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Watch it. She gives some insight on her the L.A. Complex. She talks about her music, and Abby. Let us know what you think!

The Canadian soap about wannabe stars chasing dreams in Hollywood also airs on The CW stateside.

Canadian broadcaster Bell Media has ordered another 13 episodes of The L.A. Complex from Epitome Pictures.
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The latest order gets the homegrown soap, which also airs on The CW stateside, to 19 episodes in all on Bell Media’s youth-skewing MuchMusic cable channel.

The one-hour series about Canadians chasing the Hollywood dream was first ordered by Bell Media in August 2010, ahead of production in Toronto and Los Angeles in fall 2011.

Production on the next 13 episodes will shortly get underway.

The L.A. Complex was created and is executive produced by Martin Gero, who wrote for HBO’s Bored to Death before returning to Canada to write the homegrown drama tailored for the U.S. market.

The ensemble cast includes Jonathan Patrick Moore (Neighbours) as Connor, an Australian with a dark past, and Cassie Steele (Degrassi) as Abby, a Toronto girl looking to make it far from home.

The L.A. Complex is executive produced by Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn of Epitome Pictures, and Gero.

The Bell Media execs on the project include production executive Trish Williams and Corrie Coe, senior vp of independent production.

The CW has announced that Canadian import The LA Complex will receive its premiere on the channel on Tuesday April 24th at 9/8c. In addition, the network also announced the finale dates for continuing series Ringer, The Vampire Diaries, Hart of Dixie, Supernatural, Gossip Girl and Nikita.

The LA Complex is a six part drama series, produced by Stargate’s Martin Gero, which stars Jewel Staite, Jonathan Patrick Moore, Joe Dinicol, Chelan Simmons, Cassie Steele and Benjamin Charles Watson. The series, which has already finished airing its first season on Much Music in Canada, follows the lives of six young performers striving for stardom in Hollywood. Living in an apartment-style motel for displaced dreamers, each having been dubbed “most likely to succeed” in their hometowns, they now face the challenges and opportunities of a lifetime in the City of Angels.

One Tree Hill will end its nine season run with a two hour series finale on Wednesday April 4th at 8/7c.

The freshman season of Ringer will come to an end on Tuesday April 17th at 9/8c, when the season finale will air.

The current seasons of The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle wil air their finales on Thursday May 10th.

The season finales of Gossip Girl and Hart of Dixie will air on Tuesday May 15th.

Nikita and Supernatural will air their season finales on Friday May 18th.

Last Tuesday’s episode was all about hook ups and heartbreak on The L.A. Complex. Abby and Nick took their friendship a step further, and Connor’s insecurities at work and with women were explained with a devastating flashback.

Check out Cassie Steele, Joe Dinicol and Jonathan Patrick Moore recap the season thus far and give a sneak peek into where their characters are headed in the final two episodes of Season 1!

Watch a brand new episode of The L.A. Complex Tuesday at 9 pm ET exclusively on MuchMusic. Want more of The L.A. Complex? Click here for photos, episodes, interviews, blogs and more!

On Tuesday’s brand new episode of The L.A. Complex there was no shortage of OH EM GEE moments. From Abby catching Connor in bed with his co-star to finding out that Connor self-harms, Episode 3 brought the dramz in a big, big way.

For a full recap of the episode click here, but why not find out what Cassie Steele and Jonathan Patrick Moore had to say about their shocking episode as well? Check out their interviews under the jump!

Echo Bridge Entertainment has picked up the international distribution rights for The CW/MuchMusic soap The L.A. Complex from Canadian indie producer Epitome Pictures.

The distribution agreement adds the Canadian drama to Echo Bridge’s 2012 programming slate that already includes ten TV movies, three documentaries and a new lifestyle series.

Echo Bridge handled international sales for previous Epitome Pictures series, including Degrassi and Instant Star.

The CW earlier this month bought six episodes of The L.A. Complex, a one-hour series about Canadians chasing the Hollywood dream that was shot in Toronto and Los Angeles in summer 2011.

Another seven episodes of the soap are expected if the initial six episodes connects with North American viewers.

The CW plans a spring bow for The L.A. Complex, which was created and is executive produced by Martin Gero, who wrote for HBO’s Bored to Death before returning to Canada to write the homegrown drama tailored for the U.S. market.

If you want to get the scoop on what’s next in Canadian television, you have to come to L.A.

More and more, with production costs ever rising, Canadian networks are looking to partner up with American broadcasters on content deals both countries can share.

