Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject: "18 to Life" set to air on ABC
I just read some WONDERFUL news about "18 to Life." ABC has bought the rights to air this show in America! Michael Seater on primetime television? Oh yes, today is a good day.
CBC AND ABC TEAM UP ON HALF-HOUR PRIME-TIME COMEDY
18 TO LIFE
CBC Television has announced production will begin on 18 TO LIFE, a new single-camera comedy pilot, and that ABC has acquired the U.S. rights to the show, marking the first time a Canadian and a U.S. network have teamed up for a half-hour prime-time comedy.
18 TO LIFE is a domestic comedy about a couple that does the unthinkable: they get married at the tender age of 18. Their parents—next-door neighbors and polar opposites—are less than thrilled, and even their peers disapprove. What gives the series its heart is that young Tom and Jessie truly love each other. They’re the right couple…at the wrong time. As the two struggle to become man and wife in a world that views them as kids, the tension between their families adds a dose of biting humor to their sweet love story. 18 TO LIFE is one part aspirational romance and two parts cautionary tale, which should endear it to teens and parents alike.
18 TO LIFE is created, written and executive produced by Derek Schreyer (The Murdoch Mysteries, Instant Star, Cold Squad, 15/Love) and Karen Troubetzkoy (15/Love, The Magician’s House) and directed by Peter Wellington, an award-winning film and TV director best known for his work as sole director on The Movie Network’s comedy Slings and Arrows.
Cast includes Stacey Farber (Degrassi: The Next Generation’s) and Michael Seater (Life With Derek, The Zack Files) as the young lovers. Peter Keleghan (The Newsroom), Al Goulem (The Tournament, Stardom), Ellen David (Surviving My Mother, Mambo Italiano, Heist), Angela Asher (Degrassi: The Next Generation, Queer as Folk), Jesse Rath (Prom Wars, Dead Like Me), Tiio Horn (Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis) and newcomers Tommie-Amber Pirie and Ariel Shiri also star. Ian Whitehead produces.
“For the CBC to have ABC invest and collaborate in the pilot for an all-Canadian half-hour comedy series is truly remarkable,” remarked Kirstine Layfield, CBC’s executive director of network programming. “It’s a great tribute to all the talented Canadian writers, actors and producers that we are now making television series that are being sold to U.S. and international broadcasters and watched by audiences around the world.”
U.S./U.K. distributor Alchemy Television brokered the deal between CBC and ABC, and Montreal’s Galafilm developed and will produce the show. Anton Leo is Creative Head, Comedy for CBC Television.
Has the release date been, erm... released? Or, I guess, the better term is "premiere." But I wanted to have more than three words on here, so I left it up. ;) Hehe... _________________ Shannon/SNN
Wow! That sounds so awesome! I totally can't wait to see the premiere! I imagined the plot to be something like that! *SQUEE* I am sooooooo excited! _________________
TELEVISION: 18 TO LIFE
ABC looks north for new comedic talent
MICHAEL POSNER
With a report from Simon Houpt in New York.
July 30, 2008
You might call it Juno meets Meet the Fockers - for television.
Jessie and Tom are 18-year-old neighbours. One day, on a dare, they decide to get married. That's the post-Junoesque premise of 18 to Life, a new half-hour, prime-time sitcom pilot that has been produced after winning the simultaneous backing of CBC and ABC.
In the $1-million pilot episode (A Modest Proposal), written by Toronto's Derek Schreyer and Karen Troubetzkoy and produced by Arnie Gelbart's Montreal-based Galafilm, the young couple marry and announce the news to their respective families and friends. One set of in-laws is straitlaced, conservative and apoplectic; the other is laid-back, liberal and copacetic. Let the fun ensue.
The show stars 21-year-old Toronto natives Stacey Farber (Degrassi: The Next Generation) and Michael Seater (Life with Derek); and features Peter Keleghan, Al Goulem, Ellen David, Angela Asher, Jesse Rath, Tilo Horn, Tommie-Amber Pirie and Ariel Shiri.
"You never know in this business," Gelbart said in an interview yesterday. "There are never any bad meetings in L.A. But we're hopeful this will go forward, perhaps with an order for six to eight episodes." Each of those would be budgeted at about $750,000.
Gelbart suggested that the green light could be flashed quite soon, at least by the CBC. "It really depends on the needs of the CBC and ABC," he said. If it were given the nod, taping would begin this fall for possible air dates in the spring or summer of 2009. The producers have secured options on the actors, ensuring their prompt availability.
ABC was brought into the deal by Los Angeles-based Alchemy Television, which bought British and American rights.
It had earlier brokered the agreement that took CTV's Flashpoint to CBS.
"With rising production costs and the costs of prime-time television in general, I think everybody is eager to find new ways of doing business," said Samie Falvey, ABC's senior vice-president of comedy development. "I think the experimental nature was interesting."
Added Falvey: "The joke we always make about Canadians is that they're so much nicer than Americans, and it's true that the humour tends to be more accessible because it's not mean-spirited. A lot of great comic talent comes out of Canada so it makes a lot of sense to look north for new voices."
Alchemy chief executive officer Carrie Stein was equally enthusiastic. "We read the script and it was absolutely adorable," Stein said. "It captures the times. It has a lightness and, especially on the heels of Juno, it's spot-on."
ABC invested both in the development of 18 to Life's pilot script and in its production, along with the CBC and the Canadian Television Fund. There was interest from other American networks, Stein added, but "ABC was incredibly enthusiastic and moved quickly."
Gelbart said the project has been in development for two years - the outgrowth of a prior collaboration with Schreyer and Troubetzkoy on 15/Love, a teen series that has since been sold in 70 countries and has aired in Canada on YTV.
The writers, who met in film school and are unmarried but have been together for a decade, said they were inspired by the teenage actors they met while shooting 15/Love. "They had these relationships, but they seemed so much more mature than their ages," Schreyer said, speaking on his cellphone from a rock on Ontario's Manitoulin Island, where he and Troubetzkoy are writing new episodes. "We had the idea long before Juno came out, but it definitely helped our cause."
Unlike conventional one-set, multicamera sitcoms, 18 to Life - directed by Peter Wellington (a Gemini winner for the acclaimed Slings & Arrows) - uses five different sets and is shot cinematically, with a single camera.
Gelbart said the CBC executives involved, Fred Fuchs and Anton Leo, had been "nothing but supportive, but it's great to also have the backing of ABC. They see a lot of stuff." _________________
I think its connection to Juno is going over my head, but it sounds like it might be a go! It will be weird seeing Mike with a laugh track - or do they not utilize them so much in Canada? I've been programmed for sitcom=laugh track _________________ Theresa
FF.net: daseyshipper
Doesn't sound like it will have a laugh track which I am very happy about. I think if it were to have a live audience/laugh track it would lessen the feel of the show. _________________
I doubt it will have a laugh track, simply due to this quote:
Unlike conventional one-set, multicamera sitcoms, 18 to Life - directed by Peter Wellington (a Gemini winner for the acclaimed Slings & Arrows) - uses five different sets and is shot cinematically, with a single camera. _________________
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