Cellar Door has just concluded a deal with Discovery Home Network in the US for its newly launched series, Chef at Home; currently the top rated program on Food Network Canada. In addition, the company has sold the animated shorts series, Doodlez, to children’s network Nickelodeon US after entertaining offers from several of the leading US animation stations.

Cellar Door President, Gretha Rose, is thrilled with the recent string of successes for her company. “Without question, the most difficult territory to crack is the United States and for us to be able to create and export two of our programs from PEI to the world’s major media market is like winning the lottery,” says Rose. “This is a major feat for even the largest television companies in the world when you consider large networks like Discovery Home and Nickelodeon create 90% of their programming in-house. That leaves only enough room for truly exceptional programming from independent producers like us.”

The company’s Chef at Home program is filmed in eastern Prince Edward Island from April to the end of June each year, filling local inns and hotels and utilizing production crew and services from the area. Chef at Home follows Cellar Door’s popular Chef at Large and The Inn Chef series featuring host Chef Michael Smith. In this series, Smith draws viewers inside his personal world with glimpses of his family and home in Prince Edward Island while demonstrating the keys to creating simple, easy meals at home.

Doodlez is 100% produced in Charlottetown and is the first animated series to be animated in Prince Edward Island. The show is attracting major interest from broadcasters with Cellar Door’s decision to expand the existing shorts format into a traditional half hour version. The company is in discussions with Penguin US for a major publishing deal, has negotiated a distribution advance from leading distribution and merchandizing company Porchlight Entertainment of Los Angeles, has initiated development of Doodlez video game and is currently negotiation mobile/wireless opportunities.

“I am often asked how I do what I do from a remote place like Prince Edward Island,” says Rose. “I tell them that I couldn’t have done it from anywhere else but PEI. I think it comes down to doing what you love, with the people you love, from a place you love. Maybe that sounds corny, but I believe it to be true”

Cellar Door has invested heavily in building relationships with the international market and the results are paying off with Cellar Door and its partners’ shows now being seen in over 150 countries around the world.