Montreal web drama catches eye of Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment

A local web drama about post-apocalyptic survival that found a home on Radio-Canada's streaming service, ICI Tou.tv, will now be developed by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.

Time Out follows the survivors of an eternal winter that hits North America after a cataclysmic event one September day.

According to its co-creator Eric Piccoli of Babel Films, a graduate of Concordia University's Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, the disaster that puts Time Out's characters in survival mode isn't the focus, but watching normal people struggle to survive is.

"It's all still unbelievable," said Piccoli on CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

"I'm really happy that my little baby that we worked on without money went on the desk of Spielberg one day."

Failed school project

The first season of the drama came out of a failed school project that the team decided to put online.

The second and third seasons got a bit of a financial boost by ICI Tou.tv. From there, the series started being recognized critically with two seasons being nominated at the International Digital Emmy awards.

Talks for an American adaptation began after that.

Montreal becoming Miami

Piccoli said that the adaptation will be developed by a new writer and will deviate from the original in some ways, such as changing the location from Montreal to Miami.

However, the setting of an eternal winter will stay the same.

He said he's not involved in the creative process for the adaptation, but thinks they will keep to the spirit of Time Out.

"So I'm just going to look from here and enjoy that it's going to be transformed into something that isn't mine anymore," he said.

"But that's the pleasure of adaptation."

He noted that it isn't uncommon for American shows to get cancelled before they even make it to air, but he's happy to have made it this far.

Piccoli said there are no plans for another season of the show.

When asked why he chose an eternal winter for his apocalypse, he said it might have to do with living in Montreal.

"From a Canadian, Quebecois, Montrealer point-of-view — eternal snow would be the end of the world," Piccoli said.