TORONTO — John Ralston, Ingrid Kavelaars and Colin Cunningham are to top-line the Canadian pay TV sitcom “Living In Your Car,” executive produced and directed by David Steinberg (”Curb Your Enthusiasm”) for indie producer The Nightingale Co.

The 13-part comedy, created and written by George F. Walker, Joseph Kay and Dani Romain, is shooting in Toronto and nearby Hamilton to Nov. 24 and will bow on Canada pay TV networks Movie Central and the Movie Network in 2010.

The Canadian comedy portrays Ralston in the lead role of Steve Unger, a fallen corporate executive-turned-grifter who clings to his lost empire by making his home in a luxury sedan. Kavelaars plays Lori Unger, while Cunningham is Steve Unger’s slippery lawyer.

Steinberg, Walker and Romain share the executive producer credits with Debbie Nightingale, with Joseph Kay and Alyson Richards producing.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role
Daniel Kash
The Line
Episode 102

Ron White
The Line
Episode 102

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series
Wes Williams
The Line
Episode 106 / Episode 107

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series
Tasha Lawrence
The Line
Episode 104 / Episode 106

Best Achievement in Casting
Marsha Chesley
The Line
Episode 107

Steve Unger used to be rich and powerful. Now he lives in his car. This comedy series follows the winding karmic adventure that is Steve’s new life in a strange and precarious land of car dwellers.

A fallen corporate exec, Steve Unger was caught cooking the books and now finds himself legally forbidden from working in any position that involves “other people’s money”. Clinging desperately to the last vestige of his former self – his luxury sedan – Steve hopes to begin anew. The thing is, Steve isn’t a bad guy, he just literally doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “ethics” – a quality that used to get him ahead in life but now, he discovers, is holding him back.

Created by: George F. Walker, Dani Romain and Joseph Kay
Written by: George F. Walker, Dani Romain and Joseph Kay
Producer: Debbie Nightingale
Developed in association with: Movie Central

by Gariné Tcholakian

David Steinberg, the exec producer of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Weeds has signed on to a new 15-part, half-hour series developed and licensed by Astral Media’s The Movie Network and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central.

An original series by Toronto-based The Nightingale Company, Living in Your Car follows a failed corporate exec who clings to the life he once had by living in his luxury sedan. The show is scheduled to air on The Movie Network and Movie Central next year, with filming set to begin this September.

Joining Steinberg in the role are the show’s writers and creators, George F. Walker and Dani Romain, whose credits as a duo include This is Wonderland (CBC) and The Line (The Movie Network and Movie Central). The new series is also created and written by Joseph Kay.

Steinberg is also attached to a second Canadian project, Single White Spenny, a comedy pilot for Canwest and Breakthrough Film & Television starring a newly divorced Spencer Rice (Kenny vs. Spenny).

With files from Playback Daily

The Nightingale Company today announced that producer and director David Steinberg, whose credits include such major hits as CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, WEEDS and MAD ABOUT YOU, has signed on as an Executive Producer and Director of its upcoming original comedy series LIVING IN YOUR CAR.

The 15-part, half-hour series is created and written by George F. Walker, Dani Romain and Joseph Kay and developed and licensed by Astral Media’s THE MOVIE NETWORK (Eastern Canada) and Corus Entertainment’s MOVIE CENTRAL (Western Canada). Walker and Romain, who are the duo behind the critically acclaimed series This is Wonderland (CBC) and the recent, thrilling cop drama The Line (THE MOVIE NETWORK/MOVIE CENTRAL) are also executive producers on this series.

Living In Your Car follows the winding karmic adventures of Steve Unger, a fallen corporate executive who clings to the last vestige of his former existence by making his home inside his luxury sedan. Propelled ahead by his needs and whims, trying to simultaneously help and exploit everyone he meets, Steve attempts to survive in the land of the have-nots and at the same time somehow resurrect the charmed life he once had.

“To have someone of David’s talent and experience with comedy is a testament to the quality of George and Dani’s writing. I’m very excited about the potential of this show and working with the terrific team we’ve assembled,” said Debbie Nightingale, President of The Nightingale Company.

Filming is set to begin in September and is scheduled to debut in 2010 on The Movie Network and Movie Central.

About David Steinberg

The New York Times has included David Steinberg among a handful of the best and most creative directors working in television. He has directed many episodes of Friends, Newhart, Seinfeld, Mad About You, Designing Women, which he also executive produced and most recently the hit series Weeds and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. His work on Seinfeld and Mad About You and Curb Your Enthusiasm earned him several DGA and Emmy Awards and nominations.

