EXCLUSIVE: Hawco Productions has hired Philip Riccio, as the Canadian production house behind Saint-Pierre implements a “structured” push into development.
Theater producer Riccio is a long-time creative partner of company co-founder Allan Hawco, and has quietly been consulting with the company to create a development strategy before officially coming on board the Newfoundland- and Toronto-based indie production house in recent weeks.
“Bringing Phil into the team has been a really structured process,” Hawco told Deadline. “He’s a theater director, and he really understands the work from a structured story perspective. He’s really versed in terms of the film side and television side of things, but he doesn’t have a baggage connected to it, so we thought it’d be fun to play with that.
“Phil did an entire year where he refused to be on contract, but decided to build what a development process would be for us on his own time because he wanted to know whether or not he would be interested, and whether or not he could be effective.
Hawco said the move had helped the company formulate a plan for what its slate for would be, and there is now one project in active development.
“What is it going look like to have a development slate, and where does that come from, instead of just throwing tons of money at stuff, because there’s a very finite amount of cash in Canadian television? It’s not the same as having a studio back you, so you have to be very frugal.”
Hawco Productions is known as the producer of CBC crime drama Saint-Pierre, which we recently revealed has landed a third season, and soon-to-end comedy Son of a Critch. Hawco himself stars in Saint-Pierre alongside Jósephine Jobert and is known for starring in the likes of Republic of Doyle among others.
Hawco, who launched his company with exec producer Janine Squires and comms exec Janelle Gilbert, said the company’s focus on cost-effective productions would take precedent over genre. Part of the plan is tapping into local funding in Newfoundland, where Saint-Pierre is partly filmed.
“For us in Canada, it’s very difficult to pick a genre or to pick a lane and say this is the only thing we do,” he added. “Obviously, it would be procedural cop shows, because that’s what I write, and I have been writing for my entire career, but they’re not the only thing we want to make. One of our most effective tools is we’re really, really good as a company at punching above our weight in terms of budget and delivery.
“As the industry inflated and then fell apart globally with the size of ballooning budgets, the niche of what we do in terms of delivering, over-delivering on a product at a very small price point is becoming fashionable again, so that’s one of our strengths.”
Hawco Productions is also known as a co-producer on CBC comedy Son of a Critch, which is set to end after its fifth season.
Speaking to Deadline from L.A. in the days before the announcement of the show’s end, Hawco talked about his career with frequent collaborators Erin Sullivan, Perry Chafe and John Vatcher, all of whom worked with him on Republic of Doyle and later Son of a Critch, alongside creator Mark Critch.
“A big part of it is controlling the creative, but the content can’t suffer,” said Hawco. “Son of a Critch is delivered the exact same way. Perry and I have been writing that way for our entire careers. Mark hadn’t necessarily done a scripted series before, but after 18 or 20 minutes with me and Perry in day one, he got it, because he’s also very frugal and practical.”
Hawco also offered a view on the Canadian production space, which is still heavily reliant on the likes of CBC and Bell Media, but is increasingly seeing investment from global streamers – despite the ongoing debate around their levels of contribution.
“There’s been a massive downturn in the U.S., and one massive network is buying the other massive network. How many buyers go away? And here we are in the middle of all this, after the strikes, the fires and COVID. Canada was kind of like a poor cousin that nobody was paying attention to, and over the past few years, we’ve been consistently making this content.
“I’m not just talking about Critch, St. Pierre, or Heated Rivalry. The industry’s grown in terms of technical aspects, the talent, creative talent and the acting talent. We’re playing really good ball, you know?
He pointed to the explosion of Jacob Tierney’s hockey drama Heated Rivalry for Crave as a sign of rude health in the Canadian market. “Heated Rivalry changed everything,” he said. “Not just for Canada, it changed promoting hockey, promoting queer culture, promoting Canadian TV, celebrating all those things. What a win!
“I was watching the Critics’ Choice Awards on the TV in a hotel room in Los Angeles, where they were just talking about Heated Rivalry and all the jokes, and I texted Jacob, and was like, ‘Oh my god, this is unbelievable!’ It couldn’t happen to a better person.”
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