It doesn’t always work. For every Flashpoint you have a couple of Combat Hospitals. That shot-in-Toronto series was the most watched scripted hit in Canada last summer, but when it failed to find an audience on ABC it was shut down, an example of a Canadian hit being cancelled by a U.S. network.

Being on brand may be the key to landing a two-country content deal. A good example is The L.A. Complex, a shot-in-Toronto drama about aspiring young Canadian actors in Hollywood just picked up by The CW network.

“We’re leaving no stone unturned, we’ll look at everything,” says Thom Sherman, head of development at The CW. Sherman says The L.A. Complex was brought to him by CTV and the agency that represents the project for international sales, William Morris Endeavor.

“We loved it,” says Sherman. “It’s an authentic look at people trying to make it in Los Angeles. It was edgy and smart, funny and fresh, and it just felt like a show that belonged on our network.”

The original plan was to air the series in summer, but The CW is so high on The L.A. Complex, which hails from the people behind the Degrassi franchise, the plan now is to put it on after One Tree Hill ends in April or May.

It’s no secret there are a ton of aspiring Canadian actors toiling away in Hollywood. After all, before they become the next Ryan Reynolds or Rachel McAdams, they’ve got to start somewhere. CTV/MuchMusic’s latest show, “The L.A. Complex,” follows the lives of six aspiring Canadian entertainers living in a run-down apartment-style hotel in La-La Land. The dreamers range from girl-next-door actress Abby (“Degrassi”s Cassie Steele) to nerdy nice-guy comedian Nick (Joe Dinicol) to bitter acting vet Raquel (“Firefly”‘s Jewel Staite).

The show is already generating a ton of buzz, and has even been picked up by US network The CW. We caught up with executive producer/director/writer Martin Gero (“Young People F**king,” “Bored to Death”) to find out how the show differs from “Degrassi,” what it’s like working with director Stefan ‘Snake’ Brogren from the original “Degrassi,” and how “Bored to Death” fans can get their favourite show back on the air.

How did you initially get involved with “The L.A. Complex”?

Epitome had just done “Degrassi Goes to Hollywood” and [former CTV president] Ivan Fecan said he’s always wanted to do a show about Canadians living in L.A., considering there’s probably more Canadians living in L.A. than there are in Halifax or Regina. For whatever reason, he was like “Why don’t we get that “F**king” guy?” [Laughs] I hope he meant the movie!

So they asked me if I was interested. I was kind of reticent to do a show about the entertainment industry, but when we got our heads around the fact that they didn’t want it to be”‘Glee” or “Entourage,” I thought, well, the most interesting thing for me is the years before
“Entourage,” the times where you’re operating with no wisdom. I worked at Starbucks for two years when I was in my 20s, and I perpetually felt like I was a week away from being able to quit. That was such an exciting, crazy time in my life.

I read that it was originally supposed to be a “Degrassi” spin-off?

It was talked about very briefly at the beginning. I never wrote it as a “Degrassi” spin-off. I think people just got their wires crossed because it had grown out of the “Degrassi Goes to Hollywood” special. But for the most part we wrote it as its own thing. It comes from the same producers. It’s a much more adult show.

Do you think there are any similarities to “Degrassi” at all, besides the obvious connections of Cassie Steele and Epitome?

Yeah. What “Degrassi” does so well is they’re able to cover a lot of great issues in a way that doesn’t make you feel like they’re dealing with issues. It’s just organic to the storytelling. I hope that we’ve done that to a certain extent on the show. I don’t know. I haven’t watched a ton of “The Next Generation,” so I’m a bad barometer for how the show differs from it. I know I loved the original “Degrassi” a lot.

What’s it like for you, as a fan of the original, working with Stefan Brogren?

It’s great. He lets me call him “Snake” all the time! I ask him questions about The Zit Remedy, like who was the real songwriting genius behind The Zit Remedy songs, was it just Joey, or was it more of a group thing? Because they were like our Beatles! No, it was great. He’s come so far. He’s developed an enormous amount of skill, both as a producer and a director.

Are any of the characters inspired by real people?

Yes. All of them.

Really!

The experiences are so universal, even if you’re not in the entertainment industry. Almost every actor that came in and auditioned said, “You have no idea, I’ve never been so close to a part!” And you’re like yeah, ya think? It’s an unemployed actor trying to get a job — that’s pretty close to what you are, probably.

So are the people that inspired the characters people that you know, people that have gone on to become famous or kind of a mix of both?

Yeah, both. I’ve been lucky enough to know people that have gone on to great fame and fortune, and people that haven’t. And they all have great stories. Somebody like Jewel [Staite], who I’ve been very good friends with for four or five years, although she’s not the basis for Raquel, there are a lot of similarities with the experiences that she’s gone through, and that our friends have gone through. I think the show has a painful reality to it that’s a lot of fun. [Laughs]

Do you have any favourite characters yet?

