eONe Television head Barna to deliver SP market keynote

Barna will address an audience of 200 delegates from across Canada, the US, Germany and 15 other countries representing some of the world’s top producers and broadcasters, financiers, agencies, distributors and sales agents. His speech will be called An International Success Story: Canadian Television.

“There’s two reasons why SP is important to the television and co-production landscape here in Canada,” Barna told Screen International. “The first is that Halifax plays an important role in the production community in the country.

“The second reason why Strategic Partners is an important little gem is that it’s small enough that local producers get one-on-one time [with international players] and that it’s very outward looking, so this year it’s really going to be international, which is important to us at eOne Entertainment.”

eOne TV currently has the Stephen King-based TV series Haven about to wrap a six-month shoot in Nova Scotia, and on September 22 it will begin shooting season two of the Jason Priestly star-vehicle series Call Me Fitz [to be broadcast on HBO Canada] there as well.

SP director Jan Miller said in a release that a remarkable

catalogue of Canadian and international delegates would bring “compelling, original and/or adapted projects in a wide variety of formats” to the table.

Some notable international delegates and projects include Germany’s Christian Arnold-Beutel of MagicWorx, which is currently in production on features such as Ironcladwith Paul Giamatti, James Purefoy and Brian Cox; Flypaper with Patrick Dempsey; The Ledge with Charlie Hunnam, Terence Howard and Liv Tyler; and S3D production Shockwave.

The project to be tabled at SP is Young Santa, a multi-platform literary adaptation based on The Wizard of Oz author L Frank Baum’s novel about the adventures of a young boy who becomes a legend.

Eyeworks Film & TV Drama producer Peter Bouckaert from Belgium will be talking about End Game, a film about an autistic teenager who fights back at his bullies. Meanwhile Junyoung Jang from the UK’s  February Films will reveal why The Hostbecame the highest grossing domestic film ever in South Korea on $80m. It is currently being remade by Universal.