Video Age International April 2016

30 April 2016 V I D E O A G E T oronto-based production and distribution company Breakthrough Entertainment Inc. covers a range of genres, including primetime television comedy and drama series, factual entertainment, lifestyle, documentaries, television movies, feature films, family entertainment and children’s animation. Breakthrough also produces digital entertainment on mobile and online platforms. In 2014, the group reported a production slate valued at over C$26million, putting it into the top tier of Canadian production companies. The demand for Canadian productions is changing. Recent changes mandated by Canada’s regulatory body, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, have affected broadcasters’ need for Canadian content, particularly daytime, and the recently introduced pick-and-pay system may herald the demise of smaller specialty channels that do notmake the cut. Producers are learning their way around this evolving Canadian media scene, and it makes international partnering all the more important to companies such as Breakthrough. The company looks for growth opportunities worldwide and co-production is a major part of these endeavours. Breakthrough has worked extensively with partners from countries as diverse as France, the U.K., Brazil, the Philippines and Israel, as well as with the Canadian provinces. About one- third of its productions are co-pros. As a vertically-integrated entertainment studio with 30-plus employees and a catalog of over 2,200 half-hours (the library is catalogued in 30-minute segments encompassing series, movies, etc.), the company is active worldwide and it distributes to major broadcasters in over 200 territories. Activities also include pre-sales, co-productions and third-party acquisitions. The company was created over 27 years ago by industry veterans Ira Levy and his partner, Peter Williamson. Bothpartners, as executiveproducers, oversee the creative management of projects in all genres, from development through to delivery. Williamson also oversees post-production. Nat Abraham, president of Distribution, has nearly 20 years of experience in the world marketplace, including roles at NielsenMedia Research Canada, and 20th Century Fox/Astral Distribution. He joined Breakthrough in 2006 and became a partner in 2014. Michael McGuigan, also a partner, is the company’s CFO. He joined Breakthrough in 1999 and became a partner also in 2014. All the partners have played active roles in Canadian industry associations. The company philosophy in developing content is to work with talent with a distinctive voice and international appeal. Their work ranges from the animated series Rocket Monkeys , to the television movie Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables , based on the well-known Canadian classic, and starring Martin Sheen. The film had its world premiere in February at the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa. It was made for Corus Entertainment’s YTV Channel. A local initiative recently unveiled by Breakthroughisthebroadeningofitsprogramming slate with a move into the production and distribution of faith-based film and television entertainment. It has entered this burgeoning faith market via a multi-picture co-production deal with Toronto’s Reel Deal Guys Entertainment. The first title in the three-picture agreement is the supernatural drama Adam’s Testament , written, produced and directed by Reel Deal principals Jason Barbeck and Rafael Kalamat. “Faith-based entertainment has truly come of age, both as a market as well as a magnet for filmmakers and talent alike,” said Williamson. Distribution head Abraham added: “Having served theglobalmarketasaprimeresource for family film and television entertainment since the formation of Breakthrough Entertainment for three decades, the impressive faith-based market is a natural expansion for our company.” Breakthrough will handle distribution of the co-production across all theatrical and media channels. Looking at the global shift in how audiences consume content today, Breakthrough has taken the view that the traditional linear channels are having difficulties in keeping their viewers in the face of newer digital offerings that can be consumed on more portable devices. As a result, the company has developed a digital media division to focus on producing high-quality digital entertainment formobile and online platforms, i.e. distributing content through the digital market, such as Youtube or SVoD. The unit produces or distributes a large range of digital material including ebooks, webisodes and games, items as widely diverse as Jimmy Two Shoes: Mystery and Mayhem, an online game; The Agents , webisodes about real estate agents; the interactive title for kids The Adventures of NapkinMan ; and the history website For King and Country. Breakthrough has a history of having a big presence at all international film and TV trade shows, such as MIP-TV, AFM, EFM, Cannes Film Festival, NATPE Europe, TIFF and MIPCOM. At MIP-TV Breakthrough will focus on all the facets of its global business. It also serves as an important platform for discussion, for trend- watching, for forging new relationships, and as a source for finding fresh and innovative material. At MIP-TV the group will be presenting several new titles: Resilient Cities (5x30’) a gritty, urban documentary series that uncovers the underbellies of some of the most traumatized cities in the world, cities affected by war, natural disaster and political unrest, capturing the hope and optimism for the future through the eyes of artistic youth; Reefer Riches , a one-hour documentary that explores what our marijuana future could look like with shifting cultural values, strange political bedfellows, new law enforcement issues, and the rush for profits; If the Poet , a one-hour cinematic ride into the heart of slam poetry; and Descending (13x60’), a boundary-pushing digital underwater documentary series produced by Echo Bay Media, that brings a mix of emotion, humor and knowledge to viewers of all ages as it uncovers stories of human triumph and tragedy. By Isme Bennie Breakthrough Entertainment In An Evolving Canadian Media Scene Company Profi le Nat Abraham Breakthrough Entertainment’s Anne of Green Gables