CANWEST announces start of production on highly anticipated original series - COPPER from THUMP INC. and E1 ENTERTAINMENT
20 July 2009
DRAMA TO BE SIMULCAST ON GLOBAL AND ABC TELEVISION NETWORK
MISSY PEREGRYM (REAPER, HEROES) AND GREGORY SMITH (EVERWOOD) LEAD STELLAR CANADIAN CAST
TORONTO, ON, July 20, 2009 – Developed by Thump Inc. and produced in partnership with leading indie studio and distributor, E1 Entertainment, Copper (working title), began production last week and will continue shooting in and around the GTA through November 2009. This one-hour, 13-episode series commissioned by Canwest and picked up by ABC Television Network during development, will be simulcast on Global and ABC Television Network later this season.
Copper is a workplace drama about five young rookie cops just out of the police academy. They have bonded together, fought together, drank together, worked together and slept together. Now they're on the job together. They're kids with guns, experiencing firsthand the hardest kind of policing there is. They are first responders, and they are about to learn that no amount of training prepares you for life.
"From cast to crew, the pedigree of talent involved in this original series is simply incredible," said Christine Shipton, Senior Vice President, Drama and Factual Content, Global Television. "We're so excited to be joining forces with Thump Inc., E1 Entertainment and ABC Television Network on Copper, and bringing these amazing scripts to screen. It's a creative, smart and sexy police drama sure to resonate with audiences on both sides of the border."
"Tassie, Ilana and the entire Copper team have crafted an exciting, innovative new twist on the traditional cop franchise," said Noreen Halpern, President, Dramatic Programming, E1 Entertainment. "This project is unusual. While it was originally developed with Canwest, ABC has been actively involved, early on, since the pitching stage. The result has been a series with a truly international sensibility and E1 couldn't be more excited about what this augurs for the future of international co-productions."
Vancouver's Missy Peregrym (Reaper, Heroes) portrays Andy McNally, a young woman who has grown up fast and carries a gun, but feels like a fraud half the time. She comes from a police family and all she's ever wanted to be is a cop. A born rescuer, Andy is the soul of the close-knit group of five rookie officers plunged into the high stakes world of big city policing – a world where even the smallest mistake can have life-or-death consequences.
Joining Missy is Gregory Smith (Everwood) whose character, Dov Epstein, is the thrill-seeker in the group. After spending many years watching Starsky & Hutch as a sickly child sucking on his asthma inhaler, he is now living his dream and is thoroughly jacked to be a cop. Enuka Okuma (24) plays Traci Nash, a girl from a working class family raised in a tough neighbourhood. She is a serious party girl and a single mother, a fact she's hiding from her colleagues. Travis Milne (My Green House) is Chris Diaz, the police poster boy -- handsome, athletic, clean-cut. A good soldier with a surprising temper, Chris follows orders and believes in defending the weak.
Charlotte Sullivan (M.V.P.) is Gail Peck, the group's politico, whose mother is a superintendent next in line to be Chief of Police. Coming from cop royalty, she is determined not to let her parents down, no matter what it takes.
The all-Canadian cast is rounded out by Ben Bass (Would Be Kings), Eric Johnson (Smallville), Matt Gordon (Rent-A-Goalie), Noam Jenkins (Flashpoint), Melanie Nicholls King (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) and Aidan Devine (M.V.P.).
Celebrated Canadian producer Ilana Frank (Would be Kings) serves as the series Executive Producer. Gemini Award winning screenwriter Tassie Cameron (Flashpoint) will undertake the roles of Copper's showrunner and head writer. E1 Entertainment's Noreen Halpern (Hung) and John Morayniss (Hung) round out the team as Executive Producers.
Alongside Cameron, Copper was co-created by award-winning writers Ellen Vanstone (At the Hotel) and Morwyn Brebner (Hotel Metropolitan). Copper's directing team is comprised of notable Gemini Award winning directors with David Wellington (Queer as Folk, The Eleventh Hour) taking the helm directing five episodes followed by, John Fawcett (Da Vinci's Inquest), Charles Biname (Hunt for Justice) and Alex Chapple (Law and Order).
