{"id":3043,"date":"2017-07-13T16:27:37","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T16:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2017\/07\/13\/kims-convenience-2-2\/"},"modified":"2017-07-13T16:27:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T16:27:37","slug":"kims-convenience-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2017\/07\/13\/kims-convenience-2-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Kim\u2019s Convenience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lindsey Vodarek \/ Eye on Canada Blog<\/em><\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s Convenience<\/em>\u00a0came to the small screen in Fall 2016 as part of a new slate of developments from CBC. Roughly 20% of Canadians are foreign-born and Asia is the largest\u00a0source of immigration. Canadians continue to celebrate cultural heterogeneity and the public broadcaster is\u00a0transforming\u00a0to reflect that. CBC dives directly into diversity, producing a show about immigrants, their families and the businesses they create.<\/p>\n

With its focus on a Korean-Canadian family, the sitcom takes a fresh approach to storytelling in several ways. Originally a stage play, it was created by York University BFA grad\u00a0Ins Choi. Not seeing himself or his stories represented anywhere, he took matters into his own hands and wrote a play for the\u00a0Toronto Fringe. A huge success, the show won the Audience Choice Award and the acclaimed\u00a0Soulpepper Theatre\u00a0took notice. Together with Choi, they developed it further into a show that hit the Soul Pepper stage and\u00a0now tours\u00a0various cities, hitting New York this summer.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the equation, the inexhaustible Producer\u00a0Ivan Fecan\u00a0was failing \u2013 at retirement. One of the most well-known media executives in Canada (previously Head of English TV at CBC, CEO and President of CTVglobemedia and VP Creative Affairs at NBC), he is familiar with Artistic Director\u00a0Albert Schultz\u00a0at Soulpepper and was invited to see\u00a0Kim\u2019s Convenience<\/em>\u00a0in rehearsal. They had an inkling this might be something that could be adapted for TV.<\/p>\n

And they were right. Fecan came back to work, joining\u00a0Thunderbird Media. He contacted the\u00a0Kim\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0team again and threw his hat in the ring to develop it for TV, in partnership with Soulpepper. Bringing the broadcasters out to view the play again, Fecan felt strongly that the CBC would be the best match for the show. He knew it would provide a supportive environment, especially for the subject matter. Indeed, CBC agreed and committed to Thunderbird\u2019s request for a two season order off the bat \u2013 a rarity for any series. He makes the argument that \u201cif this show had been financed by international money, I\u2019m not sure we\u2019d be able to tell the same stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this guarantee, the team got to work. After some Showrunner speed dating, Choi selected\u00a0Kevin White\u00a0as his partner. The two hit it off like crazy. Scripts were worked on extensively and the show started off with hilarious and refreshing material. The pair doesn\u2019t steer clear of poking fun at Canadian stereotypes, about immigrants and across the board.<\/p>\n

As the TV show is more expansive than the play, the characters are also more fully developed. Starring\u00a0Paul Sun-Hyung Lee,\u00a0Jean Yoon,\u00a0Andrea Bang, and\u00a0Simu Liu, this was an exciting opportunity for the core cast, who came right off the stage. Many of the other actors came from Soulpepper as well. This is another unique part of the show \u2013 Choi, White and the directors get to work with trained theatre actors. Their familiarity with the characters allows them to give profoundly believable portrayals.<\/p>\n

In order to get the word out there, the Thunderbird\/Soulpepper team shot and edited their own promo videos in partnership with CBC. They had \u201ca strong idea of how they wanted to launch the show,\u201d explains Ivan, and were happy to take on that responsibility to be able to convey their vision. CBC then launched promotion during the Olympics, giving them a full six weeks of prime advertising before the premiere.<\/p>\n

Mainly shot in studio in Toronto, the show does do some on-location filming per episode. The Kims\u2019 storefront is located in the\u00a0Cabbagetown\/Corktown\u00a0area of Toronto, known to the locals as Mimi\u2019s Variety. Like the Kims, the owners of Mimi\u2019s came to Canada in the 1980\u2019s and live above their store. For additional interstitials, Thunderbird chose street photography consultant and filmmaker,\u00a0Iris Ng, who has a special eye for the city. Adding to this realistic feel is the show\u2019s soundtrack, comprised of Toronto indie bands. All of these ingredients add up to a show that authentically portrays, as Fecan describes, \u201ca real neighbourhood that people live in – crime, gentrification and generational shift within immigrant families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genuine portrayal and attention to detail has paid off. The series earned 11\u00a0Canadian Screen Award nominations\u00a0in 2017, including Best Comedy Series. The team took home four, with\u00a0Paul Sun-Hyung Lee\u00a0accepting Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Comedic Role for his depiction of Appa, aka Mr. Kim.<\/p>\n

Now cameras roll again this summer with more of the Kims\u2019 family comedy in store this Fall on CBC. Follow the cast from set and engage in live tweeting with them during various episodes. Ongoing extras can be found on\u00a0Twitter,\u00a0Facebook,\u00a0Instagramand\u00a0Youtube. And in the meantime, catch up with the first season on CBC\u00a0online. #OKseeyou<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lindsey Vodarek \/ Eye on Canada Blog Kim\u2019s Convenience\u00a0came to the small screen in Fall 2016 as part of a new slate of developments from CBC. Roughly 20% of Canadians are foreign-born and Asia is the largest\u00a0source of immigration. Canadians continue to celebrate cultural heterogeneity and the public broadcaster is\u00a0transforming\u00a0to reflect that. CBC dives directly … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKim\u2019s Convenience - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2017\/07\/13\/kims-convenience-2-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kim\u2019s Convenience - Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lindsey Vodarek \/ Eye on Canada Blog Kim\u2019s Convenience\u00a0came to the small screen in Fall 2016 as part of a new slate of developments from CBC. 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