A former Real Housewife of Vancouver and a long-time Vancouver television personality have inked a multi-show deal for a series of shows and digital documentaries about weed.
Mary Zilba and Fiona Forbes announced this week their company LadyPants Productions had signed a three-show deal with New York’s Jerrick Media. Jerrick Media will develop, finance, and distribute three weed-based digital series created by Zilba and Forbes.
Zilba was one of the original cast members on the first season of The Real Housewives of Vancouver, while Forbes is a long-time Vancouver personality and entertainment host. The pair’s LadyPants Productions was established last year.
“I think everyone is very curious about the industry, just as Mary and I are,” said Forbes, on the eve of Vancouver’s 4/20 rally. She and Zilba emphasized the goal of the shows is to be informative and entertaining about the quickly growing industry.
The deal includes three digital series, all of which will star a common ingredient: Marijuana.
Baked is a cannabis cooking show hosted by Mary Jean Dunsdon, known to Vancouverites and Wreck Beach frequenters as Watermelon. The pin-up model and long-time advocate for marijuana has made a name for herself selling watermelon and other edibles for years at the clothing-optional beach on Vancouver’s west side. Zilba noted the show aims to illustrate how to responsibly handle marijuana in the kitchen.
“Even with our show Baked … (Mary Jean’s) very, very big on portion control,” said Zilba. “People are going to start using marijuana to cook and to bake, so it’s important to know about the quantities they’re using.”
Marijuana Minute will be a digital marijuana news program hosted by Mike Eckford, who has previously worked with CKNW and Global BC. The show is expected to cover a range of weed-related news items in a broadcast news format similar to the style made popular by Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and John Oliver.
“The tagline is, ‘Everything you wanted to know about marijuana but are too paranoid to ask,’” said Forbes of the series, set to begin filming next week. “It’ll be a one-minute, digestible news format that will be entertaining.”
Stoners in Stilettos will be a documentary series about women in the bud business. No information has been released yet on who will star in the series, although Zilba said 10 women in B.C. and 10 women in Los Angeles would be profiled. Pre-production on the show begins this month.
“This is going to be more of a docu-series of some influential women in the business,” said Zilba. “We’re going to highlight women in the marijuana business who are influencers, who are the movers and shakers in the business.”
And while the shows are intended to be informative and entertaining, Forbes said there will be some political aspects as well.
“I don’t think you can get into the discussion about marijuana without getting into the politics,” she said.
Baked, the first of the three series, has completed post production and will premiere this June in conjunction with Jerrick Media’s launch of Potent.Media, a website focusing on marijuana-themed content. No timeline has been set for the premieres of the other two series.
Jerrick Media is co-founded by RBC Capital executive Jeremy Frommer and Rick Schwartz, whose credits include Black Swan, The Departed, and popular SPIKE series Lip Sync Battle.
