Sunshine City: Season 1 (2022)

Sunshine City is an innovative comedy-mystery TV series (4x20min) that is set to premiere in 2022. Another genre-bending story with equal parts comedy, drama, and emotion, Sunshine City is set to continue pushing the boundaries of the type of stories that Sideways Dog Productions tells.

While filming a travel series about a charming cottage country town, the cast and crew of Sunshine City soon discover that the local expert hosting the show knows little about the town she claims to have grown up in. As a detective circles the set looking for answers to an unsolved case, the show’s host, its crew, and the sleepy town of Orillia are soon wrapped up in a comedic mystery that explores what it means to be part of a community.

Cup of Cheer (2020)

Cup of Cheer is a laugh out loud satire of Christmas TV movies, which was released in November 2020. The film was released domestically to critical acclaim, with a four star review in the National Post, the Globe and Mail declaring it “zippy, smart-alecky, and never boring,” a primetime review on CBC News hailing Cup of Cheer as “the spoof to end all spoofs,” and CTV critic Richard Crouse calling it “a dizzying onslaught well delivered by a game cast.” The film was met with praise internationally, with critics celebrating the return of the spoof movie and the commitment to diverse characters and values not celebrated in traditional Christmas films.

Cup of Cheer was self-distributed theatrically by SDP Entertainment and became the highest grossing movie at the Canadian box office for the two weeks it was screened, beating out new releases distributed by major distributors such as Universal, Paramount, Level Film, Cineplex, and Mongrel Media. The film was then released in Canada, the US, and UK on Amazon Prime, in addition to airing on OUTtv in Canada and on the US streaming platform Tubi in an exclusive deal; which was a first for a Canadian film. During the Christmas period, the film was on the top streaming charts of Amazon Prime and Tubi in North America, and was a Top 5 rental in the UK, where BBC Radio hailed the film as “ridiculously laugh-out-loud funny.”

All About Who You Know (2020)

All About Who You Know is Sideways Dog Productions’ first feature film, a mainstream, queer coming of age/rom-com, praised by critics as a unique spin on the genres. All About Who You Know was released theatrically in Canada before debuting on Crave, and on Paramount Plus in the US. The film has been praised as a “clever… nervy take on the rom-com genre” by national critic Richard Crouse, was called “the most enjoyable Canadian romance since The F Word” by ThatShelf, and featured in the best movies of the month by Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail.

All About Who You Know appeared in year end Best of 2020 lists from mainstream and queer publications, and went on to screen and win awards at dozens of festivals on four continents, including Cinequest, Cleveland International Film Fest, FunCinema Argentina, Canadian Film Fest, and more. As of 2022, All About Who You Know has been released in Italy, South Africa, Canada, and the United States.

Clouds (Coming Soon)

Andy Lewis’ 22 minute short film/TV pilot is a dramatic, tension-filled story that takes place entirely in a rundown motel on an empty stretch of highway. As two drastically different characters find themselves stuck in this motel room, they’re soon forced to confront their differences as their secret shared history comes to light.

Though Clouds is sparse and simple in its production, it’s deceivingly complex in its execution and its ability to say so much by doing so little. Character-driven and filled with meaningful visual moments by award-winning director Andy Lewis, Clouds is a special kind of project produced by Jake Horowitz and Sideways Dog Productions.

Clouds: The Short Film is set to debut on the festival circuit in Late 2022 or Early 2023 as Sideways Dog Productions continues developing the project as a TV series.

Slipping
(In Development)

Slipping follows Delilah, a witty and fiercely independent 23-year-old. She broke her leg weeks ago and no one’s saying why. After getting the cast off, Del and her father, Owen, go up to the old family cabin, looking for a weekend of family bonding before Del moves out and starts her adult life. They’re joined by Mateo, Owen’s new husband, and Chester, the family dog. Along the way Owen promises that they’re going to pick up Adam, Del’s fiancé who she’s moving in with. But when Adam never shows up and Del's father keeps dismissing her concerns, Del searches the cabin for answers, finding more questions along the way.

When Del sees a decaying old woman skulking around the property, the limits of her sanity are tested as her father's answer is to continue taking her pain meds. But with Adam's phone now being answered by a woman who insists she doesn't know who Adam is, Del tries to escape her overbearing father, breaking out of the cabin it turns out she's been locked in. With the corpse-like woman haunting Delilah with more frequency, and a strange woman now hired to look after Del at all times, a gut-wrenching final twist sees Delilah learn new truths about her independence, her fiancé, her father, and the woman that’s been hunting her.

An elevated horror that preys on the most universal fear of all, Slipping re-examines life and death as Del faces the fact that the future she envisioned might just slip away forever.

Slipping is now in development with Telefilm Canada and will be written and directed by J Horowitz.

No Connection
(In Development)

No Connection is a feature comedy about what it means to truly connect with someone in a world where connection can be found at the push of a button. But when a button is pushed and an entire country’s internet is permanently disabled, one woman is forced to track down her long-distance love in a world that has just been plunged into the dark ages.

Immediately following “The Shutoff,” the country - one similar to our own but a few short years down the line - has fallen into chaos; stained by riots, littered with rumors of WiFi speakeasies, and filled with people struggling to adapt to an old fashioned world. But Benji has a singular focus, and it’s to hit the road and travel the 1058 miles that it will take to find the person he’s been falling in love with for the past two weeks. The only problem is the lack of information he has and his inability to travel simply due to a ubiquitous network of self-driving cars and buses that no longer work, and entire systems crippled by the immediate and unexpected probationary shutoff of the internet. As he teams up with gay YouTube icon Yuki, who is looking for acceptance in a world without his millions of subscribers, Benji desperately holds on to his connection in a disconnected world.

While on the surface No Connection seems to be a charming road trip comedy about a finding true love, on a deeper level it’s a story about hope and cynicism. It asks questions about whether we are equipped to find true love, and if our modern world is really as progressive as it seems. Are we blinded by technology? Where do the oddballs and outcasts fit in a world with No Connection?