Montreal-based production companies Duo Productions and Poutine Studios have partnered to co-develop and coproduce English and French-language content.

The two companies aim to leverage Duo Productions’ history of productions and distribution in the French-language market with the bilingual success of Poutine Studios and its president Debra Kouri (This Changes Everything, pictured right).

“The main focus was to strengthen our development in English series,”  Duo Productions EVP Hugo d’Astous (pictured left), tells Playback Daily. “It made sense for us, in terms of reaching a global audience.”

As for why Duo wanted to enter the English-language space, d’Astous says that the broadcasters, producers, distributors and showrunners that Duo has built relationships with had been encouraging the expansion.

“There’s a clear shift, from my perspective, of trying to develop English series and produce them in Montreal,” says d’Astous. “We have a great ecosystem.”

Duo and Poutine first began working together in 2022 when Kouri and d’Astous met at the Banff World Media Festival. Later that year, the two companies signed a co-development deal for the comedy series Quality Time. The series is currently in the pitching stage, according to d’Astous.

As part of their partnership, the two plan to adapt some of Duo Productions’ projects for English-language markets. However, the partnership’s main goal is creating original content, says d’Astous.

Duo Productions has produced French-language series such as TVA’s L’heure bleue and Club illico’s (now illico+) Classé secret.

Image courtesy of Duo Productions and Poutine Studios