Ms. Eleni Tenuta of BCE reports
LIONSGATE'S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ATOMIC AGE DRAMA MANHATTAN TO LAUNCH AS FIRST EXCLUSIVE FOR BELL MEDIA'S PROJECT LATTE
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media has
secured the big-buzz drama Manhattan in its first Canadian window from Lionsgate Entertainment Corp. for its new subscription on-demand video streaming service,
code named Project Latte. A tent-pole series immediately available at launch, Manhattan becomes the first Project Latte exclusive TV series that will only
be available to Project Latte subscribers.
The acclaimed drama will be joined in subsequent months by the comedy
series Deadbeat, also from Lionsgate; the crime thriller Bosch, from Red Arrow International; and additional series, as Project Latte
exclusives. Canada's premium TV streaming service, Project Latte will launch later this year.
From nine-time Emmy Award-winning director Thomas Schlamme (The West Wing), the 13-episode
one-hour drama Manhattan follows one of the best-kept secrets of all time -- the mission to build
the world's first atomic bomb.
"Manhattan is the Mad Men of the Atomic Era and as a result is the
perfect serialized drama to launch our exclusives strategy for
Project Latte," said Mike Cosentino, senior vice-president,
programming, Bell Media. "Strategically, we are pro-actively serving the
strong subscriber appetite for exclusive programming, and we're proud
to start with this incredibly accomplished drama, along with the
light-hearted comedy Deadbeat and murder mystery Bosch."
"We're delighted to extend and expand our relationship with Bell Media
and support the launch of their Project Latte streaming service with
shows as diverse as Manhattan and Deadbeat," said Lionsgate president
of worldwide television and digital distribution Jim Packer. "This deal
underscores our commitment to deliver premium, quality content to
on-line platforms as great partners like Bell Media continue to
diversify the choices they offer their audiences."
The 10-episode, half-hour comedy series Deadbeat, starring Canada's Tyler Labine, focuses on an offbeat medium for hire.
Based on the award-winning crime fiction novels of author Michael
Connelly, the 10-episode, one-hour drama Bosch follows a Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective as he works to solve the murder of a
13-year-old boy.
Manhattan
Set in the 1940s, Manhattan depicts the wonder, danger and deceit that shadowed the first
nuclear families. The series follows Frank Winter (John Benjamin
Hickey, The Big C) and his team of brilliant scientists who have been
recruited to work on a classified project on a dusty foothill in the
New Mexico desert. The team quickly begins to sense that this is no
ordinary assignment. In fact, they are living in a town with the
world's highest concentration of geniuses, yet it can't be found on any
map -- a place where men and women are torn between duty and their moral
values, husbands and wives conceal the truth from each other and their
families, the military keeps secrets from the scientists they
chaperone, and the scientists keep secrets from each other.
The series also stars Olivia Williams (Rushmore) as Liza Winter, Daniel Stern (Home Alone) as Glen Babbit, Ashley Zukerman (The Code) as Charlie Isaacs, Rachel
Brosnahan (Olive Kitteridge) as Abby Isaacs, Katja Herbers (Divorce) as
Helen Prins, Vancouver native Alexia Fast (Jack Reacher) as Callie Winter, Christopher Denham (Argo) as Jim Meeks, Harry Lloyd (Game Of Thrones) as Paul Crosley, Michael
Chernus (Orange Is The New Black) as Louis Fritz Fedowitz and Eddie
Shin (Men Of A Certain Age) as Sid Liao.
Deadbeat
Deadbeat follows Kevin Pacalioglu (Brampton, Ont., native Tyler Labine, Mad
Love), a medium for hire who attempts to solve various ghosts'
unresolved problems, so that they can move on to a final resting place,
occasionally with the help of his best friend and drug dealer Roofie
(Brandon T. Jackson, Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters). Deadbeat also stars Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance) as medium Camomile
and Lucy DeVito (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) as Sue.
Bosch
Co-written by Emmy Award nominee Eric Overmyer (The Wire) and
award-winning crime author Michael Connelly, Bosch follows a relentless LAPD homicide detective named Hieronymus Harry
Bosch (Titus Welliver, Marvel Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as he works to
solve the murder of a 13-year-old boy while standing trial in federal
court for the murder of a serial killer. The series also stars Amy
Aquino (Being Human) as Grace Billets and Amy Price-Francis (King) as
Sunny Money Chander.
In October, Bell Media announced a new video streaming service devoted exclusively to the best content
on television, code-named Project Latte. The service will feature thousands of hours of content representing
TV's top premium brands, including the entire off-air library of HBO's
iconic programming catalogue and an unmatchable comedy slate headlined
by Seinfeld and featuring every single episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969 to 1974). Additional details about Project Latte -- including its final name -- will be announced in the weeks to come.
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