Back Alley Film Productions is a television production company founded by Janis Lundman and Adrienne Mitchell and based in Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec Canada. Founded in 1989, Back Alley is a creator and producer of original content for television with programming available in more than 120 countries worldwide.
Industry | Television production |
---|---|
Genre | Television |
Founded | 1989 |
Founder | Janis Lundman Adrienne Mitchell |
Headquarters | , |
Back Alley is currently producing Coroner starring Serinda Swan for CBC. Coroner premiered in January 2019 as the highest-rated new drama series on CBC in more than four years, delivering an average audience of more than one million viewers. It also premiered as the highest-ever rated launch in the UK for Universal TV. [1] Coroner was picked up for season two in March 2019. [2]
Back Alley also recently produced Bellevue starring Anna Paquin for CBC and WGN America. Other productions include Played, a 1-hour police drama series for CTV and Bomb Girls, a series that followed the lives of women working in a munitions factory during WWII for Global Television. Starring Meg Tilly the series won the Outstanding Drama award at the 2013 Gracie Awards and was nominated for the prestigious Rockie Award at the Banff Television Festival. Back Alley also produced the Movie of the Week, Bomb Girls: Facing the Enemy, which won the 2015 Canadian Screen Award for Best TV Movie or Mini-Series. Back Alley's other credits include three seasons of the award-winning Durham County, which has sold to over 100 countries internationally; the women's erotica series, Bliss; the hip hop series Drop the Beat and Straight Up with Sarah Polley. [3]
Mitchell and Lundman won the Production Award for Excellence from Women in Film & Television - Toronto.
In 2017, Mitchell was honoured by the Toronto ACTRA Women's Committee. She received the Nell Shipman Award for her efforts in advancing gender equity in the entertainment industry. [4]
The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978) known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculptor Sorel Etrog, who designed its statuette.
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States and the BAFTA Television Awards in the United Kingdom. First held in 1986 to replace the ACTRA Award, the ceremony celebrated Canadian television productions with awards in 87 categories, along with other special awards such as lifetime achievement awards. The Academy had previously presented the one-off Bijou Awards in 1981, inclusive of some television productions.
Wendy Jane Crewson is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film The Doctor.
S. Epatha Merkerson is an American actress. She has received accolades for her work, including an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, four NAACP Image Awards, two Obie Awards, and two Tony Award nominations. She is known for her portrayal of NYPD Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on the NBC police procedural drama series Law & Order, a role she played from 1993 to 2010, appearing in 388 episodes of the series. She is also known for playing Reba the Mail Lady on Pee-wee's Playhouse and Sharon Goodwin in the NBC medical drama Chicago Med since the series premiered in November 2015.
Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy is a Canadian television drama series, which aired on CBC from 1998 to 2000. The series, which is set in the 1940s, was based on the memoirs of author and rancher Richmond P. Hobson, Jr. and set on a ranch in rural northern British Columbia.
Nicholas Campbell is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. He is a four-time Gemini Award winner, a three-time Genie Award nominee, and a Canadian Screen Award nominee. He is known for his portrayal of the eponymous character, coroner Dominic Da Vinci, on the crime drama television series Da Vinci's Inquest (1998-2005) and its spin-off Da Vinci's City Hall (2005-2006).
Enuka Vanessa Okuma is a Canadian actress, writer and director, best known for her role as detective Traci Nash in the Global/ABC police drama series, Rookie Blue (2010–2015).
Linda Pauline Griffiths was a Canadian actress and playwright best known for writing and starring in the one woman play Maggie and Pierre, in which she portrayed both Pierre Trudeau and his then-estranged wife, Margaret. Among her cinematic work, she is best known for her acclaimed, starring role in Lianna.
The second season of Degrassi: The Next Generation, a Canadian serial teen drama television series, commenced airing in Canada on 29 September 2002 and concluded on 23 February 2003, consisting of twenty-two episodes. This season depicts the lives of a group of eighth and ninth grade school children as they deal with some of the challenges and issues teenagers face such as child abuse, hormones, date rape, body image, hate crimes, sexual identity, alcoholism, and protests. This is the first season to feature high school students from grade nine and the last season to feature middle school students.
The third season of Degrassi: The Next Generation, a Canadian serial teen drama television series, commenced airing in Canada on 17 September 2003 and concluded on 5 April 2004, consisting of twenty-two episodes. This season depicts the lives of a group of high school freshmen and sophomores as they deal with some of the challenges and issues teenagers face such as dysfunctional families, sex, homosexuality, homophobia, theft, self-harm, domestic violence, abortion, emancipation and relationships.
Sugith Varughese is an Indian-born Canadian writer, director and actor.
Durham County is a Canadian crime drama television series produced by Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Films. It starred Hugh Dillon as Mike Sweeney, a homicide detective who finds that moving back home comes with trouble and danger. Dillon appeared in this series at the same time he appeared in an ongoing role in another series, Flashpoint.
Orest Sushko is a Canadian re-recording mixer working in the fields of film, television, and music. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and an M.A. degree in media production from Ryerson University in Toronto.
Moze Mossanen is a Canadian independent writer, director and producer who has created a body of critically acclaimed film and TV work blending drama, music, performance and documentary. Most recently, he wrote and directed the documentary feature, You Are Here: A Come From Away Story. His other works include Year of the Lion, a dance film adaptation of the novel, Dangerous Liaisons, and Nureyev, a docu-drama about the life of the Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev.
Muse Entertainment is a Canadian producer of films and television programs founded by Michael Prupas in 1998. The company gained press attention in 2011 for their production of the multi-Emmy winning and nominated miniseries The Kennedys in association with Asylum Entertainment.
Karen Robinson is a British-Canadian film, television, and stage actress. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance in a Guest Role in a Drama Series at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her appearance on the television series Mary Kills People. She also won a 2021 Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Schitt's Creek cast.