President Debbie Nightingale is delighted with the critical acclaim that the company’s dramatic series The Line is garnering following its March 16, 2009 Canadian premiere on The Movie Network and Movie Central, with critics praising it as a “major Canadian TV event” (Globe and Mail) and noting that “there is not a single aspect of the series that is anything short of addictively compelling” (The Toronto Star). The Line is distributed internationally by Peace Arch, and in France and French Territories by Double V. Another project that the company has just finished to favourable reviews is the feature film The Last New Year which kicked off the Victoria Film festival, won the Golden Ace award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival and has been praised as an “absorbing ensemble drama” by CBC.

The Nightingale Company has secured a deal with ShineReveille International to act as sales agent on its new comedy series in development, “Living in Your Car” just in time for MIP.  George F. Walker and Dani Romain, the creative team behind The Line, are developing the series with Nightingale for The Movie Network and Movie Central.

“We’ve just wrapped up a very busy and successful 2008,” says Nightingale. “We’ve completed the first and second seasons of The Line for Movie Central and The Movie Network. We’re also very excited about Living In Your Car and we are planning to be in production this summer with it.”

Also in development at The Nightingale Company is an exciting slate of programs, including online interactive properties for brand integration. From MOWs to series and children’s to adult programming, some projects in development include:

Brian Paisley in Hell (13×30)

A black comedy about a modern day everyman as he attempts to adapt to the comically tragic afterlife situation of working in Hell; living in Hell; loving in Hell, and trying to get the hell out of Hell.

The Fixer (13×60)

The Fixer is hired to clean up the mess, erasing high-profile mistakes, any way he can.  He restores order to adulterous, Botox filled lives – for a price.

My Neighbours are Aliens (26×11)

They’re the Quirks. They’re alien invaders from distant planet called … Earth! Only Zippy Nebula can stop them from taking over his home planet. A high-energy, action-comedy cartoon. 

The Nightingale Company is a boutique film, television, and new media production firm led by Debbie Nightingale and Shain Jaffe. Since 2000, the Toronto-based company has produced all types of projects from feature films to dramatic series, documentaries to interactive adventures.  Recent credits include The Line, a television series airing on The Movie Network and Movie Central, Zixx: Level One, Two & Three, Chicks with Sticks and Mob Princess.

For more information, please contact Matt Drappel at 416-628-1355 or

mattdrappel@thenightingalecompany.com or visit  www.thenightingalecompany.com

]]> http://www.thenightingalecompany.com/tnc/the-nightingale-company-introduces-strong-slate-at-miptv/feed/ 0 http://www.thenightingalecompany.com/tnc/super-channel-picks-up-the-nightingale-company%e2%80%99s-new-feature-film-the-last-new-year/ http://www.thenightingalecompany.com/tnc/super-channel-picks-up-the-nightingale-company%e2%80%99s-new-feature-film-the-last-new-year/#comments Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:05:39 +0000 admin http://development.thenightingalecompany.com/?p=567 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 23, 2008

The Nightingale Company is pleased to announce Super Channel has acquired the first broadcast window for Canadian television rights to air their new dramatic feature film The Last New Year.

The Last New Year is the story of a diverse group of 20-somethings who share only one thing in common – each other. In high school, ten friends made a pact that every New Year’s Eve they would reunite. After eight years, what started as a simple house party developed into a sacred tradition, and although the friends have grown apart, the annual event always brings them back together. However, this New Year’s Eve things are different. One of the group’s core members has mysteriously disappeared, leaving the rest of the group clueless as to what happened, where he is, or if he is even still alive. Despite the shadow of their loss and the mystery that surrounds his disappearance, the group valiantly attempts to keep the party going.

Key Creatives
Writer/Director: Garfield Lindsay Miller, Co Writer: Casey Austin, Producer Alyson Richards, Executive Producer: Debbie Nightingale, Key Cast: Kris Holden Reid, Aaron Webber, Mayko Nguyen

“We were able to bring together a great cast from across the country, including Kris Holden Reid (The Tudors, Touch of Pink), Aaron Webber (A Whole New Thing, A Stone’s Throw), Mayko Nguyen (ReGenesis), and many others,” says Producer Alyson Richards.

“Having Bruce MacDonald as a mentor was invaluable. He helped guide me around a lot of the problems young directors face and continually encouraged me to trust my instincts. It’s a better film for it,” says Writer/Director Garfield Lindsay Miller.

“Super Channel is committed to bringing our subscribers quality Canadian programming and we are happy to be able to work with The Nightingale Company on The Last New Year,” said Justin Rebelo, Super Channel Director of Canadian Programming. “This film is just the sort production that highlights the quality that comes from Canadian talent.”

