Utopia Boards Sci-Fi Drama
EXCLUSIVE: Utopia has acquired worldwide sales rights to feature film Saul At Night, a sci-fi drama and feature debut by Cory Santilli, written by Daniel Miska. Starring Kentucker Audley, Suzanne Clément, Stephanie Ellis and Acadia Colan, the movie follows Saul Capgras (Audley) as he is forced to become acclimated to isolation in a bizarre experiment. A legally imposed curfew and mandated sleeping schedule has been forced upon citizens, except Saul, the one person who rests during the day and spends his waking hours in the eerie and lonely night. Alienated from his family, Saul begins to invent ways to continue sharing his life with his wife and daughter, but things take a turn when he encounters a mysterious woman on one of his nightly wanderings. Digital release is lined up for this month. Pic is a JawDoc Productions film produced by Raz Cunningham and Julie Snyder, with original music by Kubilay Uner (Bill & Ted Face the Music) and editing by Bart Brevé (Doctor Strange).
Fictionz Sets Cast For Next Podcast
EXCLUSIVE: Podcast studio Fictionz, which focuses on female-centric and diverse content, has announced the voice cast for YA author Laurie Faria Stolarz’s adaptation of her novel, Bleed. The adapted narrative version of Bleed will feature the voices of Galilea La Salvia (Pam & Tommy), Elizabeth Johnson (Bring it On), Natalie Taraldsen (Death Camp), Jonah Gran (CBS’ Bull), Garrett Louis (Love and Love Not), Harry Santiago (Vince), Samantha Dockser (The Sex Lives of College Girls) and Lisa Cole (9-1-1). There are 10 episodes and each episode will run about 40 minutes, launching in February. Bleed depicts ten teenagers who are interconnected in various ways over the course of a single day. Each teen struggles with understanding important truths about themselves and each other and deals with some heavy duty teen issues like cutting, abuse, unrequited infatuation, and loneliness. “This is our largest podcast endeavor yet. The total series will run about 350 minutes or 9 hours or basically a full TV season. We normally do short, serialized stories like The Break Up Diet (Judy Greer, Meghan Rienks) and The Yellow Wallpaper (Jeannie Mason) but recently have been diving into longer formats,” said Tommaso Fiacchino, who runs development at Fictionz. Caryn Waechter will direct and the author Laure Faria Stolarz adapted the book into the script for Fictionz. Stolarz is repped by Gotham Group and Kathryn Green Literary Agency. Fictionz is represented by Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP and backed by Ready Go Ventures.
Ira Levy Launches Toronto Label
Veteran Canadian TV producer Ira Levy (Less Than Kind), founder of Breakthrough Entertainment, has launched Spike & Sadie Media, a Toronto-based boutique film and TV production company. Named after and in honour of Levy’s parents, the newly formed company will focus on scripted and unscripted projects with Canadian and international creatives. “Launching Spike & Sadie Media after 40 years of working in the Canadian film and TV industry is a tremendously exciting moment for me in my professional career. What I love most about the work is collaborating with creatives and generating opportunities for their unique stories to be told,” said Levy. “I have had the good fortune of working with some of our industry’s best and I look forward to bringing my energy and relationships into this new creative hub and showcasing the next generation of storytellers.”
