‘Letterkenny’ Creator Jared Keeso Strikes First-Of-Its-Kind Content Pact With Crave & New Metric

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: The creator of Canadian smash Letterkenny has struck a multi-year content deal with streamer Crave and New Metric Media that Crave’s programing boss says is a first of its kind.

With Letterkenny’s 12th and final season dropping on Boxing Day, Jared Keeso will subsequently make 49 episodes of Letterkenny spin-offs including Shoresy and other potential shows across several years.

Unveiling the news to Deadline, Crave VP Content Development & Programming Justin Stockman said “this is probably the only deal that has ever been done like this in Canada.” The deal does not prevent Keeso from making shows for other platforms, eschewing the golden handcuffs approach taken by some of the major Hollywood players. “There is not a lot of pre-committing in Canadian content so this is pretty unique but shows our belief in Jared and the show, and in other shows that don’t exist yet,” added Stockman. “This is our way of ensuring he works with us as much as possible without us doing a Hollywood handcuff deal.” Based in a fictional Ontario town with a large Irish-Canadian rural community, Letterkenny, which is created by and stars Keeso as Wayne and Shoresy and streams on Hulu in the U.S., launched seven years ago and has won numerous awards.

New Metric just bought back the distribution rights, licensing to Netflix in several European territories. Projects that emerge from the Keeso pact will be distributed by Crave-owner Bell Media, while New Metric Media remains exclusive sales agent.