Shaftesbury Films, Inc. is a Canadian privately-owned production company founded by Christina Jennings in 1987, that specializes in film, television, and digital media production. Its headquarters are located in Toronto, Ontario.
Background
Shaftesbury is a creator and producer of original content for television and digital platforms. Shaftesbury's slate includes 19 seasons of Murdoch Mysteries for CBC, UKTV, and ITV STUDIOS Global Entertainment; detective drama Frankie Drake for CBC; Houdini & Doyle for Sony Pictures Television, Corus Entertainment, ITV, and Fox; thriller series Slasher for NBCUniversal's Chiller and now available on Netflix; and CBC Kids series The Moblees. Shaftesbury's digital arm, Smokebomb Entertainment, produces original digital, convergent, and branded entertainment projects including the YouTube series and upcoming movie Carmilla; mystery series V Morgan Is Dead; fashion comedy series MsLabelled, produced in partnership with Shaw Media and Tetley Tea; supernatural drama Inhuman Condition; and the Slasher VR app for iOS, Android, and Oculus Rift. In June 2014, Shaftesbury partnered with Youth Culture to launch shift2, a branded entertainment agency. In 2013, the company signed a first look deal with ABC.
Productions
Productions include Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures for HBO Canada, based on the Giller-prize winning book by Dr. Vincent Lam; five seasons of The Listener for CTV and Fox International Channels; and now in season ten of Murdoch Mysteries for Citytv/CBC and UKTV's Alibi. Shaftesbury also produced a variety of award-winning programming, including the global hit series Life with Derek and the movie follow-up to the series, Vacation with Derek. Shaftesbury's newest series, Good Dog, is a half-hour comedy created, written and directed by Ken Finkleman that premiered on HBO Canada in 2011.
Divisions
Shaftesbury's divisions include Smokebomb Entertainment, the company's digital media division responsible for the development and production of original online series and companion web experiences for Shaftesbury's slate of properties; Shaftesbury Kids, their division responsible for several children's TV shows and movies; and Shaftesbury Sales Company, which manages international sales and distribution for the company's content.
Television
The company's television series projects have included:
11 Cameras
Baxter
Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
Connor Undercover
Dark Oracle (co-produced with Cookie Jar Entertainment)
Frankie Drake Mysteries
From Spain with Love with Annie Sibonney
Good God
Houdini & Doyle
Hudson & Rex
Murdoch Mysteries
Overruled!
The Shields Stories
SisterS (co-produced with Peer Pressure Productions)
Film
Television films produced by Shaftesbury have included:
External Affairs, an adaptation of Timothy Findley's play The Stillborn Lover
Michael Ignatieff's novel Scar Tissue
Hemingway vs. Callaghan, an adaptation of Morley Callaghan's That Summer in Paris
Except the Dying, Poor Tom Is Cold and Under the Dragon's Tail, the first three novels in Maureen Jennings' Murdoch Mysteries franchise which was later adapted by the company into a weekly series
Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story, a dramatization of the murder trial of Evelyn Dick
Terry, a biopic of Terry Fox
six Joanne Kilbourn mysteries, based on the novels by Gail Bowen
Mount Pleasant
The Good Times Are Killing Me
Lay Them Straight
Cinema films have included:
Swann, based on the novel by Carol Shields,
Camilla
Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity
People Hold On
An American Dream: The Education of William Bowman
Digital films, produced by digital arm Smokebomb Entertainment, include:
Digital
The company's digital series projects, produced by digital arm Smokebomb Entertainment, have included:
Emerald Code
Houdini & Doyle: World of Wonders
MsLabelled
Murdoch Mysteries: The Curse of the Lost Pharaohs
Murdoch Mysteries: The Murdoch Effect
Murdoch Mysteries: Nightmare on Queen Street
Ghost BFF
The company's digital arm also oversees KindaTV, the company's distribution channel through YouTube hosted by Natasha Negovanlis.
Official website
Shaftesbury Films Inc. archives at the University of Toronto Media Commons