From original tv shows and podcasts to digital content and commercials, “funny, fresh, feelgood content” is what Sylvia Beirnes says Canadian Content Studios is committed to delivering.

 

 

Based in Truro, Sylvia Beirnes and Jonathan Torrens run Canadian Content Studios as business partners. Beirnes said they started the company about four years ago by funding their own pilots. When people started seeing their work, the opportunities started to flow in. The Canadian Content Studios portfolio expanded quickly, from self-funded projects to a wide variety of projects such as two shows on Bell Fibe TV1 (Vollies and Trapped), a podcast coming soon, commercials for Charm Diamond Centres and the Nova Scotia government, and a show called Who Do You Think I Am? on CBC in the new year.

It’s abundantly clear that Beirnes is passionate about the work she and Torrens do with Canadian Content Studios. “The background that we both bring to the table, I’m not sure that exists in another duo at the helm of a business like this” said Beirnes. With her background in corporate marketing—mostly in the entertainment industry—and his extensive knowledge and experience in TV, the two complement each other in a way that allows them to be very brand oriented and collaborative with their clients.

 

 

While filming the first season of their quirky comedy, Vollies, for Bell Fibe TV1, the Covid-19 pandemic provided a source of stress for Canadian Content Studios. When filming in April and May of 2021, most people hadn’t yet been vaccinated and a surge of Covid cases swept Nova Scotia. However, they decided to turn it into an opportunity rather than an obstacle by providing work for on-screen talent, buying music from Atlantic Canadian musicians who weren’t able to get out performing, and supporting local business by ordering catering for the people on set.

Canadian Content Studios takes kindness very seriously, Beirnes said proudly. This sentiment is echoed by Mary Austin, who plays Lil on Vollies. “I don’t think that all sets operate the way that it does with Jonathan and Sylvia,” Austin said, noting that the crew feels like family and the set felt like being at summer camp.

Canadian Content Studios is on a roll, with a growing pile of successful projects and many more planned for the future. Vollies was filmed in Truro and follows a quirky crew of volunteer firefighters in “Essex-West-Essex” on their journey to raise money to buy a helicopter, said Austin. The first season is currently available for streaming and has been picked up for a second season. Last year, Canadian Content Studios filmed a tear-jerking commercial for Nova Scotia company Charm Diamond Centres where social media influencer and Vollies actress Alicia McCarvell was surprised by her husband proposing to her. They have since filmed more commercials for them.

 

 

With a variety of successes behind them and more waiting in the wings, audiences can expect much more of the same from Canadian Content Studios: funny, fresh, and feelgood content.

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