Waterside Studios Finds First Challenge in ‘The Final Want of Sasha Cade’

Waterside Studios has discovered its first undertaking within the miniseries “The Final Want of Sasha Cade.” Created by Jacqueline Pepall, at present at work on “Horrible Histories” for the BBC, it’s primarily based on a novel by Cheyanne Younger.

Headed by Jeff Norton, who will produce, Waterside Studios is a brand new inventive content material enterprise from Canada’s Corus Leisure and a part of the Nelvana Studios group. The corporate was launched following an total take care of Norton’s IP firm Dominion of Drama.

The bittersweet story – pitched at MIA Market and billed as “All of the Shiny Locations” meets “The Fault in Our Stars” – sees a highschool woman making an attempt to return to phrases along with her greatest buddy’s passing of most cancers. However Sasha retains on revealing her secrets and techniques, as Rocki begins to obtain letters written earlier than she died. Sasha, who was adopted, had a brother she by no means knew. Now, she is asking her buddy to fulfill him.

“It’s a triangle,” Pepall tells Selection in Rome, admitting she rapidly embraced her protagonist’s erratic conduct.

“Rocky is struggling and he or she retains making dangerous selections. However I need individuals to go: ‘Oh, that’s a horrible concept. I might have performed it too’,” she says, admitting it was “joyful” to permit her to do issues that will scare others.

“As a lot because it’s about loss, I need it to be a enjoyable experience. I need you to observe this present and have a great time, giggle and get caught up within the salaciousness of what youngsters are doing.”

Pepall additionally misplaced her greatest buddy to most cancers.

“She died two years in the past. Once I was going by way of it, I believed: ‘Sometime, I want to put in writing about this.’ Everybody is aware of somebody who has most cancers. But it surely couldn’t be my private story. It will have been too laborious.”

“As a result of I’ve lived by way of that have, I need to make sure that these scenes are depicted in an trustworthy manner. I might by no means need it to really feel emotionally manipulative or simply play for tears.”

She was drawn to the youth of the characters, she says.

“When you’re that younger, you go from being utterly bereft to driving with the home windows down, listening to your favourite track. That’s why this story isn’t just about grief. It’s about friendship and all these wild feelings.”

“All of us keep in mind what it was like, being that age. The whole lot felt just like the worst factor ever,” provides Norton.

“However the way in which Jacqueline structured it, which differs a bit from the guide, is that a lot of the story is about shifting on. It has a really hopeful trajectory.”

Pepall and Norton usually are not planning to ship one other darkish YA present.

“To not knock ‘13 Causes Why,’ however I discovered it so miserable,” says Norton.

Netflix’s present, a couple of younger girl who takes her personal life, has obtained criticism for its depictions of suicide and sexual assault.

“We need to present there’s so much to life. It’s an necessary message to youngsters: ‘Sure, dangerous issues occur, however you may all the time put one foot in entrance of the opposite.’ We have now a duty to try this.”

“A whole lot of teen content material is absolutely grim,” agrees Pepall.

“I need to make a present the place, as painful as it’s generally, you continue to need to be this character, like in [Claire Danes starrer] ‘My So-Known as Life,’ which I used to be obsessive about after I was youthful.”

The miniseries, prepared to start taking pictures in the summertime of 2023, is predicted to clock in at eight episodes.

“These characters are nonetheless very younger, so we might revisit them afterward. However, coming again to the identical instance, ‘13 Causes Why’ was an ideal season of tv and actually shouldn’t have returned,” says Norton.

“We would like the viewers to really feel like they’re getting a deal with and don’t must commit years and years of their lives to it.”