# Shaftesbury Films

Shaftesbury Films is a film, television and digital media production company founded by Christina Jennings in 1987. It is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

## Background

Shaftesbury is a creator and producer of original content for television and digital platforms. Shaftesbury's slate includes 11 seasons of Murdoch Mysteries for CBC, UKTV, and ITV STUDIOS Global Entertainment; detective drama Frankie Drake for CBC; Houdini & Doyle for Sony Pictures Television, Corus Entertainment, ITV, and Fox; thriller series Slasher for NBCUniversal's Chiller and now available on Netflix; and CBC Kids series The Moblees. Shaftesbury's digital arm, Smokebomb Entertainment, produces original digital, convergent, and branded entertainment projects including the YouTube series and upcoming movie Carmilla; mystery series V Morgan Is Dead; fashion comedy series MsLabelled, produced in partnership with Shaw Media and Tetley Tea; supernatural drama Inhuman Condition; and the Slasher VR app for iOS, Android, and Oculus Rift. In June 2014, Shaftesbury partnered with Youth Culture to launch shift2, a branded entertainment agency. In 2013, the company signed a first look deal with ABC.

## Productions

Productions include Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures for HBO Canada, based on the Giller-prize winning book by Dr. Vincent Lam; five seasons of The Listener for CTV and Fox International Channels; and now in season ten of Murdoch Mysteries for Citytv/CBC and UKTV's Alibi. Shaftesbury also produced a variety of award-winning programming, including the global hit series Life with Derek and the movie follow-up to the series, Vacation with Derek. Shaftesbury's newest series, Good Dog, is a half-hour comedy created, written and directed by Ken Finkleman that premiered on HBO Canada in 2011.

## Divisions

Shaftesbury's divisions include Smokebomb Entertainment, the company's digital media division responsible for the development and production of original online series and companion web experiences for Shaftesbury's slate of properties; Shaftesbury Kids, their division responsible for several children's TV shows and movies; and Shaftesbury Sales Company, which manages international sales and distribution for the company's content.

## Television

The company's television series projects have included:
* 11 Cameras
* Aaron Stone
* The Atwood Stories
* Backpackers
* Baxter
* Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures
* Connor Undercover
* Dark Oracle (co-produced with Cookie Jar Entertainment)
* Dead Still
* Fool Canada
* Frankie Drake Mysteries
* From Spain with Love with Annie Sibonney
* Good Dog
* Good God
* Houdini & Doyle
* Hudson & Rex
* The Jane Show
* Life with Derek
* The Listener
* Mischief City
* The Moblees
* Murdoch Mysteries
* Overruled!
* ReGenesis
* Ruby and the Well
* Screech Owls
* The Shields Stories
* SisterS (co-produced with Peer Pressure Productions)
* Slasher
* The Sounds
* Splashlings

## Film

Television films produced by Shaftesbury have included:
* External Affairs, an adaptation of Timothy Findley's play The Stillborn Lover
* Diverted
* In the Dark
* Michael Ignatieff's novel Scar Tissue
* Hemingway vs. Callaghan, an adaptation of Morley Callaghan's That Summer in Paris
* Except the Dying, Poor Tom Is Cold and Under the Dragon's Tail, the first three novels in Maureen Jennings' Murdoch Mysteries franchise which was later adapted by the company into a weekly series
* Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story, a dramatization of the murder trial of Evelyn Dick
* Terry, a biopic of Terry Fox
* six Joanne Kilbourn mysteries, based on the novels by Gail Bowen
* Eight Days To Live
* In God's Country
* Mount Pleasant
* The Good Times Are Killing Me
* Skyrunners
* Me and Luke
* The Summit
* Sleep Murder
* She Drives Me Crazy
* The Robber Bride
* Lay Them Straight
Cinema films have included:
* Swann, based on the novel by Carol Shields,
* Conquest
* Painted Angels
* Camilla
* Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity
* People Hold On
* An American Dream: The Education of William Bowman
Digital films, produced by digital arm Smokebomb Entertainment, include:
* Darken

## Digital

The company's digital series projects, produced by digital arm Smokebomb Entertainment, have included:
* Backpackers
* Carmilla
* Emerald Code
* Houdini & Doyle: World of Wonders
* Inhuman Condition
* MsLabelled
* Murdoch Mysteries: The Curse of the Lost Pharaohs
* Murdoch Mysteries: The Murdoch Effect
* Murdoch Mysteries: Nightmare on Queen Street
* State of Syn
* Unlikely Heroes
The company's digital arm also oversees KindaTV, the company's distribution channel through YouTube hosted by Natasha Negovanlis.