Jeff Norton Joins Corus Entertainment as Head of
Waterside Studios, a New IP and Production Venture
Corus Options Slate of New Dominion of Drama Titles
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TORONTO, Sept. 13,
2022 /CNW/ - Corus Entertainment today
announced a new overall deal with creative content company
Dominion of Drama and is pleased to welcome its founder
Jeff Norton to the Corus team
as Head of Waterside Studios. Waterside Studios is a new IP and
production venture focused on bringing premium scripted Canadian
content for youth and primetime audiences to the Canadian and
international marketplace.
"Jeff's creativity, business acumen, and international focus
will help propel our content ownership strategy as we pursue
production and distribution opportunities for Corus' best-in-class
creative content," said Colin Bohm,
Executive Vice President, Content and Corporate Strategy, Corus
Entertainment.
Norton has a long creative history with Corus, most recently
serving as a consultant and previously as executive producer of
Trucktown for Nelvana. He also co-wrote the novel Keeping
the Beat, which was one of the launch titles for KCP Loft, Kids
Can Press' young adult imprint.
The deal with Dominion of Drama includes the option of several
titles including The Last Wish of Sasha and Cade,
Elements at War, The Wanderer, A Switch in
Time, and Action Figures.
"Audiences are hungry for bold, original content and this is an
incredible time to meet that demand with Waterside Studios," said
Jeff Norton. "I'm thrilled to join
Corus, and collaborate with Nelvana, to contribute to the
impressive roster of Corus titles that will delight viewers around
the world."
Waterside Studios will not only collaborate with independent
producers but also join forces with Nelvana, a world-leading
international producer, distributor and licensor of children's
animated and live-action content. Together with Nelvana, Waterside
Studios will bring a slate of live-action programming into Corus'
overall content offering for global audiences. Known for his work
in bringing best-selling books to the screen, Norton will also
focus on adapting books for kids and youth audiences. Additional
details on Nelvana's live-action slate to be announced.
"Nelvana has experienced great success with our Emmy-nominated
live action series The Hardy Boys, which engaged audiences
around the world on Hulu, YTV and Disney+," said Pam Westman, President of Nelvana. "We are
excited to build on Nelvana's 50 year legacy of producing
best-in-class content for kids internationally as we further invest
in producing live action content in collaboration with Jeff Norton and Waterside Studios."
This announcement underscores Corus' commitment to Canadian
content as it continues to build a global content powerhouse. In
April 2022, Corus acquired a majority
stake in Aircraft Pictures, a Canadian production company focused
on the international market.
About Corus Entertainment
Inc.
Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B) is a leading media and
content company that develops and delivers high quality brands and
content across platforms for audiences around the world. Engaging
audiences since 1999, the company's portfolio of multimedia
offerings encompass 33 specialty television services, 39 radio
stations, 15 conventional television stations, a suite of digital
and streaming assets, animation software, technology and media
services. Corus is an internationally-renowned content creator and
distributor through Nelvana, a world class animation studio expert
in all formats and Corus Studios, a globally recognized producer of
hit scripted and unscripted content. The company also owns
innovative full-service social digital agency so.da, lifestyle
entertainment company Kin Canada, leading 2D animation software
supplier Toon Boom and children's book publishing house, Kids Can
Press. Corus' roster of premium brands includes Global Television,
W Network, HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, Magnolia Network
Canada, The HISTORY® Channel, Showcase, Adult Swim, National
Geographic, Disney Channel Canada, YTV, Global
News, Globalnews.ca, Q107, Country 105, and CFOX, along with
broadly distributed Canadian streaming platforms STACKTV,
TELETOON+, the Global TV App and Curiouscast. For more information
visit www.corusent.com.
About Nelvana
Entertaining kids for over 50 years, Nelvana is a world-leading
international producer and distributor of children's animated and
live-action content. Nelvana produces a stable of award-winning and
globally renowned brands that focus on comedies, preschool and
action series, and ancillary consumer products programs. Nelvana's
content airs on Corus Entertainment's kids channels in Canada and in over 180 countries around the
world. The Nelvana library has well over 4,700 episodes of
programming and has received over 70 major international program
awards including Emmys® and Canadian Screen Awards. Visit the
Nelvana website at nelvana.com.
About Jeff
Norton
Jeff Norton focuses on building
international entertainment brands through books and television and
has been operating in the international television market for over
20 years. He started his entertainment career in Los Angeles following an executive stint at
Procter & Gamble that took him from Toronto to Cincinnati, working at The Jim Henson Company
and producing the film adaptation of Choose Your Own
Adventure before moving to London,
UK to join Chorion Ltd (Noddy, The Octonauts,
Agatha Christie estate) as
Senior Vice President. He is the author or creator of over
twenty-five novels including the award-winning Metawars
franchise (Hachette) and the best-selling Princess Ponies
series (Bloomsbury). In 2019, he packaged and executive produced
Susan Hill's The Small Hand
for ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global).
About Dominion of
Drama
Dominion of Drama Ltd. ('Dominion') is the creative
content company dedicated to the creation of compelling scripted
stories for British and international audiences, founded by
writer-producer Jeff Norton.
Dominion has projects in development with broadcasters on both
sides of the Atlantic and works in partnership with other
production companies including RubyRock Pictures, EQ Media, Dynamic
Television, APC Studios, and Nelvana Studios.
On the web at: www.dominionofdrama.com, and on Twitter as
@dominiondrama
SOURCE Corus Entertainment Inc.