CRAZY COW will be at MIP TV in Cannes from Monday March 30 until Thursday April 2. The Belgian distribution company will meet broadcasters and production companies to discuss partnerschips on a variety of content.
The Canadian series “Sophie” (32 x 30′/ CBC) will air on Monday March 23 on ABC Family in the US. “I am particularly proud of this production, especially since “Sophie” is the product of a rewarding partnership between Canadian actors and Quebec creative talent,” said producer Jocelyn Deschênes, founding president of Sphere Medias Plus. “The purchase of this series by ABC Family shows us that new possibilities are now opening up in the Canadian television industry.”
Adapted from the popular Francophone series Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin, which Radio-Canada has been carrying for two years, “Sophie” attracted the American broadcaster’s notice during CBC’s winter programming launch last fall.
The series was then described as a comedy-drama in which a pregnant businesswoman is having a particularly tough year. As she looks for a break, Sophie, played by actor Natalie Brown of Timmins, Ontario, has no choice but to reach out to friends and relatives who – unfortunately for her – are a largely dysfunctional and neurotic group of people.
CRAZY COW has inked a deal with Caviar-VRT for the distribution in France of the Belgian drama series “The Emperor of Taste” (10 x 50′).
When her 80-year-old husband George dies, Helena asks her granddaughter to delve into the mystery surrounding George’s friend Alfred’s early demise. Alfred died in a WWII prison camp where both friends were imprisoned. The search for the truth unleashes an eruption of repressed emotions in three generations of the De Keyser family, gin distillers in Hasselt.
“The Emperor of Taste” (10 x 50′) is directed by Frank Van Passel and Jan Matthijs, written by Marc Didden and broadcast on channels VRT and RTBF in Belgium.
The series picked up three awards at the International Festival of Audio Visual Programmes (FIPA) in Biarritz (20-25 January, 2009). The show won the FIPA d’Or Grand Prize for best series, best actress (Marijke Dilles) and best original soundtrack (Wim De Wilde).