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The first-ever Hot Pilot Party at the Banff World Media Festival will see Taye Diggs, Jennifer Whalen, Dani Kind, Praneet Akilla and Cody Lightning do a live staged reading of Andrew De Angelis’ half hour comedy New Spanish.

The table read will see Banff organizers team up with Hot Pilot Party creators Nadine Bhabha, Julian De Zotti, and Hannah Antaki to bring the event to the Canadian Rockies on June 8.

New Spanish, which was chosen from among 400 script submissions to the Hot Pilot Party, has a politically-charged plot in a post-Trump era where a small town Ontario is looking to secede from Canada. The live script read in Banff keeps pace with the festival’s traditional market role of helping hothouse TV series in development, rather than see the selling of finished product as at the two MIPs in Cannes.

“Banff is packed with world-class programming, so to have a...

There is nowhere more stressful and chaotic during the holidays than the mall. Now imagine having that rather than dashing in to get a last-minute gift, you have to not only work there, but that you also happen to fall in love there as well. That’s the story behind the new holiday romantic comedy series “The Holiday Shift” arriving on The Roku Channel on Friday, Nov. 17. In the five-episode series, we follow the intersecting love stories of young mall employees during the holiday season amidst all of the difficult shoppers, overzealous bosses, and long-lost loves. You can watch with a free sign-up to Roku Channel.

How to Watch 'The Holiday Shift' When: Friday, November 17, 2023 Where: Roku Channel Stream: Watch with a free sign-up to Roku Channel. Watch NowTBA roku.com About 'The Holiday Shift'

There is something special in the air around the holidays. It...

There will be some fun stuff to stream for free on Roku this holiday season. Coming to the streaming platform this November is a new half-hour romantic comedy series, The Holiday Shift, as well as the film How to Fall in Love by the Holidays, starring Teri Hatcher. Plus, there will be other holiday programming including Roku Originals and classic titles. “This holiday season, The Roku Channel is bringing streamers an array of Roku Originals to get into the festive spirit,” said Brian Tannenbaum, Head of Originals, Roku Media. “We’re delighted to introduce The Holiday Shift and How to Fall in Love by the Holidays as part of our original holiday programming lineup and can’t wait for audiences to stream these fun and heart-warming stories.” The five-episode The Holiday Shift follows the intersecting love stories of young mall employees during the holiday season. Its cast includes Varun Saranga,...

The Roku Channel is breaking out their wreaths. The streaming platform announced two new holiday projects to their lineup.

“How to Fall in Love by the Holidays,” led by Teri Hatcher, follows a writer-turned-ceo who must write a column about love in time for the holidays. Things become more complicated, thanks to the handsome photographer working alongside her.

The Reel One Entertainment film is executive produced by Tom Berry, Suzanne Chapman, Breanne Hartley, Louisa Cadywould, Sebastian Battro and Laurence Braun, written by Ansley Gordon and directed by Michael Kennedy. The movie streams on Friday, November 3.

The Holiday Shift

Roku will also debut a five-episode holiday series titled “The Holiday Shift,” from CBS Studios and Fulwell73. The show follows intersecting love stories of employees at a mall working during the holiday rush. Varun Saranga, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Devyn Nekoda, Nadine Bhabha, Brielle Robillard, Michael Delleva, Sarah Levy and Jon Dore star.

Tommy Johnagin,...

Production is underway in Toronto on comedy series “One More Time,” from stand-up comedian D.J. Demers and showrunner Jessie Gabe (“Workin’ Moms”), and a cast has been revealed.

The 13 x 30′ series is a workplace comedy about D.J. (Demers), the hard-of-hearing manager of a second-hand sporting goods store, and the team of “enthusiastic” employees he leads. D.J.’s optimistic, community-oriented outlook on life is challenged at every turn, as he and his team struggle to keep the small independent shop alive.

Joining Demers in the cast are actor and comedian Geri Hall (“Astrid and Lilly Save the World”), Daniel Beirne (“Fargo”), Elise Bauman (“Workin’ Moms”), emerging actor Seran Sathiyaseelan and Dayton Sinkia (“Letterkenny”).

The cast also includes Nadine Bhabha (“Letterkenny”), Chris Robinson (“The Amazing Gayl Pile”), Maddy Foley (“The Boys”) and Marito Lopez (“Gary and His Demons”).

Demers’ one-hour specials include “[Indistinct Chatter]” “Interpreted” and “Born In ‘86” and he has appeared...

Production is underway on “How to Fail as a Popstar,” Canadian streamer CBC Gem’s original series based on artist, author and musician Vivek Shraya’s debut theatrical work of the same name.

The theatrical work featured Shraya in a one-person performance, reflecting on the power of pop culture, dreams, disappointments and self-determination.

The eight-episode limited comedy series is described by the producers as being “about a queer brown boy with a huge voice doing everything he can to become a popstar – as told by the queer trans femme that boy becomes, looking back on how and why that dream was never realized.”

The series stars Shraya, Adrian Pavone (“Star Trek: Discovery”) and Chris D’Silva (“Slumberland”) as Vivek at various stages of life. Written by Shraya, the series is directed by Vanessa Matsui (“Midnight at the Paradise”) with Shraya co-directing one episode, with filming to continue in Toronto for three weeks.

In 1980, Canada delivered one of the most mind boggling slasher films of all time. Terror Train, directed by Roger Spottiswoode, threw Halloween, Friday the 13th, Animal House, Runaway Train and stage magic into a body bag, shook it up and dumped out a glorious Frankenstein monstrosity featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and David Copperfield. Forty-two years later, this classic oddity gets a modern yet mostly faithful retelling courtesy director Philippe Gagnon.

The premise is exactly the same: a well-to-do fraternity holds a Halloween bash on a privately chartered train only to have their numbers picked off one-by-one. There’s a mysterious magician, played by Tom Rozon in the finest Gary Numan impersonation ever, and an angry killer bent on revenge for the misdeeds of said fraternity. Costumes exchange and body counts rise as both guests and train employees realize someone is out to get them. The main difference is a twist...