A brand-new family TV series, The Adventures of Snow White & Rose Red, is coming to Amazon Prime in late June, and it was filmed and produced right here in the Spa City. Equally exciting, it was confirmed on June 18 that the series will also be made into a feature length film in 2019 with international distribution through Fantastic Films.
Based on the legendary Brothers Grimm story, this live-action fairy tale introduces audiences to Snow White’s outgoing sister, Rose Red—portrayed by real-life sisters Demetra and Callista Zorbas from Colonie.
The show’s creator and director, Nicole Coady, is also an Upstate native who received her Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College and currently resides in Ballston Spa. Though she spent more than 25 years working as a scriptwriter and producer in Hollywood, Coady ultimately decided to return home to New York to have more control over her work. Along with two other filmmaker friends, Katie Spass and Andrew Balog, she founded Trident Fantasy Films in 2016, which has its office based at Skidmore College, where Coady also teaches. The liberal arts college has a big presence in the fantasy TV show, as it doubled as a filming location and source of the show’s production department. “Our entire writing staff, many of our interns and our incredibly talented Cinderella all came from Skidmore,” says Coady.
Lucky for Coady, shortly after pitching the idea of the TV show to Amazon, the streaming service picked it up. As if this weren’t Cinderella-esque enough, shortly after the show’s premier, it was announced that the series will also be edited into a feature film and sold at the American Film Market in Los Angeles later this fall via Coady’s sales reps, Fantastic Films. “We’re really pleased to be working with Fantastic,” Coady says. “They have a strong record internationally in the family entertainment distribution business. So by 2019, you might see Snow & Rose playing on big screens all over the world!”
The New York native wanted to do something with fairy tales, because she felt most children’s television programming these days lacked a strong moral compass as well as strong (young) female role models. The entire first season was shot in just 17 days at local destinations, such as the Surrey Inn gardens at Skidmore, Moreau State Park and Ballston Spa. Friends of Coady, the cast and crew members even opened their properties up to use for the shoot. “The magical forest scenery you see in the show was filmed at our star’s property where they have a real life cottage in the woods,” says Coady. So keep your eyes peeled when you watch The Adventures of Snow White & Rose Red.
The first season of The Adventures of Snow White & Rose Red will include seven episodes, each about 10-15 minutes, and will be available to stream on Amazon on June 15. (Back in May, The show’s creator, stars and creative team recently celebrated the series’ premiere with a showing on the big screen at Saratoga’s Bow Tie Cinemas.) “We are so tremendously grateful to have been able to film in our hometown. The support for our production was tremendous,” says Coady. Whoever said fairy tales don’t come true apparently never paid a visit to Saratoga Springs.
