stages of development.

About Bell Media
With passion and an unrelenting commitment to excellence, Bell Media creates content and builds brands that entertain, inform, engage, and inspire audiences through the platforms of their choice. Bell Media is Canada's premier multimedia company with leading assets in television, radio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media. Bell Media owns 30 local television stations led by CTV, Canada's #1 television network; 34 specialty channels, including TSN and RDS, Canada's most-watched specialty channels in English and French; four pay TV services, including The Movie Network and Super Écran; and is managing shareholder of premium pay-per-view service Viewers Choice Canada. Bell Media is also Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 107 licensed radio stations in 55 markets across Canada. Bell Media owns Astral Out-of-Home, one of Canada's most dynamic and innovative out-of-home advertising companies with a network of more than 9,500 advertising faces in Québec, Ontario and British Columbia. Bell Media also operates more than 200 websites, delivers TV Everywhere with its innovative GO video streaming services, including CTV GO, TMN GO, and Bravo GO, and owns Dome Productions Inc., a multi-platform production company. Bell Media is part of BCE Inc. (TSX: BCE) (NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications company. For more on Bell Media, please visit www.bellmedia.ca.

SOURCE: Bell Media