Well I’m partial to the Raquel character. I’m 34 and making a TV show with a bunch of 20-year-olds. That character’s exhaustion with the perky youth is a little bit shared by me right now! [Laughs] The great thing about this show is that in a way it felt like we were making six different TV shows because there are six leads. Although there is crossover, they all have their own stories.

Can we expect any cameos?

Well, no! [Laughs] I don’t want to give anything away! There’s one real quick funny one in episode 6, and then Paul Tompkins and Mary Lynn Rajskub in the first episode. Aside from seeing someone at a restaurant, it’s all outside the world of the show. Maybe in subsequent seasons as the show hopefully gains a bit more success, it’ll make more sense to bring people in. At this point it’d be weird if Ted Danson showed up.

I’ve heard that you’ve got a pretty cool set here. What’s it like filming a show about Canadians in Hollywood in Toronto?

It’s a challenge, certainly. The stuff we’ve been able to build up here has been amazing. We’ve built a fully functioning 23-room hotel, with a giant pool and a parking lot. We bussed in palm trees from Florida to make it look authentic. We’ve kind of converted a lot of the “Degrassi” sets. Like the “Degrassi” high school hallways, we turned into a hospital for our show within a show, “Critical Unit,” which is the show Connor stars on. The funniest set that nobody will probably ever know is a set, but we built a 200 x 40 foot Hollywood backlot set. Because our soundstages just look like shitty brick buildings in the middle of North York, which is what they are.

I was shocked to hear that “Bored to Death” wasn’t renewed. Do you think it might be revived if there’s enough of an outcry from fans?

I hope so! I really think our last season was the best season we’ve done. I think the show really hit its stride. It’s crazy to me that HBO doesn’t want those three guys on their network for two months of the year! They’re just so, so fantastic. HBO has a good problem, which is they have so many shows right now, and they really only have one night of programming. I feel like we just got squeezed out a bit. But you never know, people are asking if they should start petitions. But if you want a show to come back, you have to buy the boxed sets. That’s what brings shows back. When you talk about “Family Guy” and “Futurama” and stuff like that, they weren’t brought back with petitions. They were brought back with hard numbers. Go to iTunes and if you want “Bored to Death” back, buy all the seasons and we’ll see what happens! Maybe a movie.

It’s official: The CW has acquired the Canadian soap The L.A. Complex from Epitome Pictures and Canadian broadcaster Bell Media.
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The youth-skewing network bought six episodes of the one-hour series about Canadians chasing the Hollywood dream first ordered by Bell Media in August 2010, ahead of production in Toronto and Los Angeles in fall 2011.

There’s no word yet on another seven episodes that Bell Media could order if the homegrown drama, which bows Tuesday night on CTV and MuchMusic, connects with viewers.

CW plans a spring bow for The L.A. Complex, which was created and is executive produced by Martin Gero, who wrote for HBO’s Bored to Death before returning to Canada to write the homegrown drama tailored for the U.S. market.

The series follows six young actors seeking stardom in Hollywood, including Jonathan Patrick Moore (Neighbours) as Connor, an Australian with a dark past, and Cassie Steele (Degrassi) as Abby, a Toronto girl looking to make it far from home.

For Epitome Pictures, which produces the Degrassi TV franchise, The L.A. Complex is hardly a stretch.

Like most TV producers here, Epitome has long worked with wannabe Canadian stars that each year fly to Los Angeles for pilot season, and return home full of war stories.

The soap has a U.S. setting, set in Highland Gardens and an apartment building complete with a courtyard swimming pool built on a Toronto sound stage.

The L.A. Complex is executive produced by Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn of Epitome Pictures, and Gero,

Gero and Stefan Brogren directed the initial six episodes shot in Toronto in fall 2011.

The Bell Media execs on the project included production executive Trish Williams and Corrie Coe, senior vp of independent production.

Fans of Degrassi have always thought of Cassie Steele as Manny, one of the show’s most popular characters. But new and old fans will soon get to see Steele in a new role as Abby when The L.A. Complex premieres on MuchMusic this Tuesday at 9 pm ET. We caught up with Cassie to find out who her character Abby really is and how she thinks fans of Degrassi will respond to her new role.

Check out our exclusive sit down with the super-talented Cassie Steele under the jump and don’t miss her as Abby on this Tuesday’s premiere of The L.A. Complex at 9pm ET only on MuchMusic!

Who Is Abby?

What will fans of Degrassi think of your role as Abby?