Press Release
Quebecor Content Licenses Crime Drama Detective Surprenant : The girl with stone eyes to Global Series Network for Prestige Streamer, Walter Presents
French Canadian series acquired by Global Series Network (GSN) for renowned on-demand platform in U.K., Ireland, and U.S.A.
Montreal, January 20th, 2025 – Quebecor Content is proud to announce that Season 1 of the acclaimed drama series Detective Surprenant: The girl with stone eyes has been acquired by Global Series Network (GSN) for streaming on the celebrated video-on-demand platform Walter Presents. Produced by V10 Media and distributed worldwide by TVA Distribution and Incendo, the six-episode, one-hour police thriller is set to run in its original French language with English subtitles beginning Spring 2025, in U.K., Ireland, and U.S.A.
Curated by Walter Iuzzolino, Walter Presents is dedicated to hand-picking prestige foreign language drama from around the world delivering its viewers high quality, award-winning content.
“We are honored to partner with GSN, a champion of premium content who consistently showcase just what the discerning Walter Presents audience has come to expect,” said Sylvie Langlois, Senior Director, Formats & Head of International Development, Quebecor Content. “I’m so excited to see this gripping made-in-Quebec series stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the finest dramas from around the world.”
Walter Iuzzolino added, “Detective Surprenant: The girl with stone eyes is a sharp and engaging piece which will delight Walter Presents fans of premium international subtitled drama. A twisty, compelling story which will take audiences to the beautiful and unusual setting of Les Iles de la Madeleine for a journey they won’t forget.”
Based on a series of novels by Jean Lemieux, Detective Surprenant: The girl with stone eyes made its international debut 2024 at the “Coming next from Quebec” session at Series Mania. The series follows Detective André Surprenant, tasked with investigating the murder of a teenage girl on the Magdalen Islands. He faces hostility from an investigator dispatched from Quebec City as he seeks to unravel the islanders’ secrets to solve the crime.
About Quebecor Content:
Quebecor Content, a wholly owned business unit of Quebecor Media Inc., creates, develops, acquires, distributes and exports distinctive, high-quality audio-visual content, providing consumers with a multi-platform experience via Videotron and TVA Group services and promoting Quebec artists at home and abroad.
About Incendo:
Incendo is a Canadian company specializing in the development, production, and international distribution of compelling content for audiences all over the world. Founded in 2001, Incendo boasts an exceptional multi-genre development and production slate, extensive multiplatform programming library, expanding strategic partnerships, and unique format pipeline as a subsidiary of Groupe TVA. Incendo also handles theatrical distribution in Québec for Paramount Pictures.
With offices in Montreal and Toronto, Incendo productions include original horror films Guess Who, The Amityville Curse, romcoms Be Mine Valentine, You May Kiss the Bridesmaid, and the limited series Clean Sweep, an international co-production. For more information, please visit www.incendo.ca .
About Walter Presents:
Walter Presents launched January 2016 in the U.K. as a video-on-demand service, founded by Jason Thorp, Walter Iuzzolino and Jo McGrath. Dedicated to showcasing award winning foreign language drama, the service is named after its curator, Walter Iuzzolino, a passionate drama fan. In March 2017, Walter Presents launched as an SVOD platform in the U.S., with the New York Times hailing it as a “chic TV boutique with a foreign accent.” In November 2017, Walter Presents launched in Australia through pay-TV service Foxtel and in Italy September 2018, its first roll-out in mainland Europe, on Discovery’s Nove, Giallo and Dplay channels. In October 2018 Walter Presents partnered with PBS Distribution in the US, to make premium foreign language drama available on PBS Masterpiece on the Amazon Prime Video channel. Additionally, select top-tier titles chosen by PBS are also broadcast on PBS stations and streaming on PBS Passport, a digital member benefit available through local stations. In February 2019 Walter Presents increased its US distribution further launching on Comcast Xfinity X1 and later Walter Presents launched on the Roku Channel and Cox cable. In 2019 Walter Presents teamed up with Medialaan to make the service available to Flemish audiences on their newly launched digital channel StreamZ, and also joined forces with S4C to make its dramas available in Welsh.
Incendo and Meet Cute Couple Up to Adapt Five Hit Audio Titles for Film & Television
TORONTO (June 17, 2024) – Canadian producer, Incendo, and groundbreaking audio entertainment company, Meet Cute, revealed today that they have joined forces to co-develop a slate of Meet Cute Originals for film and television. Leveraging five fan favourite audio titles, this strategic partnership marries Incendo’s established record of delivering exceptional, multi-genre visual content to audiences around the world and Meet Cute’s unparalleled footprint with millennial and Gen Z listeners, craving addictive genre-bending stories.
“Incendo and Meet Cute feels like a match made in heaven,” said Meet Cute CEO, Naomi Shah. “From our first conversation, we knew that we wanted to curate a diverse slate from our library that speaks to modern audiences. Each story is uniquely its own, but they all have the same backbone of hope, with a feel-good through line connecting them.”
Graham Ludlow, Head of Development & Production, Incendo added “Partnering with Meet Cute is a refreshing and exciting opportunity to access stories that have already proven their appeal to discerning millennial and Gen Z audiences.”