E1 Entertainment handles the international distribution for the series.
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About Canwest Originals:
Canwest is the proud home of the most diverse slate of Canadian
Original programs across the Dramatic, Lifestyle and Entertainment
genres. As a steadfast supporter of the Canadian production
community, Canwest is dedicated to bringing the best of the country
to audiences nationwide - including award winning shows such as;
The Guard, Howie Do It, Sarah's House, Holmes on Homes,
X-Weighted, Kenny vs. Spenny, and the nation's number one
entertainment newsmagazine Entertainment Tonight
Canada.
About Canwest Broadcasting:
Canwest Broadcasting operates two conventional television networks,
Global Television and E!, and eighteen of the country's most
popular specialty channels, including HGTV, Mystery TV, National
Geographic Channel, Showcase, History and TVtropolis. Canwest
Broadcasting is a division of Canwest Media Inc.
About Canwest Media Inc.:
Canwest Media Inc is a subsidiary of Canwest Global Communications
Corp. (www.canwest.com; TSX: CGS and CGS.A). An international media
company, Canwest is Canada's largest publisher of paid English
language daily newspapers and owns, operates and/or holds
substantial interests in conventional television, out-of-home
advertising, specialty cable channels, web sites and radio stations
in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore,
and the United States.
About Thump Inc.:
Thump Inc. was established in 1998 by Ilana Frank, one of Canada's
most celebrated and respected producers of long form drama, to
produce the feature film the The Life Before This (1998),
starring Stephen Rea, Catherine O'Hara, Sarah Polley and Joe
Pantoliano. Catherine O'Hara went on to win a Genie Award for her
role in the film.
In 2001, Frank moved into dramatic series television production as the Co-Creator and Executive Producer of The Eleventh Hour, a 13-part one hour dramatic television series set in the world of Investigative Journalists at a major television network. Over the course of its run, The Eleventh Hour was nominated for more than thirty Gemini Awards, and won more than fifteen Gemini's in all major categories including Best Writer, Director and Actor.
In 2007 Frank produced the powerful four-hour mini-series Would Be Kings directed by David Wellington, starring Ben Bass, Currie Graham and Natasha Henstridge who won the Gemini Award for Best Actress. Recent television projects include Of Murder and Memory, a made-for-television movie for CTV and Lifetime starring Annabeth Gish (Brotherhood, The West Wing), Chandra West (John from Cincinnati, NYPD Blue), Hugh Dillon (Durham County, Flashpoint) and a one-hour drama pilot for Showcase entitled Clean.
About E1 Entertainment:
E1 Entertainment (AIM: ETO) is a leading independent entertainment
content owner that acquires film, television and music rights and
exploits these rights in all media in more than 190 countries.
The company currently operates in Canada, the U.S., the UK, Holland and Belgium through its four primary businesses units: E1 Television, E1 Films, E1 Music and E1 Distribution. These businesses collectively represent E1's extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production/distribution, Kids content, Licensing and Distribution.
E1's content library includes more than 3,700 feature films, 2,700 hours of original television programming and 15,000 music tracks.
For media inquiries, please contact:
E1 USA
Pam Wilson
Ink Media Corporation
Tel: 818 655 6010 Cell: 310 849 7303
pam.wilson@inkmediacorp.com
Canwest Broadcasting
Grace Park
Global Television
Tel: 416 967 2484 Cell: 416 543 5869
gpark@globaltv.com
Holmes Creative Communications Inc.
Samantha Taus / Beth Sulman
Unit Publicity
Tel: 416 628 5612 Cell: 416 557 2207 / 416 628 5602 Cell: 416 434
5259
staus@hccink.com /
bsulman@hccink.com
ABC Television Network
Cathy Rehl
Tel: 212 456 6749
cathy.rehl@abc.com