He is a senior entertainment executive and lawyer based in Toronto with several years of high level experience as an executive producer and creator of prime-time television, critically acclaimed films and recorded music. A CSA and Gemini Award nominee, Tom has produced 9 prime time series, 5 feature documentaries and 2 major label albums. Current productions include Intervention Canada for A&E/Blue Ant, Political Blind Date; and AI and Public Opinion – both for TVO.
Open Door Co.
Open Door Co., is in the business of producing, distributing and acquiring “Content That Matters” on a global scale. Clients include A&E, HBO, CBC/Doc, Sundance Channel, TVO, NHK, SBS, CTV, Discovery Network and Corus, among others. Tom Powers is the principal of Open Door and is a senior entertainment executive and lawyer based in Toronto with several years of high level experience as an executive producer of prime time television and critically acclaimed films. Currently in production: Intervention Canada (Season 5, 10×1) for Blue Ant Media and A&E; and Season 3 of Political Blind Date for TVO (12×30′).
WHAT WE WORK WITH
Area
Acquisitions, Commissions, Co-productions, Distribution, Equity Investment , Grants/Funding, International Sales, Pre-sales, Production
Genre
Arts, Biographies, Crime, Culture, Current Affairs & Investigative, Factual Entertainment, Geopolitics, Music, Politics, Social Justice, Sport
Lengths/Formats
Series, Feature, Format, 30’, 52’/60’, 70+ mins, Online
What types of producers or creators would we want to meet at AIDC
Producers with a similar focus on creating “Content That Matters” that are seeking co-pro partners for their documentaries and documentary series. I am also interested in those that have created successful formats that they are looking to export to North America
Successes/Commissions
Political Blind Date – (2017 – present) (TVO, 12×30’) – Season 4 currently in production. This hit original documentary series and format created by Tom Powers Open Door seeks to see what happens when you send two politicians from opposite ends of the spectrum out on “blind dates” based around an issue they disagree on.
Intervention Canada – (2011 – present) – (A&E and Blue Ant Media, 67×1) currently in production on Season 5. Based on the Emmy Award winning A&E series Intervention, this documentary series seeks to intervene and help those trapped in a deadly cycle of addiction. Nominated as Best Reality Series and winner of Best Editing in a Reality Series at the Canadian Screen Awards.
AI and Public Opinion – (2019 – TVO ) feature documentary in production for TVO that follows Ottawa-based Advanced Symbolics, Inc. which uses an artificial intelligence algorithm, called “Polly”, which is capable of predicting election outcomes more accurately than traditional pollsters. Polly builds representative samples in the range of 250,000 people by scouring publicly available social media feeds. But how does it really work? This documentary will compare Polly to traditional polling and assess Polly’s real-time predictions in the lead-up to, and aftermath of, Canada’s 2019 federal election and examines the larger ramifications for our privacy.
Cracked Not Broken – (2007 – HBO) this feature documentary is a searing portrait of a crack addicted prostitute from the “right side of town”. Part of the multiple award-winning HBO Addiction Project, it has been broadcast and screened at film festivals around the world to glowing reviews – including a highly publicized appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The film can currently be seen on several OTT platforms and has over 5,000,000 views.
Independent America: The Two Lane Search for Mom & Pop – (2006) feature documentary for Sundance Channel, tackles the subject of the assault of big box corporate America on independent business, through the eyes of Emmy Award winning former NBC foreign correspondent Hanson Hosein.
Pure Intentions (2012) – feature documentary for CBC/Doc Channel which looks at the challenges encountered by a high profile first world philanthropists as he tries to deal with the reality of post apartheid education in South Africa. Recipient of Rogers Doc Fund and Rogers Cable Fund financing.
Black Nation (2009) – theatrical feature documentary backed by Swedish broadcaster SVT and The Swedish Film Institute, it takes a hard look at the state of black manhood in America, through the prism of the streets of Detroit past and present and that city’s controversial Church of the Black Madonna. World Premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival and screened at and additional 12 festivals around the world. Broadcast on CBC/Doc, NHK and SBS, among others.
Independent America: Rising From Ruins (2009) – feature documentary film that focuses on the crucial role played by independent business during and after Hurricane Katrina. Backed by Canadian premium pay network Super Channel, it has also been broadcast on CBC/Doc and on public television outlets in the US; Winner Best Feature New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival; Official Selection Seattle International Film Festival.