‘Letterkenny’ Producers Hunt International Remakes After Striking Deal With Former Electus Exec Eli Shibley
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The team behind Canadian cult comedy Letterkenny are looking for international hicks, skids and hockey players as they search for global remake deals.
New Metric Media, which produces the comedy, and production partner Bell Media, have brought former Electus and Global Road Television exec Eli Shibley on board to lead these format partnerships.
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Shibley, who founded Major Film & Television, is looking to close format deals in territories including Latin America, Nordics, Spain, Benelux, Russia, Ukraine, and CIS. This comes after New Metric Media and WildBrain closed a recent German format deal with Studio’s Imago TV Film und Fernsehproduktion.
Shibley previously managed international co-productions, partnerships, and distribution for Global Road Television and before that he was the Senior Vice President of International Distribution and Co-Productions at Ben Silverman’s Electus.
Letterkenny was created by Jared Keeso, who is also executive producer, co-writer and star, and is produced by New Metric Media, in partnership with WildBrain and Playfun Games in association with Bell Media Studios for Crave, a division of Bell Media, with the participation of Canadian Media Fund, OMDC Tax Credits and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund. Jacob Tierney is executive producer, director, and co-writer and Mark Montefiore is executive producer for New Metric Media.
In addition to Wayne, played by Keeso, key residents of Letterkenny are Daryl, played by Nathan Dales, Wayne’s free-spirited younger sister Katy, played by Michelle Mylett, and Wayne’s buddy, Dan, played by K Trevor Wilson, while Dylan Playfair and Andrew Herr are Hockey Players Jonesy and Reilly. Tyler Johnston and Evan Stern are Skids Stewart and Roald, Mark Forward is the temperamental Coach, and Tiio Horn is the badass leader of The Natives, Tanis.
New episodes launching on streaming platforms Crave in Canada on October 11 and Hulu, which came board to make it a Hulu Original, in the U.S. on Oct. 14.
“We’re delighted to be partnering with Eli, who has a stellar reputation and proven track-record with successful international formats,” said Mark Montefiore, President, New Metric Media. “Following the tremendous success of Letterkenny in North America, we’re looking forward to expanding on the global growth of the series and bringing it to audiences worldwide.”
“There is a magic to the comedic sensibility of this show that at once can be both laugh out loud funny and also spiritually nourishing,” added Shibley. “Growing up in small-town Ohio and having turned my curiosity about the world into my life’s work, I have had the fortune to see firsthand that there is a ‘Letterkenny’ in nearly every country on the map and I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with New Metric Media, WildBrain, and the funny people of the world to bring local versions of this format to life.”
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