YouTube will not move forward with the Dark Cargo pilot ordered from Entertainment One, Toronto’s Counterfeit Pictures and Calgary’s SEVEN24 Films. The drama was set to run on its streaming service YouTube Premium.
The streamer canceled Dark Cargo alongside comedy pilot It’s a Man’s World and new seasons of series Step Up: High Water and Wayne.
Entertainment One is now looking for potential buyers for the pilot, which is written by Sneaky Pete scribes Adam and Max Reid and executive produced by Ben Stiller and Nicky Weinstock’s Red Hour Productions.
The scale-back on original programming is part of a rejigged strategy from the streamer to make its Originals available through ad-supported streaming, according to a report from Deadline. Earlier this year YouTube canceled original series such as sci-fi drama Origin, comedy Overthinking with Kat & June and On Becoming a God in Central Florida, which went on to be picked up by Showtime and is available to stream on Crave.
YouTube Premium and YouTube Music premiered in Canada in June 2018. Other Canadian productions to land on the streamer include Blue Ant Digital Studio’s The Sidemen Show and 9 Story Media’s Furze World Wonders.
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