VisionTV Developing Three New Dramedy Titles

TORONTO: After receiving more than 270 submissions for comedy-drama series proposals, Canadian multi-faith and multicultural network VisionTV has put three titles into development, with the view to greenlighting one for the fall of 2010.

Saint Michael, from Shaftesbury Films and Henry Less Productions, is the story of a self-involved, daredevil young priest who is sent on a mission to a retirement home. From Toronto’s Hungry Eyes Film & Television comes Local 69, a satirical comedy about a middle-aged factory worker who unexpectedly becomes a union boss and must contend with inept managers, mobsters and disgruntled workers. And Taking on Water, from Vancouver-based Soapbox Productions, is an ensemble comedy set on one of British Columbia’s gulf islands about a psychiatrist who returns to her childhood home and must cope with her unconventional mother, her gay brother and a host of eccentric hangers-on. 

Mark Prasuhn, COO of parent company S-VOX, noted: "We have made our selections with a view toward developing programs that will complement VisionTV’s successful prime-time lineup of comedies and dramas, and will appeal to VisionTV’s core audience of viewers aged 50-plus. We are enthusiastic about these projects, and look forward to launching the development process."

Joan Jenkinson, the director of independent production for S-VOX, added: "The selection process was challenging but very exciting. We had a number of outstanding proposals to choose from, and the decisions were by no means easy. But in the end we arrived at three projects with the potential to rank among the very best comedy-drama series on Canadian television."