The co-development slate was hand-picked to build upon the success of five current Meet Cute Original Titles, collectively boasting a consumption rate of more than 120% as repeat listeners keep coming back for more. From sit-coms and rom-coms, to fantasy, romance, and mysteries, the roster includes hit audio titles James Is Missing, Clever After, The Golden Palm,andthe celebrity-driven shows Christmasuzannukkah and Kerri, which cast Amy Sedaris and Pauline Chalamet, respectively, in lead acting roles.
About Incendo:
Incendo is a Canadian company specializing in the development, production, and international distribution of compelling content for audiences all over the world. Founded in 2001, Incendo boasts an exceptional multi-genre development and production slate, an extensive multiplatform programming library, expanding strategic partnerships, and unique format pipeline as a subsidiary of Groupe TVA.
With offices in Montreal and Toronto, Incendo’s most recent productions include Guess Who, The Amityville Curse, and Terror Train, as part of its Tubi content partnership, and the limited series Clean Sweep, an international co-production. For more information, please visit www.incendo.ca.
About Meet Cute
Meet Cute is the destination for feel-good stories. With immersive soundscapes and talent you love like Bridgerton’s Charithra Chandran, Partner Track’s Arden Cho, and The Sex Lives of College Girls’ Pauline Chalamet, Meet Cute is an ever-growing library of addictive originals, bringing you premium audio stories that let your imagination take the lead. Meet Cute has unlimited stories for every mood and every moment. Each month, Meet Cute produces a premium cinematic audio series in six episodes.
Given the breadth of their library, Meet Cute takes creative risks in both form and content, such as point of view switching and genre-bending (e.g., scifi, fantasy, and horror rom-coms). They use data-backed insights from their audience by tracking hundreds of tags (like plot points, settings, tropes, and relationship types) to inform which stories to tell next. Meet Cute has also secured a number of movie and TV development deals, including one with wiip (producer of Dickinson and Mare of Easttown) to adapt a select number of Meet Cute stories into television series anthology.
Social Media Links:
Incendoon: Facebook | Instagram | X (Formerly Twitter) | YouTube | LinkedIn
Meet Cuteon: Instagram | TikTok | (X Formerly Twitter)
For Media Inquiries please contact:
Andrea Allen, Streaming & Marketing Executive, Incendo
Sam Pennington, Head of Community & Growth, Meet Cute
Incendo and Screentime NZ Commence Filming the movie “A Love Yarn”
Montreal, July 27th, 2020 – Incendo and Screentime New Zealand are pleased to announce that they have commenced principal photography on A LOVE YARN, starring New Zealand actress Anna Hutchison (Robert the Bruce; Encounter; Vengeance), as well as Simon Arblaster (Once Upon a Time; DC: Legends of Tomorrow; Wild Justice) and Olivia Tennet (Lord of the Rings; 800 Words; Kiri and Lou). A LOVE YARN is being shot on location in New Zealand.
A LOVE YARN is written by Becca Johanson. It is with great excitement that we welcome the contribution of director Peter Burger (Filthy Rich; Until Proven Innocent; Mataku). His last two films received a nomination in the category “Best Director” at the New Zealand Film & TV Awards and at the Qantas Television Awards.
In A LOVE YARN the owner of a quaint New Zealand yarn shop, Sophie Dale, gets her world flipped upside down after learning her top supplier of yarn, King Farms, is stopping production. Much to her surprise, the charming yet stuck-in-his-ways Samuel King has travelled all the way from New York to audit the business model of the farm. Desperate to keep her shop going, Sophie convinces Samuel to give her two weeks to learn the ropes of yarn spinning and raise enough money to buy the mill herself. With Samuel’s help, Sophie comes up with a fundraising plan to host a “knit-off” and auction at the local makers’ market. However, when the two weeks come to an end Sophie finds herself at a crossroads of business and romance. Could she have misinterpreted Samuels growing romantic interest in her as just business all along?
A LOVE YARN is produced in association with Citytv, a Rogers Sports & Media channel, to air as part of Citytv’s fan-favourite Fall in Love Fridays lineup. Kaleigh Kavanagh, Bridget Bourke and Tina McLaren will produce the film; Executive Producers are Jean Bureau, Ian Whitehead and Philly de Lacey.
About Screentime New Zealand Limited
Screentime has been at the forefront of New Zealand television production for almost 25 years, producing hundreds of hours of television and digital content for New Zealand and the world. As part of the world’s largest independent production group Banijay, Screentime works with global television partners on co-productions, showcasing our country to the world.
About Incendo
Incendo is a Canadian company that specializes in the production and international distribution of high quality television programming for the worldwide marketplace. Since its inception in 2001, the company has 1 Westmount Square, suite 850, Westmount (Quebec) H3Z 2P9 Tel: (514) 937-3333 • www.incendo.ca
produced compelling movies, television series as well as documentaries that have been sold throughout the world. Through its joint venture with Twentieth Century Fox International Television (Fox/Incendo), Incendo is the leading television distribution company in Canada and also handles theatrical distribution in Québec for Paramount Pictures. As of April 2019, Incendo became a part of Groupe TVA. For more information, visit www.incendo.ca.
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Source: Incendo – Fanny Poliquin Bureau – fanny@incendo.ca
Distribution and Marketing Coordinator – (514) 937-3333, ext. 2006
“A LOVE YARN”
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