Thriller Series Based On Andrée A. Michaud Novel ‘Boundary’ In Development At Endemol Shine North America & KOTV

Jesse Whittock
·3 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Andrée A. Michaud’s novel ‘Boundary’ is being developed as a thriller series.

Montreal-based KOTV and Endemol Shine North America have struck a deal to develop the show, which will be known as Boundary Pond.

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Louis Choquette (19-2, Mafiosa) is attached as showrunner and director, and the project will come to market in coming weeks. William S. Messier is writing the first two scripts and a series bible. The Sherbrooke, Québec-based writer, screenwriter, and translator wrote the docu-drama series Chicanes d’héritages for Vrai and co-created and co-scripted the web series Terreur 404, which was for ICI Tou.tv).

KOTV’s Louis-Philippe Drolet and Endemol Shine North America’s Sharon Levy and Lisa Fahrenholt serve as executive producers.

Boundary, to which KOTV had previously secured the rights, was originally published in 2014 and has received awards such as author Michaud’s second Governor General’s Award for Fiction.

Set in 1967 and taking place on Boundary Pond, a lake spanning across the U.S.-Canadian border between the province of Québec and the state of Maine, the predominately English-language Boundary Pond is a thriller that unfolds to a backdrop of canoes turning over, loons sending out eerie calls and campfires by the lake.

In the story, the idyllic cottage life and warmth and familiarity of Boundary Pond’s forests turn treacherous when a mysterious death rocks the normally peaceful lake community where outsiders keep summer cabins, and locals struggle through the winter. When a second body turns up, murder is suspected.

Choquete, who has directed multiple series in France and Quebec, including CBC police procedural crime drama 19-2 and season one of Canal+’s Mafiosa, which was sold in more than 61 countries. Also on his CV is the second season of period drama Versailles, Philharmonia and, most recently, Mirage, a six-episode series co-produced by French, German and Canadian companies.

“I am thrilled to partner up with Endemol Shine North America to bring the amazing novel Boundary to life in a very organic partnership between our two companies, as Boundary Pond unfolds on the Canadian-U.S. border, and I can’t wait to bring it to market,” said Mia Desroches, Vice-President of International Sales at KOTV. “This unique and captivating crime thriller will showcase both man’s worst and most beautiful natures.”

“We are very excited to continue our push into the scripted space through our partnership with KOTV and Louis Choquette, and bring this incredible thriller to viewers across the globe,” said Levy, CEO of Banijay-owned Endemol Shine North America.

“Unlike in most Nordic Noirs, where nature’s cold and remote hostility dictates the tone, it’s the warmth and familiarity of Boundary Pond’s selling that makes it so treacherous – a play on contrasts between the idyllic cottage life and the more terrifying wilderness all around. It’s a crime thriller where the woods, whether with their warm memories or with their haunting presence, play a crucial part in how the story unfolds,” added Choquette.

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