Entertainment Studios Acquires ‘Up North’ In Global Deal

Entertainment Studios today announced the acquisition of the SeriesFest 2017 Best Drama Pilot-winner Up North for global distribution. Entertainment Studios will finance and distribute eight one-hour episodes of the gritty drama series to launch the first season.

Up North first made headlines in 2017 when it picked up four awards at the SeriesFest television festival — Best Actor, Best Director, Best Pilot and Audience Award (voted on by festival attendees). The Up North  pilot digs into the brutal reality of the New York prison system, as an innocent teenager gets arrested for a crime he did not commit. Up North  looks at incarceration and inner-city life from various points of view, taking a deep look at New York’s flawed and corrupt prison system and the violent life that feeds it.

Byron Allen and Carolyn Folks will executive produce Up North  for Entertainment Studios, with Unleashing Giants Studios & Filmbank Entertainment producing. Up North will continue to be written by Emil Pinnock and writing partner Ian Robertson, filmed by Director of Photography Eric Branco, and executive produced by Emil Pinnock and Ian Robertson along with Keith Patterson and Barry Tatelman.

Chike Okonkwo and Haley Horsager are producing.

The series features an ensemble cast of Eugene Clark, Gabriel Ellis, Robert Lewis, Ian Duff and Kris Lofton.