Shaftesbury’s Smokebomb Bags C$10,000 Prize at Banff

TORONTO, June 13: Smokebomb,
Shaftesbury Films’ recently acquired digital-media division, has won the
C$10,000 Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund iPitch Development Prize at the
Banff World Television Festival for Overruledtv.com, a companion website to the
upcoming tween comedy series Overruled!.

The win was announced
during the closing ceremonies of the Banff World Television Festival. The pitch
for the online companion to Overruled! was presented by Daniel
Dales and Jarrett Sherman, the executive producers for Smokebomb.

Featuring a video-based
Virtual Teen Court, Overruledtv.com will provide tween and teen users with a
forum to air their grievances and have a jury of their online peers decide
who’s right and who’s wrong. Users can post their case to a public forum, where
it is voted on and discussed by the website’s community. The site will be
hosted by the stars of the series, who will guide users through the process
from start to finish, introduce cases and comment on their outcomes. There will
be several layers of Internet safety and privacy protection to ensure that the
site is used as intended and not to hurt or malign other users.

Overruled! is
scheduled to premiere later this year on Family Channel in Canada. Produced by
Shaftesbury Films, Overruled!
follows the trials of Jared “Coop” Cooper (Jacob Kraemer, Naturally, Sadie), a 15-year-old who becomes a lawyer in Banting
High School’s Teen Court. Joining “Coop” in the school’s legal proceedings are
by-the-book lawyer Kaleigh Stewart (Sally Taylor-Isherwood, Bon Voyage), judge Tara Bohun (Jasmine Richards, Camp Rock) and court clerk Rusty (Nick Spencer).

—By Irene Lew