Winnipeg’s Buffalo Gal Pictures has launched sister company Fiasco Global Media with a focus on television development.

Fiasco is headquartered in Winnipeg and L.A. and led by president Jennifer Beasley, who has been with Buffalo Gal for nine years. She will retain her title of VP of development, television at the prodco Beasley is also an executive producer on series including CTV’s Acting Good (Kistikan Pictures) and films such as Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson’s Canada/Germany/U.S. copro Rumours (Buffalo Gal, Maze Pictures, Square Pegs).

She is joined by Burrad Marsh, consulting head of U.S. series development. Prior to joining Fiasco, he held executive roles at Alchemy, Shed Media and Outright Distribution.

The company is aiming to create character-driven stories rooted in the spirit of working-class communities and rural prairies, according to a release.

Beasley tells Playback Daily she had been wanting to work more in television development and came up with the idea of founding Fiasco with Buffalo Gal president Phyllis Laing. In October 2023 she attended a program for TV comedy producers in L.A. via the Canadian consulate, where she met Marsh.

“We were bonding over wanting to focus on the kind of TV that we want to make, that we want to watch, that the market is looking for,” says Beasley.

While Buffalo Gal is available for support in the development and production phase, Beasley stressed how Fiasco is an independent development company.

Beasley says it’s a bonus for them to have the backing and partnership of Buffalo Gal as they are able to focus on the creative when building their slate.

Projects on Fiasco’s slate include a rural half-hour family workplace comedy series from Garry Campbell (North of North) and a comedic two-hander police procedural from Hollis Ludlow-Carroll (Wong & Winchester). Marsh says there are about “six to seven” projects the company is actively working on, with many more in the background.

While Beasley and Marsh say Fiasco is currently focused on comedies, they’re open to genre or structure, whether that be a drama or a limited series, as long as the idea appeals to them. Their “no one-size-fits-all” approach also applies to their cross-border operations, such as whether it’s best to shoot in Canada or the U.S., depending on the project.

“We’re not going to slot it into a conveyor belt. It’s very much what best fits this particular project,” says Beasley. “Which writers do we want to attach to it? Do we want to bring into the U.S. market first? Do we want to bring into the Canadian market first?”

Marsh says everything from bringing back multi-cam sitcoms to sketch comedy series to 22-episode seasons is on the table. Although they are developing for Canadian and U.S. markets first, one throughline is that Fiasco is always keeping global audiences in mind.

“Every buyer right now is looking at their budgets and where they can bring in outside money. And people who [were] previously opposed to sharing rights are now open to sharing rights in the right scenario,” says Marsh.

“And at the end of the day, most international distributors, international networks, they want [an] early in on great North American content.”

Image courtesy of Fiasco Global Media