Director/Writer – Garfield Lindsay Miller

Garfield has worked as a filmmaker in the Canada and the U.S. for the last seven years. Dedicated to telling compelling stories of social significance, he most recently co-wrote the feature ecological drama, A Stone’s Throw. Produced by iconic Canadian filmmaker Camelia Frieberg and distributed by Mongrel Media, the film premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and received the award for Best Atlantic Feature at the 2006 AFF. Prior to that, Garfield co-wrote and co-produced the TV documentary The Fires That Burn, nominated for a 2006 Gemini Award for Best Biographical Documentary and winner of the Wilber and Chris Awards for excellence in spiritual broadcasting.

The Nightingale Company is a boutique film, television, and new media production firm led by Debbie Nightingale and Shain Jaffe. Since 2000, the Toronto-based company has produced all types of projects from feature films to dramatic series, documentaries to interactive adventures. Recent credits include Zixx: Level One, Two & Three, Chicks with Sticks, Mob Princess, Dove Days, Lipstick and Dynamite and Bailey’s Billions. Currently, The Nightingale Company is in production of the second season of The Weight, a television series based on George F. Walker’s hit play Suburban Motel, co-written with Dani Romain.

Super Channel
Super Channel is Canada’s only national pay television network, consisting of two new HD channels, four new SD channels, and an SVOD platform.
Super Channel’s vision is to expand the Canadian premium TV experience by offering a broad range of fresh, entertaining movies and series.
Owned by Allarco Entertainment, an Edmonton-based media company, Super Channel is currently available on Bell ExpressVu, Star Choice, Rogers PersonalTV, Shaw Cable, Cogeco Cable, Access Communications, Mountain Cablevision and SaskTel. www.superchannel.ca

For more information

The Nightingale Company
Jeanette Cabral
416-628-1355
jeanette@thenightingalecompany.com

Super Channel
Sylvie Powell
613-290-1497
spowell@medialanecom.com

The Last New Year is the story of a diverse group of twenty-somethings who share one thing in common – each other. In high school, these ten friends made a pact that every New Year’s Eve they would reunite. After eight years, what started as a simple house party developed into a sacred tradition, and although the friends have grown apart, the annual event always brought them back together.  However, this New Year’s Eve things are different. One of the group’s core members has mysteriously disappeared, leaving the rest of the group clueless as to what happened, where he is, or if he is even still alive. Despite the shadow of their loss and the mystery that surrounds his disappearance, the group valiantly attempts to keep the party going.

“Mentored by Bruce McDonald, we were able to bring together a great cast from across the country, including Kris Holden Reid (Touch of Pink, A Stone’s Throw), Aaron Webber (A Whole New Thing, A Stone’s Throw), Mayko Nguyen (Regensis), and many others,” says Garfield Miller, director and writer.

The film is set to air on Superchannel in the fall of 2008.

The Nightingale Company is a boutique film, television, and new media production firm led by Debbie Nightingale and Shain Jaffe.  Since 2000, the Toronto-based company has produced all types of projects from feature films to dramatic series, documentaries to interactive adventures. Recent credits include Zixx: Level One, Two & Three, Chicks with Sticks, Mob Princess, and Bailey’s Billions. Currently, The Nightingale Company is in production of The Weight, a television series based on George F. Walker’s hit play Suburban Motel, co-written with Dani Romain for The Movie Network and Movie Central.

For more information, please contact Jeanette Cabral at 416-628-1355 or jeanette@thenightingalecompany.com

“We’ve partnered with Nuno Bernardo and his company beActive, producers of the smash hit online series Sophia’s Diary to develop up to five innovative multi-platform projects of this type and this is the first one out of the gate. “Do You Believe Me crosses the boundaries traditionally drawn between online and televised entertainment, gaming, and real life adventure,” says Debbie Nightingale, President of the Nightingale Company. 

The story follows Maya McCarthy, an average 17-year-old girl who is thrown into a world of mystery and deceit.  As the story begins, Maya suffers recurring nightmares, prompting her to believe she must protect her younger brother from a looming threat – she doesn’t know what or why, but with the help of her neighbor and tech savvy geek friend Gord, she begins investigating her family’s past.  What she finds will rock the foundation of her life and transform her into a reluctant hero.  The fate of the entire world is in her hands… if only she could convince her friends and family to believe her.

The first volume of the series will be widely distributed online twice a week as 2 minute episodes, via free video sharing sites. Video delivery via the project’s website will be made possible by mDialog.com, a high-resolution online video platform that utilizes advanced h.264 encoding technology.  This innovative mDialog.com platform will bring Do You Believe Me to audiences everywhere – not only on PC and MAC’s, but available for download via iTunes, optimized for the iPod, iPhone, and AppleTV and widely available online as well as through RSS feeds.

