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C21 DIGITAL SCREENINGS

Sphere Media

Programming Profile

Sphere eyes global expansion as market embraces Quebec content

16-11-2022

Bruno Dubé, CEO of Canada’s Sphere Media, is looking forward to meeting potential coproduction partners at Content London 2022 – over a nice cup of tea.

 

Please give us a brief outline of your company and its activities.
Sphere Media, Canada’s third-largest independent producer, shines in many areas of film and television production and distribution. Imaginative and committed to excellence, Sphere touches people’s hearts and minds. Its promise is to tell the right stories, the right way. Sphere strives to convey original and diverse tales that reflect the world around us.

 

Following strategic acquisitions in its field, the company now showcases its talents through three brands: Sphere Media (television and film production, television distribution), Sphere Animation (production of animated content) and Sphere Films (film distribution).

 

Dubé
Bruno Dubé, Sphere Media

Over the years, Sphere has built a diverse and inclusive creative space where good ideas become great stories, regardless of format, language or market. The company is omnipresent on the Canadian cultural scene, from development to distribution. With offices in Montréal, Toronto and Ottawa, it has also gained recognition abroad for its world-class productions.

 

 

What shows is your company best known for and what do you have in production?
We are best known for productions such as Sort Of, Transplant, The Porter, Cardinal, Trickster, Haunted Hospitals and Paranormal Night Shift. We’re currently working on series Sort Of and Transplant and animated children’s series Riley Rocket. Also in production is documentary series Repossessed as well as a new season of kids show The Zone.

 

You Are Absolete
You Are Absolete

What projects do you have on the development slate?
In development, we currently have docuseries Paranormal Revenge, Peak 15: the Future of Everest and Monkey on a Stick – a premium factual investigative doc. Our unscripted team is also working on a new kids’ science series for TVO and a full lifestyle slate with international talent. On the scripted side, L’Homme aux Chats, as well as drama series You Are Obsolete and A Complicated Kindness, are in development with Amazon, based on the books of the same name.

 

What is your international expansion strategy?
After some successful expansion and Canadian acquisitions, Sphere is now ready to acquire talented people or businesses or make joint ventures in Europe and/or the US. These new collaborations will enable us to create synergies and therefore quickly increase our international distribution capacity. Our growth strategy has always been to bring people together who are ambitious and have great creative visions, so that we can tell great stories together and ultimately bring these stories to the world.

 

How do you see global demand for Québécois content changing?
The multiplication of viewing platforms has opened Quebec producers to the world. Broadcasters are always looking for good content. We have proven in Quebec that we are creative and are able to produce new, distinctive, quality content that can appeal to diverse markets.

 

 

Riley Rocket
Riley Rocket

How has the rise of streaming changed things for Québécois producers?
The consumption of video entertainment has never been so high. The pandemic has contributed to give a new life and create new opportunities for broadcasters and producers. Audiences are more and more fragmented and more global than ever. Sphere stands for reliability and professionalism and is the perfect partner for creating, producing and distributing original content that is capable of reaching both niche and mass audiences, in Quebec, Canada and abroad.

 

What is your company looking to achieve at Content London 2022?
Great meetings with potential partners and creators while enjoying a nice cup of tea!

 

What are your company’s plans for 2023 and beyond?
Our plans for 2023 and beyond are first and foremost to continue to deploy and showcase the Sphere brands, both in Canada and abroad. Another main goal is to increase the development and exploitation of original content by attracting, acquiring and retaining complementary and diversified talent, locally and globally, all while continuing to maximise collaboration within the teams.



More programming profiles

  • 15-06-2020

    Having acquired Sienna Films and BGM in March of this year, Montreal’s Sphere Media went into the pandemic and production lockdown in strong shape, with a broad portfolio of library content to sell via C21’s Digital Screenings.

     

    Just days before the global shutdown of the TV industry kicked into gear in early March, French-Canadian producer-distributor Sphere Media concluded the second of two major production company acquisitions, buying Cardinal producer Sienna Films from the embattled Kew Media Group.

     

    The deal came just days after Sphere Media did a deal with Kew to acquire BGM, the company formerly known as Bristow Global Media and another top Canadian indie. As such, Montreal-headquartered Sphere Media, which has around 100 staff and small office in Toronto, gained a boost to its already strong library of content, just as production came to a standstill.

     

    And while the global pandemic has put a halt on the physical attendance of global markets such as MipTV and Sunny Side of the Doc, Sphere Media’s VP of production and operations, and executive producer Josée Vallée says videoconferencing and remote working has led to greater and more fruitful discussions.
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