The "Emily of New Moon" series, a CINAR Films and Salter Street Films co-production in association with WIC Entertainment, is returning to PEI for its second season. The first 13 episodes of the television series were shot entirely on the Island and are in the final stages of post-production. The next 13 episodes are about to begin pre-production and are expected to begin shooting in July.
The primary locations for the series will once again be Slemon Park and Cabot Beach Provincial Park. Cabot Park will remain open to tourists this summer. Officials from Enterprise PEI and Tourism PEI are working together to accommodate both campers and the production team in the provincial park so all can enjoy the area.
"Cabot Beach Provincial Park will be an exciting place this summer," said Wes MacAleer, Minister of Economic Development and Tourism. "Not only will tourists be able to enjoy the beautiful scenery on Malpeque Bay, they may be able to get a glimpse of the new television series, the first one to be shot on Prince Edward Island."
In a news release issued earlier this month, CBC Television announced that the series, based on the books by Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery, will debut on CBC Television across Canada in January 1998, and on WIC Television beginning in the fall of 1998.
"We are pleased to be shooting "Emily of New Moon" on location in Prince Edward Island where the original books of Lucy Maud Montgomery are actually set; and we are particularly happy to have a PEI native, Martha MacIsaac, in the lead role of Emily," commented Michael Donovan, CEO of Salter Street Films.
The series is a co-production between Salter Street Films of Halifax and CINAR Films of Montreal in association with WIC Entertainment, with cast and crew coming principally from PEI, Nova Scotia and Quebec. Martha MacIsaac of Charlottetown stars as Emily Byrd Starr with Susan Clark, Sheila McCarthy, Stephen McHattie, and Jessica Pellerin (also a PEI native) who plays Emily's best friend Ilse.