Do You Believe Me is the perfect content for young audiences craving rich and exciting video series online, offering dozen of ways to interact with the characters and get involved with the story.

Creative Producers Denis Coyne and Adam Clare are among the creators of the groundbreaking multi-platform urban alternate reality game, TorGame, and bring experience with developing, producing and deploying alternate reality components necessary to the story.   “We don’t believe in treating the online world like a television screen,” says Coyne, “the internet provides the opportunity to constantly communicate with our audience and build that feedback into the story as it develops.”

To develop the story Clare and Coyne worked closely with Marta Gomes of beActive, one of the writers of Sophia’s Diary. Joseph Kay, Executive Story Editor for This Is Wonderland and The Weight also worked closely with the team as the Story Editor.

Pat Mills (The Affected Turtleneck Trio, Babysitting Andy, Marjorie) is directing the video components of Do You Believe Me.  Mills is the recipient of the Norman Jewison Filmmaker Award, the City TV Best Film Award, and was a recent participant in the 2007 Talent Lab at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Nightingale Company is a boutique film, television, and new media production firm led by Debbie Nightingale and Shain Jaffe.  Since launching in 2000, the Toronto-based company has produced all types of projects from feature films to dramatic series, documentaries to interactive adventures.  Currently, The Nightingale Company is in post production of The Weight, a television series co-written by George F. Walker and Dani Romain for The Movie Network and Movie Central, with a second season in development.  Nightingale also recently wrapped production on the feature film The Last New Year. Other recent credits include Zixx: Level One, Two & Three, Chicks with Sticks, Get Outta Town, Mob Princess, and Bailey’s Billions.

beActive Produções Interactivas S.A. is now celebrating its fifth anniversary with a slate of new interactive formats that include Flatmates, Young CSI and Doyoubelieveme.com. Created in 2002 under the Digital Businessman Program (a partnership initiative between Aitec, Vodafone and Microsoft), beActive became a pioneer in the development and production of interactive cross-media properties, which are broadcasted and published simultaneous in different medias, from Mobile to Internet and TV and Radio.

For interviews and production stills, please contact Jeanette Cabral at 416.628.1355 or jeanette@thenightingalecompany.com

The Last New Year features an ensemble cast including Kris Holden-Ried (Touch of Pink, The Tudors), Mayko Ngyen (Rent a Goalie, ReGenises) Kate Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis, 11 Cameras) and Aaron Webber (A Whole New Thing, A Stone’s Throw). It tells the story of how a young man’s mysterious disappearance tests the frayed relationships between his eight closest friends. When the group reunites for their annual New Year’s celebration, they must unravel the secrets behind his absence to save the tradition and their friendships from disaster. At the centre of the drama are Penny and William and a secret love that could easily tear the group apart for good. When they learn their secret may be linked to their friend’s disappearance, they must decide what is more important, keeping the truth to themselves or keeping everyone together.

Co-writer and director Garfield Lindsay Miller has worked as a filmmaker in Canada and the U.S. for the last seven years. Dedicated to telling compelling stories of social significance, he most recently co-wrote the feature ecological drama, A Stone’s Throw. Produced by iconic Canadian filmmaker Camelia Frieberg and distributed by Mongrel Media, the film premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and received the award for Best Atlantic Feature at the 2006 AFF. Prior to that, Garfield co-wrote and co-produced the TV documentary The Fires That Burn, nominated for a 2006 Gemini Award for Best Biographical Documentary and winner of the Wilber and Chris Awards for excellence in spiritual broadcasting.

Producer Alyson Richards comes to the project with an extensive background in film and television production with recent credits including Line Producer on the feature documentary Fiercelight: Where Spirit Meets Action and Production Manager on the three-part series Shades of Blue. She has also produced numerous award-winning short films including Skinheads (Special Merit Award, Euroshorts International Festival of Short Film) and Dogasaur (Best Children’s Film, Mexico International Film Festival). She is also an Associate Producer on The Weight, The Nightingale Company’s series set to air on the Movie Network and Movie Central.

The Nightingale Company is a boutique film, television, and new media production firm led by Debbie Nightingale and Shain Jaffe. Since launching in 2000, the Toronto-based company has produced all types of projects from feature films to dramatic series, documentaries to interactive adventures. Currently, The Nightingale Company is in post production of The Weight, a television series co-written by George F. Walker and Dani Romain for The Movie Network and Movie Central. A second season is currently in development. Nightingale also recently started production on the online series Do You Believe Me with beActive in Portugal. Recent credits include Zixx: Level One, Two & Three, Chicks with Sticks, Mob Princess, and Bailey’s Billions.

For interviews and production stills, please contact Jeanette Cabral at 416.628.1355 or jeanette@thenightingalecompany.com