CJR.B Corus Entertainment Inc

Jeff Norton Joins Corus Entertainment as Head of Waterside Studios, a New IP and Production Venture

Corus Options Slate of New Dominion of Drama Titles

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TORONTO, Sept. 13, 2022 /CNW/ - Corus Entertainment today announced a new overall deal with creative content company Dominion of Drama and is pleased to welcome its founder Jeff Norton to the Corus team as Head of Waterside Studios. Waterside Studios is a new IP and production venture focused on bringing premium scripted Canadian content for youth and primetime audiences to the Canadian and international marketplace.

"Jeff's creativity, business acumen, and international focus will help propel our content ownership strategy as we pursue production and distribution opportunities for Corus' best-in-class creative content," said Colin Bohm, Executive Vice President, Content and Corporate Strategy, Corus Entertainment.

Norton has a long creative history with Corus, most recently serving as a consultant and previously as executive producer of Trucktown for Nelvana. He also co-wrote the novel Keeping the Beat, which was one of the launch titles for KCP Loft, Kids Can Press' young adult imprint. 

The deal with Dominion of Drama includes the option of several titles including The Last Wish of Sasha and Cade, Elements at War, The Wanderer, A Switch in Time, and Action Figures.

"Audiences are hungry for bold, original content and this is an incredible time to meet that demand with Waterside Studios," said Jeff Norton. "I'm thrilled to join Corus, and collaborate with Nelvana, to contribute to the impressive roster of Corus titles that will delight viewers around the world."

Waterside Studios will not only collaborate with independent producers but also join forces with Nelvana, a world-leading international producer, distributor and licensor of children's animated and live-action content. Together with Nelvana, Waterside Studios will bring a slate of live-action programming into Corus' overall content offering for global audiences. Known for his work in bringing best-selling books to the screen, Norton will also focus on adapting books for kids and youth audiences. Additional details on Nelvana's live-action slate to be announced.

"Nelvana has experienced great success with our Emmy-nominated live action series The Hardy Boys, which engaged audiences around the world on Hulu, YTV and Disney+," said Pam Westman, President of Nelvana. "We are excited to build on Nelvana's 50 year legacy of producing best-in-class content for kids internationally as we further invest in producing live action content in collaboration with Jeff Norton and Waterside Studios."

This announcement underscores Corus' commitment to Canadian content as it continues to build a global content powerhouse. In April 2022, Corus acquired a majority stake in Aircraft Pictures, a Canadian production company focused on the international market.

Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B) is a leading media and content company that develops and delivers high quality brands and content across platforms for audiences around the world. Engaging audiences since 1999, the company's portfolio of multimedia offerings encompass 33 specialty television services, 39 radio stations, 15 conventional television stations, a suite of digital and streaming assets, animation software, technology and media services. Corus is an internationally-renowned content creator and distributor through Nelvana, a world class animation studio expert in all formats and Corus Studios, a globally recognized producer of hit scripted and unscripted content. The company also owns innovative full-service social digital agency so.da, lifestyle entertainment company Kin Canada, leading 2D animation software supplier Toon Boom and children's book publishing house, Kids Can Press. Corus' roster of premium brands includes Global Television, W Network, HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada, Magnolia Network Canada, The HISTORY® Channel, Showcase, Adult Swim, National Geographic, Disney Channel Canada, YTV, Global News, Globalnews.ca, Q107, Country 105, and CFOX, along with broadly distributed Canadian streaming platforms STACKTV, TELETOON+, the Global TV App and Curiouscast. For more information visit www.corusent.com.  

Entertaining kids for over 50 years, Nelvana is a world-leading international producer and distributor of children's animated and live-action content. Nelvana produces a stable of award-winning and globally renowned brands that focus on comedies, preschool and action series, and ancillary consumer products programs. Nelvana's content airs on Corus Entertainment's kids channels in Canada and in over 180 countries around the world. The Nelvana library has well over 4,700 episodes of programming and has received over 70 major international program awards including Emmys® and Canadian Screen Awards. Visit the Nelvana website at nelvana.com.

Jeff Norton focuses on building international entertainment brands through books and television and has been operating in the international television market for over 20 years. He started his entertainment career in Los Angeles following an executive stint at Procter & Gamble that took him from Toronto to Cincinnati, working at The Jim Henson Company and producing the film adaptation of Choose Your Own Adventure before moving to London, UK to join Chorion Ltd (Noddy, The Octonauts, Agatha Christie estate) as Senior Vice President. He is the author or creator of over twenty-five novels including the award-winning Metawars franchise (Hachette) and the best-selling Princess Ponies series (Bloomsbury). In 2019, he packaged and executive produced Susan Hill's The Small Hand for ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global).

Dominion of Drama Ltd. ('Dominion') is the creative content company dedicated to the creation of compelling scripted stories for British and international audiences, founded by writer-producer Jeff Norton. Dominion has projects in development with broadcasters on both sides of the Atlantic and works in partnership with other production companies including RubyRock Pictures, EQ Media, Dynamic Television, APC Studios, and Nelvana Studios.

On the web at: www.dominionofdrama.com, and on Twitter as @dominiondrama

SOURCE Corus Entertainment Inc.